Nanike is a nature-enthusiast with formal training in the field of conservation ecology and entomology (B.Sc. and M.Sc., Stellenbosch University). Over the past 8 years she has taken part in several scientific research projects with topics ranging between ecology, invasion biology, entomology, physiology and pest management. Besides conducting her own independent research as a post-graduate student, she has also assisted many students and staff at Stellenbosch University with their fieldwork, lab work and data collection. Nanike has also worked internationally as a research assistant at Lund University in Sweden, where she assisted with a long-term damselfly population dynamics study for two months. In 2014 she was employed by the National Research Foundation in the DST-NRF Internship Programme with the Botany and Zoology department at Stellenbosch University as her host institution. Here she is working as a research assistant for the Wossler Behavioural Ecology group.

 

For her PhD, Nanike is studying honey production along the West Coast of South Africa. She aims to identify unique botanical, physicochemical and antibacterial characteristics of sandveld honey that will apeal to elite honey consumers.