Royal Society Fellowship for Ecology and Geology Academics

The cohort of 13 new Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSAf) includes Professors Colleen Downs and Andrew Green of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) School of Agriculture and Science – a significant and prestigious honour that recognises their contributions to ecology and marine geology, respectively.

Downs and Green join the group of nearly 240 Fellows of the country’s leading multidisciplinary organisation, representing a diverse array of scientific disciplines at universities and institutes across South Africa. Founded in 1908, the RSSAf is the country’s oldest scientific society, serving as a public face of science in South Africa and providing independent, trusted, informed opinions on important scientific issues.

Fellowship of the RSSAf (FRSSAf) signifies the highest recognition for excellent scientific achievement in South Africa, honouring eminent researchers for their outstanding, interdisciplinary contributions, and attracting prestige and international acknowledgement as the authoritative voice of South African science. Fellows, who are nominated by their peers and selected for their strong scientific publication record and leadership, are responsible for serving as leaders and mentors, promoting science for the benefit of humanity.

Downs, the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) holder of Ecosystem Health and Biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, has made significant contributions to ornithology and zoology.

She began her career in the Science Foundation Programme at UKZN in 1994 and has trained and graduated more than 150 postgraduate students, supervising their research projects on a range of fauna, including freshwater fish, hippos, crocodiles and various raptors, in diverse locales such as protected areas, farmlands and urban landscapes. She has taught countless undergraduate classes and arranged undergraduate vacation apprenticeships.

Downs is a Fellow of UKZN, an Honorary Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, a Fellow of the International Ornithologists’ Union, a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, and a recipient of a National Science and Technology Forum-South32 Award for Research Capacity Development. She also received the Zoological Society of Southern Africa Gold Medal, served as BirdLife South Africa’s Honorary President for four years, and received BirdLife South Africa’s Gill Memorial Award in 2023.

Downs has served her scientific fields through the organisation of international and local congresses, and has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed papers, consistently earning her the distinction of the top-published female academic at UKZN.

She has been widely recognised in her field, including in a book titled Female Heroes of Bird Conservation, and is dedicated to science education and developing undergraduate and postgraduate research capacity.

Downs has dedicated more than three decades to the conservation of the Cape Parrot (Poicephalus robustus), South Africa’s only endemic parrot species, numbering fewer than 2 000 in the wild. These residents of the Afromontane Southern Mistbelt forests are threatened by land-use change, habitat loss, illegal trade, and disease. Downs chairs the Cape Parrot Working Group, co-ordinating academic research and citizen science programmes, and overseeing and contributing to management plans, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora listings, practical conservation programmes, and the annual Cape Parrot Big Birding Day.

Green is a marine geologist who has advocated for marine geoscientific research as a tool for ocean governance and management in South Africa. He has worked at UKZN since 2010, where he established Africa’s most prominent marine geology research unit. His research focuses on the ocean’s ancient history. Green achieved wide recognition in 2022 for research revealing that severe tropical cyclones, historically a feature of South Africa’s east coast, could emerge in the future under a changing climate.

In 2023, Green received the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Special Annual Theme Award: Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, recognising his excellence in marine geoscience research. He also received the Africa Award for Research Excellence in Ocean Sciences from the American Geophysical Union in 2019.

Green’s research focuses on marine geophysics, geomorphology, sedimentology and stratigraphy of marine environments. He has established UKZN as a global centre of excellence in marine geology, leveraging its excellent facilities and international collaboration networks to make major breakthroughs in understanding how sea-level changes have shaped Africa’s seafloor geology, marine habitat and economic resources. His close relationships with industry have resulted in substantial third-stream incomes to his research group, and the opportunity for his students to undertake learning internships that focus on developing marine geophysical skills and specialities that are amongst the very best in the world.

An NRF B2-rated scientist, he is an alumnus of the Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar Program, secretary of the International Union for Quaternary Research Coastal and Marine Processes Commission, an associate editor of the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology and sits on the editorial boards of the journals Marine Geology and Nature Communications: Earth and Environment.

Green hopes to see the development of critical infrastructure to support marine geological mapping and the management of marine natural resources and mineral wealth, as well as increased staff and resources to graduate top students for in-demand roles in the blue economy.

Words: Christine Cuénod

Photographs: Supplied