Biography
Heading up the administrative section, Ursula Arends has been part of the PLAAS team since 1999, initially as Senior Projects Administrator and subsequently as Administrative Manager. She oversees and co-ordinaxtes all activities in the ‘front-of-house’, supervising the reception area and other PLAAS administrative work. In addition to this oversight role, Ursula performs a range of management functions as a member of the PLAAS Management Team, and as secretary to the PLAAS Advisory Board.
Ursula is the administrative interface with the university and handles all PLAAS’s Human Resources work. She has maximised her association and close connectivity with the content of PLAAS, to the extent that she completed a Masters in Development Studies, with her thesis focusing on rural women’s access to land and natural resources in South Africa’s communal areas. She is deeply concerned about issues of gender and poverty alleviation, both in the urban and rural sectors of this country.
Qualifications
- MA, University of the Western Cape
- BA (Hons), University of the Western Cape
- Diploma in Adult Education, University of Cape Town