World-class environmental research platforms for a sustainable society
We are thrilled to announce that, after nearly three decades, this prestigious event returns to the African continent, with the vibrant city of Cape Town, South Africa, as our host. Last held in Africa in 1997, this conference marks a significant milestone as we gather once again to explore, discuss, and advance the understanding of meteorological and oceanographic sciences in the Southern Hemisphere.
South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is a long-term environmental observation and research facility of the National Research Foundation (NRF). SAEON’s three focus areas are environmental observation, data management and education outreach. The Department of Science and Innovation provides core funding for these activities.
SAEON has a distributed network of seven nodes, three research infrastructures and a national office. The research network covers the major terrestrial and marine ecosystems in South Africa and supports well over 100 researchers and students a year.
Title: Exploring French-southern African Research Partnerships
Presenter: Laurent Vidal (Director of the IRD/CNRS/CIRAD office in South Africa)
Laurent Vidal, an anthropologist, Senior Scientist at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and Director of the IRD/CNRS/CIRAD Joint Office in Pretoria, will lead a seminar exploring the ongoing research by IRD, CNRS, and CIRAD in South Africa. These three French public research institutes have been working in close partnership with South African universities and research centers on a wide range of topics, combining fundamental research and dialogue with society. The seminar will highlight a few emblematic examples in the fields of marine science and ecology. As a social scientist, he will also give his vision of the partnership.
You can view the presentation here
GIS for Educators and Learners: free online learning programme aligned to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements.
Presenters: Kogie Govender, Caitlin Ransom, Keneilwe Hlahane, and Rion Lerm
SAEON encompasses seven Research Nodes throughout South Africa and a National Office that is located in the country’s political capital of Pretoria.
SAEON manages three research infrastructures developed by the Department of Science and Innovation as part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR).
EFTEON aims to provide and operate a network of instrumented landscape-level platforms for the South African environmental research community, focused on socially relevant terrestrial landscapes and their coupled hydrological systems.
The SMCRI provides an array of instruments and physical research platforms around the coast of South Africa and its sub-antarctic islands to collect long-term reliable data for scientific research to help decision makers formulate appropriate environmental policies to lessen the risk and vulnerability of the coastal zone to climate and global change.
The SAPRI is designed as a consortium hosted at the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). The ultimate objective of SAPRI is to enable balanced research growth across the polar disciplines, and to maintain and further expand the world-class long-term observational datasets already established.
SAEON facilitates and conducts research through platforms and these have grown into a diverse array of sites, instruments, infrastructure, datasets, models and staff, widely distributed across both marine and terrestrial environments.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) invites members of the media to the 14th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology & Oceanography (ICSHMO) from 31 March to 4 April 2025 @ the Cape Town International Convention Centre
Marine scientists from the NRF-SAEON and NRF-SAIAB as well as other South African institutions* participate in the first leg of the Around Africa Expedition, a collaborative expedition endorsed as a contribution to the United Nations Ocean Decade.
NRF-SAEON hosted its first-ever Employee Recognition Awards, celebrating the achievements of our remarkable team. We would like to congratulate all the awardees for their contributions and excellence.
