Above picture: Beate Hölscher; Mouse-Free Marion Project Research and Reporting Officer
The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project takes pleasure in welcoming Beate Hölscher as one of its two newly appointed Research and Reporting Officers. She joins Liezl Pretorius to form a team that works closely with the Project Development Officer, Tarryn Havemann. Beate is responsible for activities relating to institutional funding, foundations and trusts. With Liezl, she assists with maintaining donor databases, communication with project donors, researching grant opportunities, grant writing, and the preparation of information for meetings and presentations.
Beate is an ecologist, research coordinator and science communicator with 28 years of experience in environmental research and scientific support across several thematic areas. She received her tertiary education at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, commencing with a BSc in Zoology and Nature Conservation awarded in 1990. In 2022 she received an MPhil cum laude from the university’s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) with the dissertation title “What motivates participation in citizen science? The case of the Nylsvley Woodland Bird Census”.
Beate’s more recent work experience encompasses lecturing in nature conservation, scribing for academic conferences, strategy planning sessions and workshops, and as a Research Administrator for the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) for over eight years. Previously, she has been the Information Officer for the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s National Herbarium in Pretoria. During 2003/04 she served as Ecologist and Field Guide on Fregate Island in the Seychelles and before that she was a biotechnician with the South African National Parks (SANParks). A varied, productive and interesting career!
Beate Hölscher bird watching
Beate writes: “To be involved in the Mouse-Free Marion Project and to contribute to this very important cause is a huge privilege and the best legacy one could leave in a lifetime.” A sentiment that echoes those of her fellow team members.
Based in South Africa’s Gauteng Province, Beate is fluent in spoken and written German, as well as in English and Afrikaans. In addition to her many skills, her fluency in German will be of great value to the project as it works towards the eradication of Marion Island’s introduced House Mice, given its existing and potential supporters who reside in Germany.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 06 August 2024
*****************************************************************************************
A Grey-headed Albatross colony at Grey-headed Albatross Ridge, Marion Island; photograph and poster design by Michelle Risi
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
