Bettine van Vuuren
Bettine van Vuuren is the Registrar and a Member of the Executive at the University of Johannesburg. She is also a Professor of Zoology and Director of the Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation at the University of Johannesburg.
Early life and education
Bettine van Vuuren studied at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She was awarded a PhD in Zoology on the topicShe subsequently relocated to Stellenbosch University following a postdoctoral position at the University of Montpellier II, France. Her research focused on game mammals in French Guiana and the results contributed towards the development of hunting laws for the protection of Neotropical game species. She was invited to become a core team member of the Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology .
In 2011, she accepted a position at the University of Johannesburg, and in 2016 / 2017, was awarded a University of Johannesburg research center. In 2021, she became the Senior Director: Strategic Initiatives and Administration, and in 2023 the Registrar at the University of Johannesburg. She has been involved with the supervision of more than fifty PhD and MSc students and has hosted more than ten postdoctoral fellows.
Career and impact
van Vuuren believes that aspects of her research must have practical conservation and management application. She has driven research documenting genetic patterns for several of Africa's economically important game species. Through ongoing interaction, she feeds her research back to nature conservation, industry and the general public. To this end, she was involved with the Draft Regulations for the Biodiversity Act as the Coordinator for the listing on invasive vertebrate species and was largely responsible, in collaboration with Dr Preston, for the listing of mammal species and associated distribution maps. She serves, when required, as a scientific adviser to the Department of Environmental Affairs: Directorates Biodiversity and Conservation, as well as Environmental Programmes. She is also a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa Standing Committee on STEMI.In addition to studying spatial patterns on the African continent, her research has a strong Antarctic / sub-Antarctic focus. She has worked extensively on Marion Island as a project leader and was the first female Chief Scientist in the South African National Antarctic Programme's annual relief voyage in 2006. She serves as the Chair of the South African Committee for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and the South African Delegate to SCAR. She was one of the deputy chairs to a SCAR Scientific Research Programme, the Alternate South African representative to SCAR Life Sciences, and the South African representative on a SCAR Action Group on Integrated Science for the Sub-Antarctic.
She has strong national and international collaborations.