Michelle van der Merwe

PhD student
Name: Michelle van der Merwe
Location: C1 Lab 438 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of Geology Postgraduate Students  Staff Members

Contact Details:

Email: 225130402@student.uj.ac.za

About Michelle van der Merwe

Michelle is a first-year PhD student under the supervision of Prof Marlina Elburg and Prof Bruce Cairncross.

She completed her MSc Applied Geology cum laude in October 2023 at Stellenbosch University. The project applied X-ray computed tomography, Raman spectroscopy, and UV-visible light spectroscopy to characterise a variety of coloured gemstones for quality control purposes. She presented on this topic at the national GEOCONGRESS in January 2023.

Project title:
Characterising the mineralogy and geochemistry of Southern African gem-quality garnet deposits

Research interests:
Mineralogy, spectroscopy, gemmology, and garnets