I came to the SPIBES programme with a background in agronomy, focused on soil and water, and a belief that science alone is not enough to address the biodiversity and ecosystem challenges facing Africa. What I found in SPIBES confirmed that belief — and gave me the tools to do something about it.
For me, CABES is the finest programme in the world on the science-policy-practice interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services. That is not a claim I make lightly. The programme equipped me with skills I had not anticipated needing but now consider essential. It taught me how to show initiative — not as an abstract quality, but as something built into every activity, every collaboration, every research challenge we encountered together.
Most importantly, SPIBES taught me how to achieve meaningful integration across science, policy and practice. That means using transdisciplinary research methods that bring together the quantitative and the qualitative, and — critically — that bring together a range of stakeholders: academics and non-academics alike. The problems we face are too complex for any one elite to solve. We need to come together, share knowledge, and co-produce solutions that are grounded in the realities of the communities most affected.
The programme has also helped me grow as a person. I developed intercultural and transcultural skills through working alongside students and experts from across Africa and beyond — learning not just from what was taught, but from who I was learning alongside. SPIBES has made me a more innovative thinker, a more rigorous researcher, and a more effective problem solver. It has expanded my network in ways that will continue to shape my career long after graduation.
