Nico is a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated scientist and a Research Associate of the Centre for Environmental Management (CEM), University of the Free State (UFS). He is a small mammal ecologist with extensive field experience, working on a wide variety of rodents and their predators. Nico joined the National Museum in 1995. He collaborates on national and international research projects, and lectures to and supervises both undergraduate and post-graduate students. He has conducted research over a wide area in Southern Africa, at the Prince Edward Islands, and in Cambodia.

Dr. Rudolph is a researcher in the Department of Geography and her areas of interest are geography and geomorphology, including process geomorphology and fieldwork techniques in data collection. Her research also includes geomorphological mapping, landscape analysis and visualisation; dating techniques in earth-surface processes and denudation rates (e.g., cosmogenic nuclide exposure); and glacial and peri-glacial geomorphology, in particular sub-Antarctic, Antarctic, and high mountain environments.

As a researcher I am mainly interested in answering biological problems using genetic methods. Both my BSc and BSc Honours were completed at the University of Venda where my honours project focused on the sequence analysis of the interleukin-4 receptor gene in HIV patients in Limpopo province, South Africa. After graduating in 2014, I joined the MIMMP as a sealer/killer whaler for the M71 over-wintering team (2014 – 2015) and I was hooked. Since then, I have been a member of three more teams (M74, 2017 – 2018; M77 and M78 September 2020 – May 2022) as a sealer. In between those expeditions I completed my MSc degree at the University of Pretoria within the Marion Island Marine Mammal Programme (MIMMP) examining population genetics of fur seals at Marion and Gough Islands. Yinhla Shihlomule is a Top Predator coordinator at the South African Polar Research Infrastructure working with marine mammals and seabirds from Marion Island. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Pretoria, where his research focuses on the genetics of southern elephant seals from Marion Island.

Dr. Marike Stander earned her BSc in Geology in 2005, followed by a BSc Honours in Geology in 2006. In 2015 she secured a Master's degree in Environmental Management, where she received the Maitland Seaman Award for Best Master's Student. In 2023, she obtained her Geography PhD by researching the origin of sediment sources based on erodible soil types. Dr. Stander's career journey began as an exploration geologist in Groblersdal in 2007, transitioning to an environmental assessment practitioner in 2013. In 2020, Marike assumed the position of lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State. Additionally, Dr. Stander has been an integral part of the planetarium team since its inauguration in 2013, actively contributing as a presenter, with her keen interest in astronomy and knowledge of earth sciences.