Rate My Professor Gladman Thondhlana

Gladman Thondhlana is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University, where he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students. He completed his PhD in Environmental Science at Rhodes University in 2011 and was previously a PhD fellow in the Department of International Environment and Development Studies (NORAGRIC) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. His research centres on society and conservation, with interests in the links between wild natural resource access, use and household welfare, governance of protected landscapes, conservation conflicts and urban sustainability. In his work on urban sustainability, he has focused on energy use behaviour and waste management. His research addresses inequality, marginalisation and social injustice in the context of sustainable natural resource management and has received support from the National Research Foundation (South Africa), the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, Economic Research Southern Africa, the International Foundation for Science (Sweden), the Social Science Research Council (USA), the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Canada) and the International Science Council (France). He is a Teaching Advancements in Universities (TAU) fellow and recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016 and the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award in 2019. He has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on topics including illegal solid-waste dumping, household energy conservation, invasive plant species, drought impacts on smallholder farmers, livestock ecosystem services, plant-fibre crafts, urban sustainability through transdisciplinary research, water scarcity perceptions, and non-material costs of wildlife conservation. He has also contributed to books and guidelines on human-wildlife conflict and coexistence published by the IUCN.

Thondhlana previously served as Head of the Department of Environmental Science and Deputy Dean (Teaching, Learning and Community Engagement) in the Faculty of Science at Rhodes University. His contributions extend to editorial and committee roles in sustainability and conservation research, with a strong emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches to environmental challenges in southern Africa.