Dr Igshaan Samuels, PhD is a rangeland ecologist employed by the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa since 2008. His research focuses on indigenous pastoral systems in the dryland regions of Southern Africa where he studies the impacts of land use, livestock management and climate change on rangeland biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Furthermore, he also focuses on how indigenous and western scientific knowledge could be weaved to improve our understanding of climate change and its impact on complex pastoral systems so as to inform decision making and policy around adaptive land use. He serves on the board of Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute and Avontuur Sustainable Agriculture in South Africa and he is the vice-president of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa and serves on the editorial team of the African Journal of Range and Forage Sciences and the journal Pastoralism - Research, Policy and Practice.