The IIES welcomes its newest member, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Craig Doug Margaret International Institute For Environmental Studies

The IIES is pleased to welcome our newest member, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The MOU, signed in March 2024, between the IIES and the University of the Witwatersrand aims to facilitate cooperation in the academic and research missions of IIES’s members in the areas of climate change, legacy challenges from the mining sector, poor governance leading to infrastructural decay and a growing population.

University Of The Witwatersrand International Institute For Environmental Studies

About the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

from Professor Craig Sheridan

Craig Sheridan holds the Claude Leon Foundation Chair of Water Research and is the director of the Centre in Water Research and Development (CIWaRD) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 

Image: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg during graduation in March 2024

Water resources are under incredible strain in South Africa right now, and in Johannesburg in particular as a consequence of climate change, legacy challenges from the mining sector, poor governance leading to infrastructural decay and a growing population. Solving our water problems is a massive challenge. The skills to do this, however, do not need to be totally developed from scratch. Through collaborations such as those the IIES fosters, we can learn from others, consider how they are working on their similar challenges and utilize this knowledge in resolving our own. In particular, the IIES has a very strong emphasis on graduate student focussed collaboration. These graduate students are the people who are the next batch of leaders; in particular I appreciate the focus placed on them, and the opportunities the IIES grants them towards international collaboration.

Further to this, we seem to find ourselves in an age of increasing belligerence. Science collaboration helps to remove the divides between the East and West, the Global North and the Global South. Through the IIES we further international dialogue, and students get the opportunity to learn that despite superficial differences, we share similar goals, and increasingly we face the same challenges, as a consequence of climate change. Our University, through CIWaRD is really excited to have joined the IIES.

Image: Professor Craig Sheridan and Professor Emeritus Douglas Evans, Director of the IIES signing the MOU Agreement

Craig Sheridan Doug Evans International Institute For Environmental Studies

To learn more about this institute, please visit the link below. You can also check out the Wits’ faculty profiles on our membership page.

We are also excited to announce that our 9th Annual Science & Policy Workshop as well as our International Graduate Student Forum will both be held in April 2025 in South Africa, hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Stay tuned for more details!

You might also enjoy

Scroll to Top