UniSey commemorates 14-year anniversary with annual lectures |18 September 2023
Vice-chancellor Perreau and Air Seychelles’ CEO Sandy Benoiton exchange documents after signing the MoU
Launches countdown to 15-year celebrations in 2024
In commemoration of its 14th anniversary, the University of Seychelles (UniSey) last Friday held its customary lecture and launched the countdown to its 15-year celebration in 2024.
The annual anniversary lecture seeks to promote local scholars who are actively engaged in scholarly activities, in particular, research or other prominent works with national or regional impact.
The lecture at the UniSey campus in Anse Royale, which attracted an impressive crowd, was also streamed virtually for those following in from around the world.
Started in 2016, the lecture, now in its eighth year, was delivered by UniSey alumni, Mariette Dine Ogale, who shared her journey as an environmental conservationist and Dr Elvina Henriette, a conservation biologist who spoke about the projects she has been involved with over the years.
This year’s lectures focused on environmental conservation and sustainability.
Mrs Ogale’s interests in conservation work and environmental studies began at the age of 17, when she joined the Plant Conservation Action Group, a small non-governmental organisation.
In 2011, Mrs Ogale got involved with various organisations as she tried to identify the most fitting one for career development. She worked in the research section at the former Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA) currently known as Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority, and later moved to the National Sports Council as sports officer, before ending up at the land registry section in the ministry of lands.
Her path eventually led her to the conservation field when she worked as an environmental office assistant on North Island, followed by research assistant for the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF).
This prompted her to further her studies at the University of Seychelles.
Dr Elvina Henriette, who holds a doctorate from the ‘Muséum national d'histoire naturelle’, in Paris, a Master’s degree from ‘Universite de la Reunion’ and a BSc degree from the University of East Anglia (UK), is mainly involved in research and conservation of the biodiversity of tropical ecosystems with the aim of addressing biodiversity loss, climate change impacts and ecosystem restoration.
She has expertise in biodiversity inventories, restoration of degraded ecosystems including burnt forest lands, mangroves and coastal forests.
Dr Henriette was involved in the restoration and population recovery of endangered island birds such as the Seychelles white-eye.
During her lecture she mentioned that one way of securing and protecting the environment was to empower each individual to appreciate others’ efforts and their achievements.
UniSey’s 14-year anniversary was also marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the institution and national airline, Air Seychelles.
Speaking to Seychelles NATION, UniSey’s vice-chancellor, Joëlle Perreau, said the MoU aims to deepen their collaboration, where Air Seychelles will be able to offer better deals to students travelling abroad for further studies while the national airline will benefit through training, resulting in mutual growth for both national entities.
Neil Sirame
