WITS EXPERTS
ON GLOBAL CHANGE, CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABILITY
Prof. Andrew Crouch, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Acting Director of the Institute:
“The Wits Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute will bring together the
strengths that the University has around issues of global change, climate change and
sustainability.”
Areas of expertise: Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Electrochemistry and Energy
conversion
Tel:
011 717 6012
Cell:
082 378 0686
Email: Andrew.Crouch@wits.ac.za
Prof. Mary Scholes, from the Wits School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, and
Head of the South African Climate Leadership Programme: “The University wants to work
with the South African community, and for that purpose, we need to engage the Wits
community, civil society, business and government.”
Areas of expertise: Savanna and plantation forestry functioning, Food security and
atmospheric chemistry, Climate Change
Tel:
011 717 6407
Cell:
082 889 8670
Email: Mary.Scholes@wits.ac.za
Dr Stuart Piketh, Reader: Climatology Research Group, School of Geography, Archaeology
and Environmental Studies: “It is getting the message to the people out there, beyond
scientists. Scientists can tell you about changes to atmospheric pressure, how clouds would
rain less if you added more aerosols to it, etc. but we need to explain how this matters to
the man on the street. We need to use the science to develop a human management
strategy, and this would be one of the key objectives of the Institute.
Areas of expertise: Climatology and Atmospheric Science
Tel:
011 717 6532
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Cell:
082 806 3026
Email: Stuart.Piketh@wits.ac.za
Dr Barend Erasmus, from the Wits School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences:
“I never thought that I might see three of the world's largest carnivores – tigers, lions and
polar bears – go extinct in my lifetime. This threat is symptomatic of a global society in need
of a drastic mind shift about resource use. Such a shift can only happen through sustained
local action that is based on sound science, and the GCSRI will do its bit in South Africa.”
Areas of expertise: Conservation science, Global change, Biodiversity
Tel:
011 717 6449
Cell:
082 821 1144
Email: Barend.Erasmus@wits.ac.za
Dr Ute Schwaibold, from the Wits School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences:
“It has become very clear that science alone cannot solve the challenges of global
change. The next generation of decision-makers will require a new repertoire of
transformative thinking and a holistic interdisciplinary approach to this challenge. ”
Areas of expertise: Environmental management and impact assessment, sustainability and
green business strategies
Tel:
011 717 6482
Email: Ute.Schwaibold@wits.ac.za
Prof. Gillian Marcelle, Associate Professor: Strategy and Innovation, Wits Business School:
“Global change is systemic and complex, and there is not one part that is most important.
For example, problems that affect us in terms of scarcity of water, changing temperature,
the use of energy, are complex problems that require complex solutions. Our location in
South Africa is key in that we have exposure to a laboratory for the challenges that are faced
by so many different parts of the world.”
Areas of expertise: Transition to low carbon systems; Innovation for adaptation and
resilience; Firm-level strategies for sustainability; Innovation policy and corporate strategies
and Innovation for sustainability
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Tel:
011 717 3761
Cell:
082 492 3251
Email: Gillian.Marcelle@wits.ac.za
David Roche-Kelly, Lecturer in Environmental and Resource Economics, Wits School of
Economic and Business Sciences:
“We know that we will need many different skills to tackle the challenges which we are
currently facing in terms of climate change, and what is still coming. You need economics
and business to better organise your economy, you need the sciences to predict what’s
going to happen, you need the engineers to build things better, you need the lawyers to tell
us what we can and cannot do.”
Areas of expertise: Climate mitigation policies specifically Emission (Carbon) Trading
Schemes and Emission Taxes. Water pricing and Acid Mine Drainage and various aspects of
energy policy such as feed-in tariffs.
Tel:
011 717 8070
Cell:
072 565 8250
Email: David.Roche-Kelly@wits.ac.za
Dr Muchaparara Musemwa, Senior Lecturer in the Wits School of Social Sciences: “The
social sciences have a key role to play in addressing issues related to global change, climate,
change and sustainability. We need to bring our understanding of poverty,
underdevelopment, migration, environmental degradation and climate change to the
party.”
Areas of expertise: The environmental history of Africa; History and politics water in colonial
and post-colonial Zimbabwe; History and impact of droughts/water scarcity and climate
change on small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe; Intra-white settler contestation over resources
such as minerals, water, timber, grazing in colonial Zimbabwe.
Tel:
011 717 4311
Cell:
082 826 4935
Email: Muchaparara.Musemwa@wits.ac.za
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Dr Daniel K Irurah, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability and the Built Environment, in the Wits
School of Architecture and Planning:
“We are developing interdisciplinary platforms within the institution, but we would like to
involve other key stakeholders as we move forward.”
Areas of expertise: Green economy, Sustainable cities, Energy efficiency and renewable
energy for buildings, Sustainable housing and settlements, Urban vulnerability and
resilience.
Daniel is a Kenyan architect and urban environmental policy planner with specialisation in
sustainability and the built environment. Daniel’s core interest is the understanding and
applied resolution to the dilemma of achieving socio-economic development for the
majority within the tightening eco-limits of our planet. He is also intensely engaged in the
field of industrial ecology for the construction industry, and especially the cradle-to-graveand-cradle cycle of construction materials. Daniel’s key interests in these fields is the
coupling of green innovations to socio-economic development priorities such as jobs, skills
and eco-entrepreneurship.
Tel:
011 717 7643
Cell:
083 236 4640
Email: Daniel.Irurah@wits.ac.za
Prof. Ewa Cukrowska, School of Chemistry
Areas of expertise: Water, soil, air, Biogeochemistry of environmental pollutants with
modelling of their seasonal changes, transport and fate
Tel:
011 717 6743
Cell:
082 334 7970
Email: Ewa.Cukrowska@wits.ac.za
Prof. Eric Worby, Humanities Graduate Centre and former Head of the Wits School of Social
Sciences:
Areas of expertise: Social Sciences, Impact of climate change on society
Tel:
011 717 4430
Email: Eric.Worby@wits.ac.za
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