Award-winning presentations

After the launch, the GSN Committee, Ms Beate Hölscher along with adjudicators Dr Genevieve Thompson and Dr Charles von der Meden, announced the winners. It was highlighted that the presentations were of such a high standard that the adjudicators had a tough decision upon selecting the best oral and poster presentations. Dr Charles von der Meden’s view on the quality of presentations was: “Throughout the diverse research presented, the consistently high quality of work made it clear just how much effort, enthusiasm and dedication is being put in by post-graduate students all over the country.”

A total of five awards were presented to the students based on their talks and posters. The three adjudicators’ awards were:

· “Best Oral Presentation” awarded to Ms Tercia Strydom, from University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), for her oral presentation entitled “The effect of long-term fire treatments on soil infiltration and crusting in semi-arid savannas in Kruger National Park”.

· “Runner-up for Oral Presentation” was awarded to Ms Feroza Morris (UKZN) for her oral presentation entitled “Improving the understanding of spatial distribution of rainfall”.

· “Best Poster” went to Ms Tristan Duthie (UKZN) on her poster entitled “Modern pollen dispersal and deposition rates of vegetation communities of the Cathedral Peak area, KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg”.

Delegates were also given an opportunity to vote for their own favourite oral and poster presentations. The two prizes were:

“Students’ Choice for Best Oral” awarded to Ms Claire Davis (UCT) on her talk entitled  “Recent trends in vegetation change in the Namaqualand region of South Africa: an approach combining repeat site photography and remote sensing”

• “Students’ Choice for Best Poster” to Ms Nannette van Staden from the North West University for her talk entitled “The composition of the herbaceous layer of Syenite koppies of Cleveland Nature Reserve: unique or not?”