Marine researcher takes top science award

One of the science community's top prizes for young researchers, the S2A3 Bronze Medal, has gone to UCT's Rébecca Rademeyer from the mathematics and applied mathematics department.

A researcher in the Marine Resource Assessment and Management Group, Rademeyer's winning work encompasses the assessment of the management procedures for the important hake stocks off the southern African coast.

The annual prize is conferred on South Africa's top master's students in science and is sponsored by S2A3. It is awarded annually by the South African Association for the Advancement of Science and carries a generous R15 000 purse.

Her master's thesis examines the hake fisheries off South Africa and Namibia, a valuable resource in terms of revenue and employment. The work considers the current assessment and management of the fisheries, comprising both shallow- and deep-water species.

Rademeyer has an excellent track record; she graduated with an MSc in applied mathematics (with distinction) in 2003, having built on a first-class BSc honours in marine biology and zoology. She obtained her BSc with distinction and made the Dean's Merit List from 1997 to 1999, winning the class medal for Introduction to Biological Modelling in 1998.

It seems water is her element. Out of the academic environment, Rademeyer is an avid underwater hockey player and was a member of the South African Underwater Hockey team in 2004.