Ettiene Roets

About Ettiene

My name is Ettiene Roets, I am Technical Lead for Marine Dynamics Academy and focus most of my attention on developing the practical modules for our Scientific Internship, while also coordinating both it and the Marine Volunteers program.

What is your role at Marine Dynamics Academy?

I work closely with our Academic Lead, Toby Rogers to ensure that each of the Scientific Internship’s subject modules has a strong practical component, so that all our students learn about applying the skills and knowledge they develop in a live environment.

I also work with Hennie Odendal to coordinate our volunteers. With the sheer amount of stuff that can happen in Gansbaai, it’s never a dull moment but I love the daily challenge of bringing people from around the world to this incredible place.

What is your background?

I’ve always had a massive interest in marine wildlife, growing up on the coast and fishing regularly. I went on to pursue this academically, studying environmental and biological sciences, zoology and geography.

I eventually became a field specialist on an educational training program where I was responsible for teaching international students how to dissect sharks, perform educational visits for local schools and a range of other skills.

I built on this further with Marine Dynamics, joining the team to help coordinate the volunteer program before co-founding the Scientific Internship. Through our work, I get to spend every day surrounded by incredible nature and an awesome team. Engaging people from around the world with the wildlife of South Africa, is a great gift and I’m always excited to see what the next hour will bring.

What is your favourite marine animal?

I would have to say the Mantis Shrimp. I had the lucky experience of seeing them on a couple of scuba dives and on each occasion I just thought they were the coolest animals I’d ever seen.