Michelle Cocks

Michelle Cocks is an Associate Professor in the Anthropology Department, Rhodes University. Her research interests lie within the realm of biocultural diversity studies, both empirical and conceptual.

Her research is multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary, exploring human interactions with nature towards processes of attachment, belonging, wellbeing and identity in rural and urban contexts.

Within these areas of interest, she has published papers in Social Science and Medicine, Forests,
Trees and Livelihoods, International Journal of Sustainable Development, World Ecology,
Human Ecology, Environment, Development and Sustainability, Journal of Ethnobiology,
International Journal of Religion, Nature and Culture and contributed to a wide range of scientific edited volumes. She has also run a schools education project, Inkcubeko Nendalo (Culture and Nature), among Grade 10 learners in former disadvantaged schools from 2013-2016.

In 2009 Dr Cocks was nominated for Women in Science Award and was a joint winner in the category Achiever Award for a Woman Researcher in the Area of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Local Innovation. In 2012 she was invited to participate in UNESCO’s International Biodiversity Learning Workshop, which explored multiple perspective approaches to Biodiversity Education. In 2015, she was awarded second runner up for Rhodes University’s Community Engagement Award for her schools environmental education program,