Scientific update
Southern African YSSP: Scientific Proceedings
The individual scientific papers of the Proceedings are a summation of each individual's work during the 3-month YSSP Program.
Please note that these contributions are not full papers and have not yet been reviewed by supervisors. They are presented as a matter of record and to give an idea of the scope of the SA-YSSP Program, now in its second year. Check back to see the progress of these young scientists's work, as many of them hope ultimately to have their full papers peer-reviewed and published.
The SA-YSSP is based on the innovative Research in Triplets framework developed at IIASA, through which IIASA scholars partner with regional colleagues, usually on a pairwise basis, to jointly supervise young scientists on a project that is relevant to the supervisors’ research agenda and related to the young scientist’s doctoral research program.
In total, 20 young scientists representing 12 different nations by citizenship, and an additional 5 by residence, were supervised by 11 IIASA senior scholars and a similar number of South African senior researchers. Please note these Proceedings have received limited or no review from supervisors and IIASA program directors, and the views and results expressed therein do not necessarily represent IIASA, its National Member Organizations, or other organizations supporting the work.
Vulnerability to climate change in Southern Africa: Can smallholder farmers survive the threat of food insecurity?
Sunday Y. Hosu presents a study characterizing the present and future vulnerability of smallholder farming households in contrasting agro-ecological zones in Eastern Cape Province. More
Exploration of flow model of aquatic ecosystems based on experimental data
Frederic Isingizwe studies how donor-control and recipient-control models fit to experimental data individually and how they compare to one another. More
Demographic variables influencing criminal engagement, with specific reference to educational disengagement
John Lupwana Kandala analyzes criminal engagement by identifying demographic aspects that might contribute to the phenomenon, with specific reference to education. More
Energy poverty: Reconciling safety and health dimensions in South Africa
David Kimemia of the University of Johannesburg investigates the interface between energy poverty and energy incidents, using quantitative analysis approaches on energy access and injuries data. More
Fisheries-induced disruptive selection
Pietro Landi assesses how the interplay between natural and artificial selection, in the simplest setting in which fishery and stock co-evolve, could lead to trait diversification due to disruptive selection. More
Techno-economic analysis of microgrid for universal electricity access in Eastern Cape, South Africa
Omowunmi Mary Longe finds that a standalone microgrid can be used to achieve electricity access in rural off-grid areas of developing countries. More
Assessing the energy content of unutilized organic waste in South Africa
Brian Washington Mandikiana makes a quantitative assessment of the carbon content in the current amount of organic waste generated in South Africa to help establish the feasibility of adding biogas into the country’s energy mix. More
Future of world crude oil demand, supply, and price under different environmental scenarios
Amin Masoumzadeh summarizes his YSSP project in which he modeled long-term world crude oil supply and demand, and subsequently the global oil price. More
Adaptive dynamics of trait diversification in mutualistic networks
Henintsoa Onivola Minoarivelo studies the interplay between the effect of mutualistic interactions on the coevolution of phenotypic traits and how phenotypic character change influences the way species interact. More
Using multicriteria decision analysis to develop solutions to water and energy problems in South Africa
Avelino Mondlane describes how his knowledge of advanced systems analysis was furthered by using multicriteria decision analysis to quantitatively assess South African water and energy challenges. More
Social learning in climate change adaptation initiatives in South Africa
Shakespear Mudombi assesses the evidence for social learning in climate change adaptation initiatives, past and present, in South Africa, and looked at the the enablers and obstacles to the use of social learning in this context. More
Assessment of robustness indicators for ecological networks
Joyita Mukherjee carries out ecological network analysis to explore whole system interactions using a case study of one South African estuary, the Mdloti and in two different seasons. More
Value measurement analysis of energy trade-offs in South Africa
Valentina Prado-Lopez considers three main thermal electricity-generation technologies as the most viable options for an energy transition period. More
Adaptation measures in complex social-ecological systems challenge their sustainability in Africa
V.H. van Zyl-Bulitta investigates negative externalities of adaptation plans on a conceptual level in the African context through direct engagement with stakeholders in in-depth interviews. More
CONTACT DETAILS
Principal Research Scholar Exploratory Modeling of Human-natural Systems Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Principal Research Scholar Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Principal Research Scholar Cooperation and Transformative Governance Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program