FABI News

FABI Events

FABI in a nutshell

Research Features

The students and staff of the CPHB and the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) are involved in various outreach initiatives. These initiatives serve to educate and bring knowledge and information to people whether they are our future scientists or those supporting science in South Africa. The initiatives touch the lives of learners (both primary and high school), students at Higher Education Institutions and also the general public.

 
 

 

Mentorship programme

The vision for the CPHB includes a strong mentoring component, which is in part achieved with the CPHB Mentorship programme. In this programme undergraduate students are mentored by postgraduate students in the CPHB / TPCP. For this programme, undergraduate students who have the potential to follow long-term careers in science are specifically targeted. The Mentorship programme has numerous important areas of impact. Firstly, the undergraduate students in the programme are exposed to a strong culture of science in a programme that is internationally competitive. Secondly, by targeting undergraduate students, the Mentorship programme promotes postgraduate studies among its mentees, as well as their peers because they will most probably communicate some of their experiences to their peers. The end result is that the broader student body becomes better informed about what a career in science can offer them. Finally, the mentorship programme is also beneficial to postgraduate students. Having to mentor a student can be an important learning experience and being able to mentor young scientists is an essential element of any career in science or research.

National Science Week, ad hoc exhibitions and school visits

The CPHB student body is actively involved every year in the National Science Week. During this week, the CPHB students spark the enthusiasm of learners for science through the use of interesting, and sometimes outrageous, experiments. Students and staff of the CPHB are also regularly participating in official exhibitions and school visits during which they present their research and inform the public about the different research areas of the programme.

(See "Information Nuggets" for more interesting stories)

New Publications

Guignard Q, Johannes Spaethe, Bernard Slippers, Natasa Nikolic, Jeremy D. Allison. (2023) Eye morphology and colour preferences in a semi-field test of the pine pest, Sirex noctilio (Hymenoptera: Siricidae). African Entomology 31 10.17159/2254-8854/2023/a13406 PDF
Aylward J, Ngubane NP, Dreyer LL, Oberlander K, Wingfield MJ, Roets F. (2023) Convergent evolution unites the population genetics of Protea-associated ophiostomatoid fungi. Fungal Ecology 63:101242. 10.1016/j.funeco.2023.101242
Tarigan M, Pham NQ, Jami F, Oliveira LSS, Saha MA, Duran A, Wingfield MJ. (2023) Calonectria species diversity on eucalypts in Indonesia. Southern Forests: a Journal of Forest Science 10.2989/20702620.2023.2179441
Aylward J, Roets F, Dreyer LL, Wingfield MJ. (2023) Unseen fungal biodiversity and complex inter-organismal interactions in Protea flower heads. Fungal Biology Reviews 45:100317. 10.1016/j.fbr.2023.100317
Bose T, Hammerbacher A, Jones W, Roux J, Slippers B, Wingfield MJ. (2023) Hybrid vigor in Eucalyptus increases resistance against Phytophthora root rot. Mycological Progress 22:24. 10.1007/s11557-023-01877-6