Professor Ian Meiklejohn from Rhodes University gave the keynote address at our 2019 conference on 16 September.

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Bio

Ian Meiklejohn is the Principal Investigator of the SANAP/NRF-funded project "Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems" and is a professor in the Department of Geography at Rhodes University, South Africa. He also served as SAAG President from 2006-2008 and can be reached at i.meiklejohn@ru.ac.za.

 

Ian received (all from the then University of Natal [Pietermaritzburg]) his BSc (Geography & Chemistry) in 1983, followed by an HDE in 1984, an BScHons (Geography) in 1985, and his PhD in 1994. His PhD focused on "Aspects of the weathering of the Clarens formation in the KwaZulu/Natal Drakensberg: implications for the preservation of indigenous rock art". The research Ian has conducted has been diverse and includes the deterioration of rock art, periglacial geomorphology in southern Africa, geomorphology and climate change on Marion Island and in the Antarctic, landscape evolution on Marion Island, and modelling using Geographic Information Systems. Teaching has also been diverse and ranges from introductory Meteorology to Environmental Management, Environmental Change, Geomorphology and Applied Remote Sensing. Ian was responsible for the development of the first undergraduate GIS courses at the University of Pretoria, together with the re-establishment of Geomorphology as an academic field in the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, and played a role in starting the Centre for Environmental Science.  At Rhodes University he developed new undergraduate and Honours courses in Remote Sensing and Earth Observation, which are proving to be very successful.  His other undergraduate teaching is in Meteorology, Climatology and Geomorphology in an introductory course in Earth Science, for which he bares overall responsibility.

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His university education at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg was broken by a 5-year hiatus (when he did his National Service and taught Physical Science in Richards Bay to pay back a study-bursary) culminated in a PhD investigating the deterioration of indigenous rock art in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg.  He was subsequently appointed at the University of Pretoria in 1995 and progressed through the ranks to the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology.  He was then appointed as Professor in the Department of Geography at Rhodes University in 2010 and is the current Head of Department.  For an 18 month period, he was also head of both the Department of Geography and the Department of Geology.

 

As a young boy Ian grew up in the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, and discovered that a distant relative was Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who was a privateer on Robert Scott’s fatal expedition and author of the Antarctic classic "The Worst Journey in the World".  A passion for mountains and the Antarctic was a logical outcome. Ian F. Meiklejohn in John Rymill’s British Graham land expedition had the Meiklejohn Glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula named after him. It is not clear if he is a relative, but the coincidence makes a great story. So with the scene set, it turned out that Ian's professor and later friend and colleague, Kevin Hall at University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa was working in the Maritime Antarctic.  As such, Ian was amazingly fortunate to realise a childhood dream and take part in the British Antarctic Survey Mars Glacier Party in 1992/3 with Kevin; their contribution was recognised in the naming of Natal Ridge on Alexander Island. The immense scale of landscapes and icescapes, indescribable beauty, and silence of Antarctica are his addiction. He has also been fortunate to work in the Swedish Arctic through an association with colleague Jan Boelhouwers at Uppsala University.

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However, his initial research following appointment at Pretoria continued investigations initiated during his PhD (focusing on rock art), while interests in Periglacial Geomorphology only resulted in a few publications centred on the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg. The latter also arose to some extent from what he perceived as some poor science being conducted locally in the field. Investigations into rock painting deterioration in collaboration with academics from Northern British Columbia produced some ground-breaking findings and showed a need to shift focus from rock weathering at a centimetre and millimetre-scales to investigating the interface between pigments and the rock surface. The rock art field is, however, jealously guarded turf and left Ian disillusioned with barriers being continuously placed that prevented research that is potentially exciting.  Earlier, following the emigration of a colleague, he took over as Principal Investigator of a research project on Marion Island, which was extended to the Antarctic continent in a later successful proposal investigating Geomorphology and Climate Change. All Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research has been facilitated through the South African National Antarctic Programme. 

 

The Antarctic and Arctic are our global early-warning systems and the interactions of Geomorphology with the climate and biota are his fascination.  Many of the answers to the vexing questions around global environmental change are most likely to be found in the Polar Regions.  Following a season in the Antarctic with the British Antarctic Survey in 1992/3, while he was reading for his PhD, Ian subsequently developed a keen interest in Antarctic Geomorphology.  This was reinforced during exploratory periglacial geomorphology research conducted on nunataks in Western Dronning Maud Land, which commenced in 2006/7.  He found being PI for rock art and SANAP projects very onerous and time-consuming, especially considering that the SANAP work included both Marion Island and Antarctic work.  With that in mind, the focus of recent research was on terrestrial Geomorphology and its relationship to the biological diversity in the Antarctic. Three successful applications for the current cycle of funding originated from the projects for which he was PI.  Between 2012 and the end of 2018, his project on Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems produced 11 MSc and PhD degrees from Rhodes University and four MSc’s (who he did not supervise) at other Universities.  A thrill of his is passing on his love of the continent to the next generation of scientists and he has been fortunate to be part of several students fulfilling their Antarctic dreams.  Ian’s only regret is that his wife and children are not able to experience Antarctica with him.

 

Through his work in the Antarctic, Ian was also invited to become part of the International Campaign for the Poles.  Currently, only 200 persons have been invited and he is the first and only South African, and one of two geomorphologists to date who have been asked to join the campaign. The Campaign includes heads of state, explorers and several dignitaries. In addition to this, Ian was also the South African Delegate to the Scientific Committee (SCAR) on Antarctic Research for six years.  In addition, he is the current South African delegate to the International Permafrost Association (IPA) and a council member for the Antarctic Permafrost and Soils (ANTPAS) working group of the IPA and SCAR.

 

His research has resulted in 46 peer-reviewed journal articles, seven book chapters and monographs, a book editorship, three published conference presentations, and 101 conference presentations, among other research outputs.  According to citation statistics by Scopus, research from 45 of his publications has produced 666 citations and an H score of 15. Finally, Ian has also supervised or co-supervised 34 PhD and Masters students, and is currently supervising another eight.  Two of his ex-students are currently Full Professors, one is an Associate Professor, and another three are in academic Faculty positions.