Debbie Abel has a BSc Hons in ‘Geology and Applied Geology’ from the old University of Natal. She is professionally registered with SACNASP and a full member of the SA Institute of Engineering and Environmental Geologists (SAIEG), gaining 30+ years’ experience in private consulting and local government. Training in a small but vibrant specialist geotechnical consultancy allowed a wide range of project experience including but not limited to roads, pipelines, bridges, tunnels, residential and commercial developments, dams, slope stability / landslides, landfills, cemeteries, contaminated land, waste water disposal and groundwater. In 2010, she decided life wasn’t busy enough and enrolled for (and was eventually awarded) a Masters in Environmental Management from University of Free State; the ever increasing environmental component to any and all projects was often intimately related to the geology and she wanted to know ‘how the other half lived’ on these inter-disciplinary professional teams. This was all ideal preparation for the local government setting she currently finds herself in where the engineering geologist has to be a Jack-of-all-trades dealing with many and varied departments.

Leonie Berjak has a background in earth sciences and law. She completed her BSc(Hons) in environmental geology and her MSc in Environmental and Engineering Geology through the University of Natal, Durban. With an aim of working in environmental management, Leonie opted to continue her studies within the legal field, completing an LLB through UNISA and an LLM in environmental law through the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. Throughout her studies and employment Leonie has had a bias towards water and land use planning issues. She has worked in the Environmental Management space for over 25 years primarily in the private sector working for engineering companies, and as a consultant to mining companies, law firms and individuals. She has recently joined Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife within the IEM Section - Conservation Planning.

Matthys Dippenaar joined the University of Pretoria in 2007 after six years in industry. He completed his MSc in 2010 and PhD in 2014 and became an associate professor in 2020. He is an engineering geologist and hydrogeologist with a research focus on vadose zone hydrology looking specifically into highly variable unsaturated flow through soil, fractured rock, karst, the soil-rock interface, and altered and made ground. Socioeconomic and environmental considerations are part of my research, and all projects have MSc and/ or PhD students who publish as part of their outcomes. His latest projects revolve around water movement through the vadose zone with vertical and spatial heterogeneity and engineered materials, as well as the geotechnical implications of highly variable moisture contents.

Rowena is a soil scientist with 14 years’ experience in the soil science field, conducting numerous, soil, wetland and hydropedology assessments for a variety of development types across South Africa, Swaziland, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has recently submitted her PhD as a joint PhD candidate at the University of the Free State and the University of Burgundy in France. Her research is focused on the interactions of dissolved organic carbon and hydropedology at a catchment scale.