BITTEN IN TOP

JANE Mukarugwiza Olwoch has always been fascinated by nature.

She was captivated with how people, places and the planet are connected.

Her obsession with nature evolved into a career in environmental science.

“I was fascinated with how rain affected vegetation, how vegetation affected the condition of the crops and animals, and also how rainfall and temperature affected diseases,” Olwoch said.

Olwoch is managing director of earth observation at the South African National Space Agency (Sansa) and a climate change impact scientist.

Sansa is a state agency under the Department of Science and Technology and works with other departments, including Statistics South Africa, and offers specialised services to Eskom and Rand Water.

She leads a team of remote-sensing specialists, technologists and engineers to gather data they need.

Together with her team she ensures her directorate delivers programmes that offer research value from the data that they have captured.

She manages 41 staff members and is responsible for providing leadership and strategic goals for the directorate, and ensuring that these are aligned with Sansa’s overall goals.

Olwoch’s directorate distributes data captured to over 40 government departments, universities and research institutions in the country.

Married to an ear, nose and throat surgeon, the mother of two holds a PhD from the University of Pretoria and an MSc from the Medical University of Southern Africa.

She also studied botany and zoology at Makerere University in Uganda.

She was born in Rwanda and raised in Uganda after her parents left Rwanda as refugees in 1959.

She came to South Africa in 1991.

Olwoch worked at the University of Pretoria as a senior lecturer where she completed a PhD on the impact of climate change on ticks and