Welcome Wesley Bell

We would like to give a warm welcome to Wesley Bell who has recently joined us as a PhD Candidate in conservation ecology under the supervision of Prof. M. Timm Hoffman. Wesley's research will focus on the threats and opportunities posed by land degradation in Namaqualand.

Having grown up in Botswana, Wesley was fortunate to spend many childhood holidays camping in some of the remarkable reserves that the country has to offer. These experiences instilled in him a passion for nature and the outdoors and have inspired a career in conservation. After completing an MSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town, Wesley started an internship with the WWF-SA Land Programme working primarily on investigating a more socially inclusive approach to the work of the programme. He then went off into the bush to complete a training course as a field guide on a Big 5 Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal before returning to Cape Town to pursue a PhD.

Under supervision of Prof. Timm Hoffman, Wesley will be working on developing a method to assess land degradation in the phenomenally diverse Namaqualand in order to assist conservation planners in this globally important region.

Welcome Wesley!