​Expertise has been developed in the use of various tools to process information: database development and querying, statistical analysis, processing and analysis of aerial photographs and satellite imagery, and GIS (geographical information systems).

RAISON also uses advanced graphics and design programmes to compile maps, graphs and books so that information can be presented in simple, interesting and attractive ways. All these skills are combined with a broad conceptual perspective stemming from experience gained in human and environmental sciences. A better understanding of processes, issues and relationships between people and their environment can therefore be produced.

Most of RAISON's work has been done in Namibia and Angola, and often within the broader context of the Kalahari Basin. Substrates in this largest area of sand in the world drive how people, rivers, plants and animals function.

John Mendelsohn, Director of RAISON
John Mendelsohn, Director of RAISON

John Mendelsohn - RAISON Director

Born in Kenya in 1953, John Mendelsohn found wings before he found his feet. From a childhood passion for birds, ornithology soon became his career after finishing his PhD on the biology of Blackshouldered Kites at the University of Natal. ​

He started RAISON in 1996. Today matters concerned with environmental processes, the socio-economics of rural livelihoods, land rights and uses, and river systems form the basis of his academic passions.

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