Partners and Collaborators

Active and open collaboration is an important part of our strategy in the EucXylo program. We see linkages with the best possible people as the best possible route to success.  EucXylo requires expertise in a broad range of areas, and it is not feasible to have a full range of expertise in one person; or certainly, it’ll be very hard to find such a person!  But it’s very possible to pull together a great team from the huge pool of talent at Stellenbosch University. This is what we’ve done!

The EucXylo research program works with scientists from across Stellenbosch University’s faculties of AgriScience, Engineering and Science:

• Prof David Drew (program leader; xylogenesis & process modeling)
• Dr Paul Hills at the Institute for Plant Biotechnology
• Prof Guy Midgley at the Department of Botany and Zoology in the Faculty of Science
• Prof Hugh Patterton, Director of the Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Dr. Andie de Villiers, Prof Nick Hale, and Prof Willie Brink at Applied Mathematics
• Dr John Moore, an expert in cell wall formation, based at the Department of Viticulture and Oenology
• Prof Martin Nieuwoudt, head of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering
• Dr Annie Bekker at the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
• Dr. Luvuyo Tyhoda,  Prof Ben Du Toit, and Prof Martina Meincken at the Department of Forest and Wood Science
• Prof. Thinus Booysen at the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Such a diversity of skills at the University is extremely valuable for all researchers who are working within the EucXylo Chair. Students who are part of EucXylo will be able to easily access the extremely broad availability of expertise and facilities in the University through these partnerships.

We also work closely with an expanding network of South African and international experts. Some of our collaborators and friends are:

• Prof Kathy Steppe at Ghent University, Belgium
• Dr. Cyrille Rathgeber at INRA, France
• Dr. Jacob Crous at SAPPI Forests Research, South Africa
• Dr. Geoff Downes at Forest Quality Inc., Australia
• Dr. Ilaria Germishuizen at ICFR, South Africa
• Prof Jim Hanan at University of Queensland, Australia
• Prof Thomas Seifert at University of Freiburg, Germany
• Prof Jerry Vanclay at Southern Cross University, Australia
• Prof Jan van den Bulcke at Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium
• Mélissa Rousseau, Scientific collaborator at the Royal Africa Museum, Belgium.

We are also proud members of the new Q-Net network of scholars using Quantitative Wood Anatomy.