CURRICULUM VITAE

 

 

HELEN MOSS

 

 

Qualifications:                   Bachelor of Science with Majors in Botany and Zoology (1980)
University of Cape Town, South Africa

 

Master of Science in Conservation and Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources (1988)
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

 

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

 

Oct 88 - Dec 91                   International  Board for Plant Genetic Resources, Rome, Italy
Collector for Southern Africa

 

Based in and running the IBPGR Harare office in Zimbabwe. Responsible for organising and conducting collecting missions in the ten SADCC countries, and other west, central and east African countries as necessary. Major involvement in setting up the National Plant Genetic Resources Programmes of these countries, and in training of national scientists. Specialised in collection of the wild relatives of crop plants in Tanzania, Namibia, Madagascar and Lesotho..

 

Sep 87 - Sep 88                   Birmingham University

             

Masters Degree in Conservation and Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources at Birmingham University.  Also conducted a successful collecting mission in Northern Thailand during this period to obtain seed of the putative progenitor of Vigna umbellata, which had not previously been collected.

 

 

Apr 86 – Sep 87                  International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, Rome, Italy

                                           Consultant                                                                                         

 

Consultant to IBPGR under contract to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). The major part of this contract was to undertake a herbarium survey on the distribution and taxonomy of Vigna in Africa and Asia. Herbarium visits included Beijing, Calcutta, Burma, Bogor and all the major European institutes. Collecting trips for wild relatives of crop plants were also undertaken in Niger and Cameroon.

 

Feb 86 – Mar 86                   Forestry Association of Botswana and Terre Aide, Botswana, Gaborone

                                           Consultant

 

Undertook short term genetic resources collection and plant exploration for these two rural development organisations.

 

Nov 85 – Feb 86                  Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy

                                           Author

 

Contracted to write the 343 page document: “Under-Exploited Food Plants in Botswana”.

 

Oct 84 –Nov 85                   Ekokonsult, Pretoria

                                           Environmental Scientist

 

Responsible for all biological input to environmental impact assessments and botanical surveys.

 

Jan 84 – Jul 84                     Aqua Tech Groundwater Consultants,  Environmental Consultants Division, Gaborone, Botswana

                                           Botanist

 

Involved with establishing environmental and natural resources division of this company. Responsible for all aspects of botanical input for consultancies.

 

Sep 83 – Dec 83                  World Health Organisation, Gaborone, Botswana

                                           Plant Collector

 

Responsible for undertaking a country-wide collection of medicinal plants and data from traditional healers in Botswana as part of WHO’s project on the integration of traditional and western medicine. Particular emphasis was placed on the plants of south—western Botswana.

 

Apr 81 – Aug 83                  Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Gaborone Botswana

                                           Research Botanist

 

Worked on a USAID-funded consultancy to assess the feasibility of sustainably utilising a range of indigenous plants as a means of generating income for rural communities. Responsible for entire botanical Input to the project, including countrywide project design, data collection and analysis, and the preparation of a 480 page publication entitled “The Potential for Commercial Utilisation of Indigenous Plants and Insects in Botswana”.

 

Jan 81 – Mar 81                  CSIR, Antarctica

                                           Research Assistant

 

Undertook chemical analyses and biological assays for the First International Biomass Experiment in the south Atlantic

 

 

PUBLICATIONS:

 

Moss, H. and F. Taylor                      The Potential for Commercial Utilisation of Indigenous Plants and Insects in Botswana. Volume II -The Resource and its Management. 480pp. Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Gaborone, Botswana.  1983

 

Jacobsen, N.H.G. and H. Moss.         A Contribution to the Flora of the Northern Namib. Dinteria 19: pp.27—68.  1987

 

Moss, H.                                           Under-Exploited Food Plants in Botswana.  343pp. FAO, Rome.  1988.

 

Anishetty, N.M. and H. Moss.            Vigna Genetic Resources: Current Status and Future Plans. in AVRDC. 1988. Mungbean:     Proceedings of the Second International Symposium. pp. 13—18. AVRDC, Shanhua, Tainan.  1988.

 

Moss, H.                                           Systemmatic and Ecogeographic Studies on Crop Genepools — Vigna. c 600 pp. IBPGR, Rome. 

 

Moss, H.                                           Southern Africa as a Reservoir of Plant Genetic Diversity for use in Problem Environments. Proceedings of Aetfat Congress, Malawi, 1991.

 

Moss, H.                                           Priority Setting for a Wild Species Collecting Programme in Namibia. Proceedings of the Namibian National Plant Genetic Resources Workshop, 1991.

 

Moss, H.                                           Genetic Resources of the Southern Africa Namib Desert Rangelands.  Proceedings of the Ivth International Rangelands Congress,  Montpelier.  1991.