Department of Geography, Rhodes University

12/08/2026

Today, the department welcomed Prof. Thembela Kepe for a thought-provoking seminar on “Decolonising Biodiversity Conservation: Some Thoughts.”

The seminar reflected on colonial legacies in conservation and the possibilities for more just, inclusive and equitable conservation futures.

04/08/2026

Next week, the Department hosts Prof Thembela Kepe for a public lecture: ‘Decolonising Biodiversity Conservation: Some Thoughts’. Join us on 12 August at 13.00 in Botany Major.

22/07/2026

The Honours Extended GIS Course have been on a field trip to the coast. The field trip was conducted as part of the Honours GIS research project, "Mapping Change in Settlement Extent, Building Footprint and Population in the Towns of Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, Cape St Francis and St Francis Bay from 1985 to 2026."

The purpose of the trip was to carry out ground truthing and field data collection. This involved visiting the study areas to verify that the building footprints and settlement information in the GIS datasets accurately matched conditions on the ground. The field observations will be used to improve the accuracy of the spatial data and support the analysis of changes in settlement extent, building footprints, and population over the 1985–2026 study period.

21/07/2026

A report on the RUClearing activities from Mandela Day - staff and students from the Department took the lead

19/07/2026

Well done to our honeybush researchers for sharing their research with the U3A

Friends of Bathurst Nature and U3A cohos­ted an inform­at­ive and enga­ging present­a­tion by Dr Gil­lian McGregor at Set­tler’s Park Retire­ment Vil­lage, where the fas­cin­at­ing story behind South Africa’s wild hon­ey­bush industry was brought to...

18/07/2026

The first photos from the Mandela Day activities led by our department

17/07/2026

Fantastic to have RUClearing in our department!

15/07/2026

Members of our department are driving two Mandela Day events - an RUClearing IAP (invasive alien plants) clearing session on Mountain Drive and a community clean-up in the Makana Botanical Gardens with Friends of Bots.

We hope you join us and engage in the Democracy of Doing this Mandela Day!

15/07/2026

Academics are notorious for hoarding papers from years ago. In a clean out today this hoarding paid off!

This booklet is from the opening of the Geography Building - a little piece of our Department’s history

08/07/2026

We had one PhD proposal and one MSc research proposal presentation in the department today, which represented the diverse landscapes and challenges within the broader South African context.

Ayanda Mpalweni presented on his proposed PhD study, ‘Atmospheric Drivers of Extreme Fire Danger in South Africa’s Grassland Biome: Evaluation of Fire Weather Indices and Future Climate Projections’

Sarah Masindi presented on her proposed MSc research, ‘The Spatial Imprint of Adaptation: A Mixed-method Analysis of Agricultural Change Drivers and Landscape Transformation in the Langkloof Region, South Africa (1990-2026)’

Congratulations to both researchers on their engaging presentations. We wish them every success as they embark on these exciting research journeys.