We are proud to announce that an outstanding group of CST students have graduated from Stellenbosch University. The ceremony, which took place on Wednesday 27 March, celebrated the graduation of 13 MPhil Sustainable Development students and 8 PGDip Sustainable Development students. They join the one MPhil and 26 PGDip students who graduated in December 2022. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the graduates for their impressive accomplishments.

Melanie Carstens celebrated the graduation with her parents in attendance at the December graduation ceremony

Following the March Graduation Ceremony which was held at the Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium, graduates gathered to celebrate with their classmates and supervisors.

Attaining a postgraduate degree at the CST, which is located within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University, equips students with a unique set of skills and knowledge. Graduates become thought leaders and practitioners in sustainability transitions and transformations, capable of integrating knowledge across disciplines and co-creating knowledge with society to address pressing sustainability challenges. They learn how to understand and navigate complex transitions for the advancement of human well-being and a more sustainable world.

 

PGDip students at the Sustainability Institute following their end-of-year review, a gathering to reflect on the teaching, learning and assessment approaches in the programme.

Graduates with an MPhil degree engage in place-based interdisciplinary research that adds to the body of evidence that informs policymaking and decision-making processes and shapes sustainability transitions in the South African, African, and global context. The themes of this year’s cohort include theses that covered an array of research areas at the CST, including socio-technical energy transitions, education for sustainable development, resilience in social-ecological systems, corporate governance, food system transitions, urban transitions, and equity and resilience in development.

Some MPhil research topics include:

Just Upstream Are Jobs: Mapping South Africa’s Wind Manufacturing Potential – Alboricah Tokologo Rathupetsane

Understanding the sustainability of free-range and/or grass-fed beef in South Africa – Johanna Jacoba Fourie

Exploring equity dynamics along the seaweed value chain in Zanzibar – Haeun Lee

Exploring the practical, social, and governance realities of a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Governance approach: A case study of the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa – Lourens Swart

MPhil students and supervisors at the Africa Centre for HIV/AIDS Management Building following the annual MPhil Colloquium where students present their final research.

Finally, CST postgraduate students all develop skills to translate and communicate co-generated knowledge and practices to a wide variety of societal actors and stakeholders.

We are excited to see the impact these graduates will have in their respective fields, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

December 2022 Graduates:

MPhil Graduates:

Melanie Carstens: Exploring Relationality in African Knowledge Systems: A Contribution to Decoloniality in Sustainability Science

PGDip Graduates:

Debra Lee Addison

Kayla Badenhorst

Tara Jane Bird

Shelley Bragg

Jerome Chimphonda

Alexia Daoussis

Ryan De Villiers

Danielle Diedre Dunn

Sihle Sonwabe Dyan

Evan Paul Havenga

Jordan Ashely  Magrobi

Mathapelo Matlakala

Daniel Nicolaas Meyer

Chawanangwa Jacqueline Mhango

Kristina Claire  Miller

Onele Odwa Mokotedi

Brilliant Nare

Amanda Teresa Pardini

Arabella Parkinson

Charles Alexander Roux

Guy Daniel John Rudolph

Roger Malcolm Saner

Georgina Snaddon

Logan Michael Tait

Olivia Victoria Taylor

Taio Veitch

 

March 2023 Graduates:

MPhil Graduates:

Guy Michael Melless Dalamakis: Decolonial gestures of heutagogy: A postqualitative inquiry into the potential of self-determined learning in Stellenbosch University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Development

Johanna Jacoba Fourie: Understanding the sustainability of free-range and/or grass-fed beef in South Africa

Michaela Leigh Geytenbeek: Facilitating the development of Nature Connectedness

Haeun  Lee: Exploring equity dynamics along the seaweed value chain in Zanzibar

Megan  Mccarthy: A system dynamics-based analysis of charcoal production from Invasive Alien Plants in South Africa: the case of the Tsitsa River Catchment

Nirvana Chavon Milton: The role of food aid during the COVID-19 pandemic in building community resilience to disasters: A case study from Stellenbosch, South Africa

Fiona Ngadze: Applying the Safe and Just Operating Space (SJOS) framework to Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe

Alboricah Tokologo Rathupetsane: Just Upstream Are Jobs: Mapping South Africa’s Wind Manufacturing Potential

Nichola Deborah Mcculloch Richards: Beyond resistance? Exploring dynamics of incumbency in South Africa’s power sector reform

Winniefred Angel Seibes: Assessing the prevalence of energy poverty and the impact thereof on educational well-being of high school students in Windhoek, Namibia.

Lourens Swart: Nexus Governance approach: A case study of the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa

Elzé Van Achterbergh: Change contagion: Exploring the role that social interactions play in increasing support for corporate sustainability

Camryn Van Den Bergh: COVID-19: Insights and prospects from shifting learning experiences in Stellenbosch University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Development

PGDip Graduates:

Kate Justine Boswell

Aishah Bibi Ebrahim

Tumiso Cherel Macheli

Nthakoana Selloane Maema

Keanu Raymond Moodie

Keamogetswe Tebatso Motsilanyane

Khensani Sagwadi Paullah Nkatingi

Christina Pobee