Lauren will be registering this year for a Phd with the ADU, looking at the impacts of disturbance on the breeding birds of Dyer Island, and mitigation measures to reduce these impacts. She will be doing this part-time while still employed by the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (WCNCB).

She has been employed with the WCNCB since January 2001, based in Hermanus, with her primary focus initially being involved in our invasive alien clearing programmes. Laure is now also involved in other reserve activities, specifically data co-ordination and monitoring, and am involved in the Dyer Island Working Group that WCNCB set up after an Avian Cholera outbreak in December 2003. This group comprises specialists from the ADU, MCM, WCNCB that provide input to ensure that the best management practises are employed on Dyer Island.

Prior to her employment with WCNCB, Lauren completed her Masters in Conservation Biology at the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute at UCT. She obtained her BSc and BSc Honours at the University of Natal, Durban.