{"id":7673,"date":"2026-02-05T14:34:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/?p=7673"},"modified":"2026-02-05T15:43:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T13:43:18","slug":"new-director-for-the-centre-for-invasion-biology-at-stellenbosch-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/new-director-for-the-centre-for-invasion-biology-at-stellenbosch-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Centre for Invasion Biology welcomes new Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Centre for Invasion Biology (C\u00b7I\u00b7B)<\/a> has named Professor Tatenda Dalu as its new Director, who started his role in December 2025.<\/p>\n

A seasoned academic and leading researcher in freshwater ecology and invasion biology, Prof Dalu’s research<\/a> focuses how biodiversity reacts to environmental stressors such as invasive species, pollution, climate change, and land-use changes. His work uses field studies, biological monitoring, and applied science\u00a0to understand how ecosystems work and to support their conservation and management.<\/p>\n

Prof Dalu joined the C\u00b7I\u00b7B from the U<\/a>niversity of Mpumalanga<\/a>, where he established an internationally recognized research profile. Over the years, he has authored over 220 peer-reviewed articles on invasive species, freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem health, and environmental change \u2014 primarily within African landscapes.<\/p>\n

Prof Dalu has also mentored numerous PhD and MSc students, contributing to the development of future experts in the field. He holds leadership roles with SACNASP<\/a>, the British Ecological Society<\/a>, and ASRARP<\/a>, showing his involvement in the scientific community.<\/p>\n

For the past 20 years, the C\u00b7I\u00b7B has gained global recognition for its work on invasive species and for producing research that guides policy, builds skills, and improves understanding of biological invasions.<\/p>\n

With his blend of research excellence, leadership, and a deep understanding of Africa\u2019s environmental challenges, Prof Dalu will help the C\u00b7I\u00b7B grow its impact both in Africa and worldwide.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Prof Dalu emphasised that the C\u00b7I\u00b7B will continue to do innovative, multidisciplinary research on biological invasions and to turn research findings into tangible benefits beyond academia.<\/p>\n

\u201cA key focus moving forward will be to strengthen collaboration nationally and across Africa, foster stronger links between science, policy, and practice, and co-develop solutions to address the growing impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and livelihoods<\/em>,\u201d says Prof Dalu.<\/p>\n

The challenges highlighted by the IPBES assessment of invasive alien species in Africa<\/a> \u2014 such as lack of basic data, limited skills to identify invasive species, lack of long-term monitoring, and research gaps in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems \u2014 match Prof Dalu\u2019s goals for the C\u00b7I\u00b7B.<\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cBy focusing on skills development, supporting long-term monitoring, fostering cross-border collaboration, and producing research that informs policy, the C\u00b7I\u00b7B is well positioned to address these gaps and enhance invasive species management across Africa<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further noted that \u201cdeveloping the next generation of African invasion biologists, working closely with conservation groups, government, and industry, and increasing the C\u00b7I\u00b7B\u2019s continental reach will be central to our strategic vision<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof Dalu is married to Dr Mwazvita Dalu<\/a>, an accomplished academic in Environmental Sciences, and they have two daughters, Kimberley and Amelia. When he’s not sampling rivers or writing papers, Prof Dalu enjoys watching sports, travelling and time with family and friends.<\/p>\n

Welcome Professor Dalu!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Director for the Centre for Invasion Biology<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11009,"featured_media":7687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[86053,3256],"tags":[194,71741,71693,86055],"class_list":["post-7673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-86053","category-news","tag-centre-for-invasion-biology","tag-invasion-science","tag-ipbes","tag-new-director","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7673"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7689,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions\/7689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}