Professor Abel Ramoelo completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Venda in Thohoyandou. He collaborated on research with the University of Pretoria (UP) as an extraordinary lecturer two years before he was employed as a staff member in 2021.

He says he conducts research at UP because the University has high-end laboratories and relevant research equipment, and creates an environment that enables researchers to thrive.

“Earth is in a triple planetary crisis, with serious problems that include biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution,” Prof Ramoelo says. “Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research is needed to respond to this.”

He is leading research on using Earth observation tools to understand environmental health and agricultural landscapes. His research will aid environmental challenges through the use of assessment and monitoring geospatial tools, such as Earth observation, remote-sensing and geographic information systems; these enable him to work at the interface of various fields of disciplines.

In terms of cross-faculty work, Prof Ramoelo and his co-researchers are contributing to the One Health initiative of the faculties of Health Sciences, Veterinary Science, and Humanities. They have submitted several proposals and are hoping for a positive response.

“My contribution is to quantify environmental health and its changes using Earth observation (EO), and explore how that influences the spread of diseases and their impact on humans and animals,” he explains.

Prof Ramoelo says most of his research activities moved from testing the applicability of remote sensing in quantifying environmental or agricultural variables to applying the tools through the lenses of multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity to derive impactful solutions for society.

“In the biodiversity area of research, we are looking at the use of multi-scale remote-sensing data to detect individual trees and species diversity in the Miombo forests; grass species diversity and richness in the grasslands; and biodiversity loss in various biomes,” he explains.

“In the climate change adaptation research area, with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Holistic Climate Change Group, the focus is on climate change adaptation through the lens of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. Here, we are using remote-sensing-derived variables and other environmental data sets to prioritise areas of climate change adaptation interventions. With collaborators from the Future Africa Institute (ARUA Sustainable Food Systems), we are looking at the WEF nexus and food systems, with a gender focus, too.”

Precision agriculture is another area they are focusing on, with collaborators from UP, the CSIR, the Agricultural Research Council and others.

“We are developing EO-based variables such as nutrients, water use, soil moisture, weeds and diseases, which are important for target fertiliser applications, irrigation, weed and disease eradication. In the rangeland assessment research area, we are pursuing cutting-edge research on the estimation of nutrients on forage resources for livestock and wild animals, and how they change over time. These are important variables for sustainable land management. With support from UP, we acquired high-end drone sensors that are crucial for high-resolution mapping, and for calibrating and validating satellite remote-sensing data. We are now opening new avenues for cutting-edge remote-sensing applications in various sectors.”

Prof Ramoelo says the Think Tank initiative of UP’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences inspired his quest to pursue multidisciplinary research.

“This initiative enabled me to share knowledge and experiences with my faculty colleagues while identifying potential areas of collaboration. I attended an initiative on sustainability science and biodiversity. There are some interesting research opportunities emerging from it.”

His former PhD promoter, Prof Andrew Skidmore, is one of his role models. Prof Ramoelo describes him as diligent, smart, internationally renowned and highly accomplished in remote sensing and its application in biodiversity. Prof Skidmore promoted most of the top remote-sensing researchers in Africa and elsewhere.

“He inspired me to continue working on multi-scale remote-sensing data while training more aspiring young and emerging researchers,” Prof Ramoelo says.

“In Africa, Prof Moses Azong Cho has been my other role model as well as my colleague, brother and friend. He started his career as a teacher and is now a chief scientist at the CSIR, and an extraordinary professor at UP. He is one of my top collaborators, which can also be seen in the number of scientific papers we have published together.”

Prof Ramoelo hopes to develop EO-based decision-support tools in collaboration with municipalities, provincial and national departments, and industry partners in various sectors. He wants to quantify the number of lives saved, jobs created or livelihoods improved, and the number of sustainability initiatives implemented through the use of these tools.

Why does his research matter? “Someone once said: ‘We cannot manage what we cannot measure,’ and that is true even today,” Prof Ramoelo says. “Information is an integral enabler for improved decision-making processes. The development of EO-based environmental assessment and monitoring tools is critical for several sectors. My research has always been done with environmental assessment and monitoring in mind.”

He advises learners who are interested in his field to choose three or more of the following subjects in matric: mathematics, physical science, geography and biology (life sciences). These, he says, will open doors and opportunities to pursue a geoinformatics or EO-related career. He adds that learners and undergraduates who are interested in geoinformatics must note that it is “an ever-evolving field of study that keeps one on one’s toes, but in the process, it is a fun and interesting field”.

“Come one, come all – we are waiting,” he adds.

As for hobbies, Prof Ramoelo enjoys jogging, keeping up to date with current affairs, watching movies and singing in the church choir.