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The 60th Congress of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) was recently held in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal, drawing around 160 delegates from across Southern Africa. The programme also featured local and international speakers from the United Kingdom, Kenya, the United States, and Benin.
According to Prof Kevin Kirkman, chair of the organising committee, the GSSA was founded in Pietermaritzburg in 1966, and milestone congresses are traditionally hosted in or near the city.
Follow this link to watch a highlight video of the 2025 Grasslands Society congress.
Celebrating excellence
“Planning a programme for such a significant event takes considerable effort,” he explained. “We wanted to maintain the high standard of presentations that our congress is known for, while also inviting speakers to reflect on our history and provide perspective on future directions. We also focused on themes relevant to the region – for example, how rangeland management in the Umgeni catchment, which supplies water to millions of people, influences both water supply and quality.”
South Africa has a vibrant scientific community in the rangeland field, Prof Kirkman noted, and the congress provided an important platform for researchers to share their work. The organising committee received a large number of submissions to choose from.
The programme offered three presentation formats: standard 15-minute talks, poster sessions, and a new five-minute format designed to give researchers a chance to present to a broader audience than posters typically reach. As a hybrid event, the congress also allowed remote participation, extending the reach of these sessions.
The GSSA’s mission is to advance the ecology and management of African rangelands and pastures in a changing world by:
- Publishing high-quality, relevant research.
- Hosting a dynamic and professional annual congress featuring rigorous scientific papers.
- Facilitating the translation of science into policy and practice.
- Developing human capacity in rangeland and pasture education and management.
- Providing a forum for transdisciplinary debate between production systems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
- Helping decision-makers understand the links between ecosystem services, global change, sustainability, and human wellbeing
This year’s programme was organised around key themes covering arid and desert ecosystems, biodiversity and conservation, climate change and carbon, communal rangelands, fire ecology, invasive species, livestock and game management, cultivated pastures and feeding ecology, and rangeland ecology, management, and restoration.
Two full-day workshops were also presented: one on publishing and editing skills for ecology researchers and practitioners, and another on nature-based solutions in rangeland management.
Awards and leadership
A highlight of the congress was the gala dinner and awards evening, where outgoing president Dr Ntuthuko Mkhize of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) formally handed over the reins to the newly elected president, Dr Michelle Tedder, also from UKZN.
Three prestigious awards were presented during the event. Prof Kirkman received the GSSA Prestige Award in recognition of his lifetime of dedicated service. Based at the UKZN, Prof Kirkman has made outstanding contributions to ecology and environmental science. He currently serves as professor of Grassland Science and has previously held several senior leadership roles, including Head of the former School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, and Dean of Research for the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science.
Throughout his career, he has been a leading figure in rangeland science. His work is marked by impactful mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an enduring commitment to conserving and strengthening the resilience of grassland ecosystems.
Young Scientist Award
Dr Lindokuhle Dlamini of Rhodes University received he GSSA Young Scientist Award. He completed his BSc in Environmental Science at the UKZN in 2014, followed by a Master’s degree in Ecological Sciences in 2017. In 2020, he embarked on a joint PhD programme between the University of the Free State – under the supervision of Prof Elmarie Kotze – and the Université de Bourgogne. This was made possible through a bursary from NRF-SAEON EFTEON’s Professional Development Programme (PDP), which also gave him access to the NRF-SAEON’s Cathedral Peak Research platform and datasets. This enabled him to conduct research abroad, a milestone that significantly advanced both his academic and professional journey.
After successfully completing his PhD in 2023/24, Dr Dlamini was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship with SAEON. Soon thereafter, he was offered a position at Rhodes University and is now a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Science. In his new role, he has quickly established himself as a mentor, encouraging his students to gain practical experience and refine their projects by engaging with SAEON platforms – thus extending to them the same opportunities presented by these sites that he had benefitted from.
Honorary life membership
Dave Goodenough has been awarded honorary life membership of the GSSA in recognition of his outstanding contributions to forage science and the society. A dedicated member since 1971, he has devoted more than five decades to advancing the field and supporting the GSSA’s objectives.
He began his career in 1966 at the age of 19 as a technician at Cedara, where he played a vital role in supporting forage breeding programmes. Rising through the ranks, he was appointed project leader for all forage crop breeding at Cedara in 1983, a position he held until his retirement in 2018.
His distinguished career is highlighted by the successful development and release of more than 45 forage cultivars across a wide range of species, including Italian and Westerwold ryegrass, fodder radish, hybrid ryegrass, and Eragrostis. Many of these remain integral to South African livestock production systems today.
Looking ahead
According to the newly elected president, Dr Michelle Tedder, the original aim of the GSSA was to bring producers, land users, and researchers together to optimise research findings and make them practically applicable.
“In my tenure as president,” she explains, “I want to reinvigorate these core aims of the society. During Covid, we unfortunately lost some of the valuable connectivity and interaction with land users. It’s time to restore those relationships by re-engaging with our provincial agricultural departments, listening to the needs of land users, and ensuring that our research not only reaches them but also supports the work they do.” – Izak Hofmeyr, Stockfarm
For more information, visit the Grassland Society of Southern Africa at www.grassland.org.za
