SEEC Celebrates a Decade of Academic Excellence at 2024 Student Symposium
The Centre for Statistics in Ecology, the Environment and Conservation (SEEC) marked a significant milestone in May with the SEEC 2024 Student Symposium, coinciding with the celebration of its tenth anniversary. This landmark event highlighted the centre's dedication to academic excellence and education.
SEEC, an inter-departmental grouping based at the University of Cape Town, aims to be the leading group in statistical ecology and environmental analytics within South Africa. It serves as a hub connecting statisticians and biological/environmental scientists to address crucial environmental questions with cutting-edge statistical methods.
Highlighting SEEC student research
The symposium featured a series of presentations from SEEC students, showcasing their latest research endeavours. Two former SEEC postdocs who became world-leading statistical ecologists presented keynote addresses during which they reminisced about the role SEEC played in their own journey and achievements as academics. Topics of the presentations of the day ranged from animal-borne video analysis to flood forecasting, reflecting the diverse and impactful work being conducted at SEEC. The presentations underscored the centre's commitment to fostering a new generation of statistical ecologists and environmental statisticians.
Wataru Tokura, a PhD student at SEEC, was awarded the winning presentation for his research entitled 'Mapping Bare Ground in the Nama Karoo biome'. His study produced a monthly bare ground layer for the biome using ground imagery and satellite datasets through a machine learning approach. Reflecting on his achievement, Wataru said, "I am delighted to have been selected for the award. I hope that my research at the SEEC will be invaluable to conservation efforts in the Karoo".
Celebrating 10 years of research
Following the academic presentations, attendees transitioned to a celebratory gathering, honouring SEEC's decade of contributions to education and research. The atmosphere was one of pride and reflection, celebrating the collective efforts that have established SEEC as a leading institution in the field.
“Our ecosystems are under increasing pressure from climate change, land-use change and other factors. With less room to manoeuvre, having the right type of information available is critical for decision-making. New developments in statistics and data science are giving us the tools to make sense of the increasing streams of environmental data that are being collected. It’s exciting times to be a statistical ecologist,” say Res Altwegg, SEEC director.
As SEEC looks to the future, the success of the 2024 Student Symposium and the tenth-anniversary celebration serves as a testament to its ongoing mission: to serve as a hub connecting statisticians and biological/environmental scientists to address crucial ecological questions with cutting-edge statistical methods.