Staff, Students & Associates

Conservation Biology Masters Students (2012/13)

Christine (Chrissie) Madden

Email: chrissie.madden@uct.ac.za

Chrissie was born in Johannesburg, and moved to Australia in 1991 for three years with her family. Back in South Africa, each holiday was spent in the bush, where she explored and grew to love southern Africa’s landscapes. With frequent visits to Zimbabwe and Botswana, Chrissie gained an interest in conservation and all fields of biological sciences. After completing her BSc at Rhodes University in Botany and Environmental Science, she came to UCT, specialising in Botany - Ecology and Ecophysiology for her Honours degree. With the assistance of her supervisor, Timm Hoffmann, she co-authored a paper focusing on the impacts of indigenous ungulates in the Little Karoo. A few smaller projects kept her busy in Cape Town, from volunteering on hake surveys aboard the Nansen to observing baboons at Cape Point. After completing Honours she worked in South Korea for two years teaching English, where she learned about East Asian culture as well as travelled in South East Asia. Keen to see more of the world, she travelled for eight months from Mexico to Argentina, visiting several diverse ecosystems, including tropical rainforests, the Galapagos and the Patagonian Andes. During the Conservation Biology course she hopes to gain the skills that will help her to better understand, manage and conserve ecosystems. When she is not in the classroom, Chrissie enjoys fishing, hiking, and diving.