MARINE SCIENCE AND BIOLOGY

Biography:

Dr. Rashieda Toefy (PhD) studied Zoology at the University of Cape Town and went on to complete a PhD at the University of the Western Cape. She has a PhD focusing on marine ecology and the use of Foraminifera in monitoring marine pollution. She works at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa as a lecturer and is currently the Head of the Department in the Department of Conservation and Marine Sciences. She works on the ecology and biodiversity of marine near shore ecosystems, particularly in the benthic environment with some focus on factors affecting the distribution of these organisms. She has a broad ecological and abiotic knowledge of marine ecosystems in South Africa and studies that she has been involved in have even extended to the field of marine aquaculture. She has been involved in the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) internationally in the foraminifera working group as well as in the being appointed in SCOR South Africa to evaluate projects for funding. She has also evaluated projects within the field of biology for the National Research Fund (NRF) in South Africa. She has reviewed publications for Marine Pollution Bulletin. She has attended a wide variety of national and international scientific conferences and has been involved in the organization of the U6 international conference in Cape Town, as the secretariat, this conference brings together many universities throughout Africa to foster collaborations and sharing of resources.

Research Interests:

Study interests include marine biodiversity and marine pollution particularly in trace metals as well as studies in Foraminifera. Ecology and biodiversity of marine near shore ecosystems, particularly in the benthic environment with some focus on factors affecting the distribution of these organisms.