Ms Carla Dodd

Ms Carla Dodd’s interest is in the field of groundwater and hydrological cycle research with the aim of remediating drought conditions that severely impact the local socio-economic climate. Groundwater has been touted as a mitigation tool to alleviate society’s reliance on surface water. However, the groundwater cycle is poorly understood in terms of connectivity and replenishment. Her research uncovers these dynamics by using cutting-edge methodology in collaboration with international scientists. Ms Dodd’s research is also the first to map and model the hydrological flowpaths linked to coastal microbialites, thereby providing a unique evolutionary window into the past. Ms Dodd completed both her Honours and MSc in Geology cum laude at Nelson Mandela University. She is currently a final-year PhD student, focussing on the drought crisis in the Nelson Mandela Bay region. Hers is the first multi-tracer study of its kind in the area. She is the first author of three publications in international scientific journals and a co-author of four additional articles. In 2023, she was awarded a three-month exchange Fellowship at Oldenburg University, Germany.