Jay O'Keeffe

Professor O'Keeffe is currently Professor of the Wetland Ecosystems Core in the Department of Environmental Resources at UNESCO-IHE, Delft. He took up the WWF Chair in October 2004 after 21 years of research in South Africa. Prof O'Keeffe's main research interests are in rivers and in catchment management planning.

In the past few years he has concentrated on Environmental Water Allocations, in particular the flow requirements to maintain the ecological functioning of rivers. He was involved in the development of the environmental principles which were included in the 1998 South African Water Act, ground-breaking legislation which has been acknowledged world-wide.

In August 2004, Prof O'Keeffe was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the Southern African Society of Aquatic Scientists, only the eighth time that the medal has been awarded in the 40 year history of the society.

Prof O'Keeffe completed a BSc Honours degree in Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia, and received his PhD from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London.

He has extensive experience in many aspects of freshwater ecology, including invertebrate population ecology, invertebrates as indicators for water quality, fish habitat requirements, the effects of impoundments on downstream reaches of rivers, the effects of flow manipulations on riverine fauna, and environmental flow requirements for rivers.

Prof O'Keeffe is a strong advocate of integrated water resource management, and has applied a multi-disciplinary approach to his research. As Director of the Institute for Water Research (IWR) at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, he facilitated the development of teams of hydrologists, ecologists, water chemists, hydraulics engineers, geomorphologists, social scientists and water managers, who could work together to solve problems at a catchment scale.

He also encouraged a broad base for the Institute to include teaching and training, consultancy and policy development, as well as research. During his tenure at the IWR, Prof O'Keeffe was also appointed to a three-year term as President of the Southern African Society of Aquatic Scientists, and for 10 years was a Sub-Programme Manager for the Kruger National Parks Rivers Research Programme.

In the Environmental Science MSc programme at UNESCO-IHE, Prof O'Keeffe presents the module on Sustainable Development, as well as an introductory lecture to the entire Masters group, on Environmental Water Allocation.

He has extensive experience of lecturing, having presented courses at undergraduate and post-graduate level at Rhodes University on biodiversity, general ecology, population dynamics, and freshwater ecology. He also developed and presented a third year semester course on Environmental Water Allocation.

In keeping with his philosophy of integration, Prof O'Keeffe has developed considerable experience in facilitating workshops at the scientific/management interface, promoting understanding and consensus between different disciplines.

• Publications