Juan Scheun

I completed my MSc and PhD Zoology degrees through the University of Pretoria (UP; 2012-2015). Here, I monitored the reproductive and stress-related endocrinology of African wildlife species.
Following this, I started a one-year postdoctoral fellowship (UP; 2015-2016), where I was responsible for managing the Kalahari Meerkat sample bank in connection with Cambridge University (UK).
I started a position at the National Zoological Garden (NZG), South African National Biodiversity Institute, as the Conservation Endocrinology postdoctoral fellow in 2016 (2016-2020). At the NZG I was responsible for: (1) managing and building the Conservation Endocrinology Laboratory, (2) designing, implementing and managing research projects on captive and free-ranging African wildlife species, (3) supervising interns, students and staff members, (4) leading lectures and presentations as part of the Research Student Development Program. My research at the NZG focused on the endocrine (reproduction/stress) response of mammal, reptile, amphibian and avian species to anthropogenic activities within captive and free-ranging environments.
I joined the University of South Africa as a postdoctoral fellow in 2020. My main research focus during this fellowship is monitoring the adaptive response of amphibians, birds and reptiles to climate change. Here, I use both physiological and ecological monitoring techniques, as well as laboratory analyses.