The University of Cape Town invites you to an inaugural lecture
by Professor Emese Bordy.

Professor Emese Bordy from the Department of Geological Science will present her inaugural lecture titled Reconstructing Dynamic Palaeoecosystems from Karoo Sedimentary.

South Africa’s Karoo Basin is a globally significant continental archive preserving records of ancient climates, ecosystems, and evolutionary events over 120 million years. In this inaugural lecture, I present my integrated research combining sedimentology and ichnology to reconstruct dynamic palaeo-ecosystems from Karoo sedimentary rocks. Selected case studies reveal how trackways record locomotion and community structure, how organisms responded to massive volcanic eruptions and major climatic upheavals, and how habitat transformations unfolded. Positioned within broader themes of climate change, biodiversity loss, and geoheritage, this work redefines the Karoo as an active laboratory offering deep-time lessons for ecological resilience and sustainability.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Professor Bordy’s research focuses on the quantification of the palaeo-ecological processes as archived in the world-famous rock record of southern Africa.

She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of Earth scientists, having supervised scores of postgraduate students. She is an NRF B2-rated scientist, the past recipient of the UCT Science Faculty Established Teacher as well as the Outstanding Article Awards from the South African Journal of Science.

She enjoys her editorial work at various academic journals as well as scientific writing and illustrating. She is the current Deputy Dean for Undergraduate Matters in the Faculty of Science, UCT.