Palmer gets gold
Prof Tally Palmer was awarded the Gold Medal of the South African Society of Aquatic Scientists (SASAQS) recently, in recognition of her outstanding career in freshwater research, teaching and policy development.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Tally has been the most effective and influential “game-changer” of her generation of aquatic scientists. Respected and listened to by her peers, by water managers and by policy makers up to national ministerial level, Tally has been instrumental in main streaming environmental water science into practice in a number of areas,” said past recipient Dr Jay O’Keeffe, a research associate in the Institute for Water Research at Rhodes University.
Palmer’s science has always been applied, and is increasingly transdisciplinary as she embraces the need for all sorts of skills and expertise to tackle the mounting challenges of sustainable management of South Africa’s water resources.
She was a founder member of the Institute for Water Research (IWR), which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary. As she developed her interests in water quality and ecotoxicology, she initiated and directed the Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality (UCEWQ), within the IWR, in 2000. In 2005 she moved to Australia, becoming Professor of Water Resources, Director of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resource Management, and Director of the Centre for Ecotoxicology at the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS). She returned to South Africa in 2008.
Since the mid-1990’s, Palmer’s personal research has focused within the stressorresponse domain, where she has contributed to the use of increased “environmental realism” in experimental ecotoxicology, particularly in regard to salt as a toxicant and salinisation as a stressor exacerbated by climate change.
She has written 51 peer-reviewed papers, five book chapters, and 13 papers in conference proceedings, as well as many national reports for the Water Research Commission and Department of Water Affairs.
On Palmer’s return from Australia, Minister Edna Molewa invited her to serve as chairperson on the National Water Advisory Council, which she did from 2011 to 2014, becoming the primary source of scientific advice for the minister.
The SASAQS conference was held in Skukuza in the Kruger National Park from 26 to 30 June.
Palmer joins several other historical recipients from Rhodes University of this prestigious national award including Brian Allanson and Jay O’Keeffe.