Distinguished Professor Charlie Shackleton

With an original foundation in plant ecology, most of Professor Charlie Shackleton’s work over the last three decades has focused on the complex and often wicked problems at the nexus of human wellbeing, poverty, livelihoods and the use of plant resources.

He joined Rhodes University in 2000 as a senior lecturer. In 2004, he was promoted to Head of Department, and in 2013, he was awarded the DSTI-NRF SARChI Chair in Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods – a position he currently holds.

During the last eight years, Prof Shackleton has produced 130 peer-reviewed journal articles and 20 book chapters and edited/co-edited five books. The overwhelming majority of the journal papers were published in international journals. He also wrote 22 articles for popular magazines, newspapers, and radio shows for non-academic audiences.

During the same period, he mentored 10 PhDs, 20 Master’s, 27 Honours students, and six postdoctoral Fellows.

Prof Shackleton is currently a section editor of the journals Economic Botany, Land and Scientific African, and has held similar positions with Environmental Conservation, African Journal of Range & Forage Science and Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. He currently serves on the editorial board of six other journals.