November 2021 

by J. Finch 

Together with colleagues from the University of Greifswald (Germany; https://www.uni-greifswald.de/), the Council for Geoscience (CGS; https://www.geoscience.org.za/), Nelson Mandela University (NMU; https://www.mandela.ac.za/) and the University of Cape Town (UCT; https://www.uct.ac.za/), our lab helped to organise and run the South African leg of the Training School on Methods in Applied Earth and Aquatic Sciences (Train-ME2 Connect) geoscience summerschool in November 2021. The school comprised a 7-day field school for geoscience students from across nine African countries to provide training in bio- and geo-scientific fieldwork sampling in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the school provided training in measurement techniques of physical and chemical parameters, sampling of plankton and benthos, sampling of sediment surface, coring techniques to recover long and continuous sediment sequences on land, and palaeolimnological evaluation methods. It incorporated e-learning components and promoted cultural exchange. During the summer school the participants brainstormed ideas for a Science Spaza theme and helped with the production of media content to promote natural science to school learners.

Students practice stratigraphic mapping in a swamp forest at Mtunzini 

Students visiting the West Coast Fossil Park (Photo credits: Hayley Cawthra) 

Students conducting fieldwork in the Berg River Estuary at Velddrif (Photo credits: Lauren Pretorius) 

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