Biography

Sandra MacFadyen is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Mathematical Biosciences Lab (BioMath) in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Stellenbosch University. She completed a joint-PhD in Botany with Stellenbosch University and Landscape Ecology with Vrije University Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 2018, and holds an MSc in Geographic Information Science and postgraduate degrees in Nature Conservation.

Sandra is also core team member of the EU funded Biodiversity Building Blocks for Policy Programme (B3), a research associate at the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) and the work-package (WP) leader for Ecological Complexity and Biodiversity (ECoBi) – WP1 in the Complexity in Biological Systems (E5) Research Programme focussed on Unravelling complexity in coupled Earth, Environ-mental, Ecological, Evolutionary and Economic systems.

Based in the Kruger National Park for >25 years with the Savanna Research Unit of South African National Parks (SANParks), Sandra is interested in macroscale ecosystem dynamics with an emphasis on applied spatial statistics for biodiversity conservation. Her research focuses on exploring the links between patterns and processes to develop a more holistic understanding of ecosystem dynamics in large protected areas. She is passionate about developing and encouraging the use of novel mathematical models to answer important ecological questions.