Water Wheel May/June 2021: Helendallas

Abstract

Helen Dallas – A career dedicated to the conservation of southern Africa’s freshwater systems Over the past three decades, Dr Helen Dallas has made a significant impact on the advancement of freshwater science in South Africa, so it may come as a surprise that she started out as a desert ecologist. Sue Matthews spoke to her about her career achievements and challenges. After completing her Honours degree at Rhodes University in 1987, Dallas spent 18 months as a research assistant at the Desert Ecological Research Unit in Gobabeb, Namibia, then went backpacking for a year before finishing her time overseas with a six-month scholarship at the Mitrani Centre for Desert Research in Israel. Soon after her return to South Africa at the end of 1990, she visited the Zoology Department at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where she’d done her undergraduate degree, in the hope of finding a job.

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