GCRO appoints 3 interns

  • GCRO
  • Date of publication: 01 June 2012

GCRO has appointed three interns for one year each, starting on 1 June 2012. The purpose of the internships is to provide post-graduates with the opportunity to gain meaningful workplace experience and to develop their skills in line with the research and other work objectives of the GCRO. The interns are:

For GIS and information systems
Kavesha Pillay-Damon has been appointed as a GIS intern. She has a BSc Honours degree (Geography) and Masters in Environment and Development (Land Information Management) which she completed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. During her studies, Kavesha was widely involved in the use of information systems such as GIS and remote sensing software, with her Masters dissertation researching land use change detection of small-scale sugarcane farming. Kavesha will be assisting with the GIS mapping and analysis of the extensive spatial data covering the GCR that GCRO has spent the past three years collating.

Kerry Bobbins holds a BSc Honours degree in Integrated Water Management and completed her MSc in Environmental Water Management in 2011. She completed her degrees at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where she was also a graduate assistant and practical administrator. Kerry has also worked on developing a form-process framework to identify and characterise alluvial fans in the Baviaanskloof Valley and has developed restoration guidelines to address water retention capacity issues in the valley. This work fed into broader project objectives spearheaded by a Dutch funded NGO, Living Lands, and the Eastern Cape Restoration Programme (ECRP). Kerry has recently returned from Wageningen University in The Netherlands having completed two additional Masters courses in Environmental Policy through the SKILL (Stimulating Knowledge Innovation through Life-long Learning) Programme.

For urban research and analysis
Potsiso Phasha holds a BSc Honours degree in Town & Regional Planning and has completed his MSc in Development Planning (graduating in July 2012). Potsiso completed his degrees at Wits where he was also a senior tutor and lecturer assistant. Potsiso has worked on reviewing local municipality spatial development frameworks and has undertaken research into the National Treasury National Development Partnership Grant. He has a strong interest in urban photography and was an active member of the Yeoville Studio, which is an initiative of the Wits School of Architecture and Planning. He has been the winner of several awards including the University of the Witwatersrand’s Post-Graduate Merit Award (2010/11); the Mallows-Pintoroux Prize for academic excellence; and the South African Planning Institute Award for ‘Innovative research method in understanding how urban youth perceive public space’ (2010). Potsiso has also recently returned from attending the Human Cities Symposium held in Belgium, where he presented his paper titled ‘Autophotography: a tool for recording ways in which street skaters and street artists have appropriated space in Johannesburg’.

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