Staff, Students & Associates

Conservation Biology Masters Students (2011/12)

Lauren de Vos

Email: lauren.devos@uct.ac.za

Lauren grew up in Johannesburg, but the pull of the ocean drew her to UCT where she completed her undergraduate BSc in Environmental and Geographical Science. Passionate about wildlife and wild areas from an early age, she volunteered at the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT) Johannesburg headquarters during her undergraduate career, whilst her broad range of interests in the environmental field kept her busy as a field and laboratory assistant on diverse projects: investigating terrestrial invertebrate assemblages on Table Mountain, monitoring freshwater invertebrates in Western Cape rivers and aiding marine research for professors and PhD students in the Zoology department. Keen to tackle climate change awareness amongst the student generation, she helped set up the UCT Green Campus Initiative (GCI) and, as Chair of the organisation, travelled with the United Nations to Kenya and South Korea to set up student activist networks. Fascinated by animal behaviour, she undertook a BSc Hons in Zoology and investigated the role of dominance and learning in Chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) accessing residential waste bins – a hot topic on the Cape Peninsula that threw her into the heart of conservation and its associated politics! Lauren was selected to participate in the Duke University-Organisation for Tropical Studies (OTS) conservation and ecology programme, giving her practical experience in some of South Africa’s most beautiful parks and exposing her to a myriad of respected academics and contemporary research. With a key focus on issues of human/wildlife conflict, she has long hoped to follow a career path in the conservation field. Outside of academic time, Lauren loves surfing, diving and mountain biking, whilst keeping up her passion for literature, history, music and art.

Mini-thesis

Baited remote underwater video survey of reef fish in the Stilbaai marine protected area with an assessment of monitoring requirements (Supervisor: Colin Attwood). Graduated June 2012