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Talking and teaching environmental science for sustainable development
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SAEON reviewed its performance over the past five years as part of the National Research Foundation's five-year review by an international team in July 2015. In the previous edition of SAEON eNews we published an overview of SAEON's performance in two of the three core tenets of its mandate – Environmental observation systems and research, and Data systems and products.
In this edition the spotlight falls on SAEON's Teaching and education outreach, and Public outreach and sustainable development:
TEACHING AND EDUCATION OUTREACH
Growing a representative science and technology workforce
SAEON staff members not only supervise research students, they also lecture at universities and science platforms as part of formal university academic programmes. Nine SAEON staff members currently hold research associate positions at universities and one staff member obtained a research career award from the National Research Foundation (NRF).
Coordinated by the National Office, the SAEON Graduate Student Network (GSN) has been running as an ongoing project since 2006. The GSN is a membership-based body of students pursuing studies that have some bearing on the mandate and activities of SAEON.
The aims of the body are to encourage students to align their research projects to SAEON activities, and stimulate and promote interactions among graduate students from different disciplines but with a common interest. The National Office funds the annual activities of the body, which consist of committee meetings, a website and an annual sponsored Indibano (conference).
Through the GSN, SAEON is able to generate students' interest in using SAEON facilities and being supervised by SAEON scientists. Announcements of bursary and other student opportunities are distributed to the GSN. Exposure of this nature inspires young students to develop their scientific careers.
SAEON also participates in the DST-NRF internship programme. Interns are hosted at the National Office as well as at the nodes. Through this programme, SAEON offers opportunity to unemployed graduates to obtain on-the-job training and experience workplace conditions. Interns undergo a structured programme to support them to become professionals.
The DST-NRF Internship programme has inspired young people to high goals of achievement through the dedicated training and guidance of SAEON staff. A SAEON intern was one of 15 women from around the world awarded a 2014 UNESCO-L'Oréal for Women in Science International Fellowship. She is currently doing fieldwork for her PhD at a SAEON node while studying at the Australian University of Macquarie.
Environmental science education outreach
Various science education-outreach projects are undertaken to increase the skills and competence of science teachers, and motivate and generate interest among school learners to pursue careers in science and technology.
As part of this programme, the Elwandle Node runs weather and climate education projects at six schools; the Egagasini Node has incorporated six schools in the Argo-Floats real-time monitoring of sea-surface temperatures and salinity; the Fynbos Node runs weather-monitoring projects at four schools; and the Ndlovu Node runs a similar project at four schools as well as a tree-monitoring project at two schools. The SAEON science education-outreach programme also runs projects on educator support, learner support, awareness platforms and integration of scientists to encourage, educate and serve as role models for the learners.
A database has been developed to capture and track the number of learners in the programme, the percentage matric pass rate and the SAEON learners who register for science-related careers at higher education institutions.
Dedicated and qualified education officers implement the programme at selected schools in the vicinity of the nodes. The education officers play an important role in integrating scientists into the programme and liaising with the Department of Basic Education and other stakeholders. A coordinator based at the National Office is responsible for the strategic alignment and coordination of the programme.
The primary objective of the programme - to attract and enable school leavers to enter university - has been achieved with remarkable success. In 2013 and 2014, 61% of the learners with whom SAEON engaged over the previous three-year period were eligible for admission at a university. This is double the national average of 30.6% and 28.3% respectively. Of those eligible SAEON learners, 50% and 62% registered at a university in the following year. The increase in registrations from 2013 to 2014 is a positive sign and hopefully results directly from the learners' exposure to SAEON programmes.
The budding young scientists applied the scientific skills they learned at the science camps to design independent research projects for class as well as for science expos. Some learners have gone on to win prizes and/or awards at national science expos, and they attribute this directly to the positive influence of the SAEON science camps and related activities.
Automatic weather stations and computers were purchased and installed at the schools participating in the education programme. Teaching and learning resources have been developed to assist educators with additional information and guidelines for designing weather-based research projects using the equipment.
The involvement of schools and educators in the science education-outreach programme is on a voluntary basis. It is the passion of school principals, educators and learners that guarantees their participation over time.
PUBLIC OUTREACH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Promotion of environmental science and sustainable development in society
The Communications Function is responsible for disseminating information about SAEON activities. The aim is not only to inform stakeholders about developments at SAEON, but also to promote environmental sustainability and entrench environmental science in society. SAEON communicates newsworthy items and informative articles through its bimonthly newsletter, SAEON eNews, its website, press releases, exhibitions, promotions and presentations to targeted groups.
SAEON eNews celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The newsletters are archived on the SAEON website where they provide an insightful timeline record of SAEON's development and progress. The newsletter is diligently produced every second month and is distributed widely, both locally and internationally, to some 4 000 subscribers.
The newsletter has consistently received positive feedback about its quality, relevance and diversity of articles. SAEON eNews was selected as one of the top six e-newsletters in the Best Electronic Publication category of both the 2013 and 2014 SA Publication Forum Awards. The publication received a Certificate of Merit for scoring more than 75% in the categories of writing, communication, design and photography. SAEON also receives wide positive media coverage at a consistent rate.
Through its node structure, SAEON delivers science to remote areas of the country far from cities and their associated universities and colleges. This is particularly true of the arid lands and savanna nodes, but all terrestrial nodes serve rural areas where scientists are a very rare breed.
Each node serves both local and national needs. In the savanna node, for example, node scientists set up an aquatic biodiversity monitoring programme focused on potential pollution of rivers. They were able to capture a pollution event caused by spillage from a mine spoils dam and locate the source of pollution for subsequent intervention by the Green Scorpions.
The coastal node interacts with industry and government and provides information on estuarine conditions, sea level rise and coastal conditions to coastal municipalities and port authorities. The fynbos node was able to provide the only mountain weather data during the recent (March 2015) Cape fires from the real-time weather observatory on Constantiaberg.
SAEON's proven ability to construct and maintain complex observation equipment is starting to provide opportunities for nationwide networking and dissemination of environmental observations, but these have yet to be fully realised.
SAEON also organises "citizen science" projects. These are science projects that involve members of the general public, and through such involvement people's understanding and interest in environmental matters and science are increased. A prime example was when volunteers from all walks of life walked the margins of the Mopani Veld in the Kruger National Park to record the spatial coordinates of the edges of the Mopani Veld for a climate change study.
The citizen science projects have not only generated public interest in SAEON research, they have also generated valuable data sets that are captured for scientific analysis. Already, such analysis reveals interesting trends and patterns in the phenomena being monitored.
The education-outreach programme is also a substantive effort to promote environmental science and sustainable development. SAEON was able to procure and install 14 weather stations and computers at a range of schools with a view to a climate change and variability monitoring programme. This programme provides opportunities for learners to learn about climate monitoring, climatic phenomena, data management and analysis.
SAEON registered as the South African member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Network and plans to coordinate the network through a secretariat that will be funded by the NRF. SAEON also participates in environmental and social responsibility projects. The Fynbos Node, for instance, was involved in a project that developed sustainability monitoring indicators for Biosphere Reserves in the Western Cape in partnership with local communities.
The communication activities have raised interest in, and expectations of SAEON to extremely high levels. Sustaining such high levels of interest and expectations requires that more resources be marshalled towards not only the communications function, but also to other functions (science, information management, science observation outreach) that generate the news and information.
Although SAEON eNews is well read by its subscribers, its content is seldom picked up by mainstream journalists. SAEON is able to produce short newsworthy items that could serve as "breaking news" or anecdotal observations of environmental phenomena such as wildfires, pollution or red tides, or research activities such as the start of a research cruise and the successful installation of a strategically important instrument.
Therefore, a company site for SAEON on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/saeon) and a Twitter account (@Saeonews) were established in conjunction with making space for short surging news items on the landing page of the website. These all have different audiences and therefore different uses.
A surging news item is published in some detail on the website and announced with a hotlink on both LinkedIn and Twitter. Key eNews articles are treated in the same fashion. Many readers do not have the time or interest to read long articles and would just like to know the gist of a news item. A website is a static communication tool whereas both LinkedIn and Twitter succeed in pushing news very far. The combination of the eNews, the website and social media has expanded the reach of SAEON by orders of magnitude.
Strengthening the science-society and policy interface
SAEON interacts with society through its communications and citizen science projects and also through awareness platforms. Additionally, SAEON participates in national initiatives that seek to translate science into policy. For instance, three SAEON scientists acted as lead authors for three chapters of South Africa's Second National Communication submission to the XVII United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
A major publication, "Observations on Environmental Change in South Africa", consists largely of contributions from non-SAEON authors and has been written in easy-to-read language as reference material for policy-makers and students. This book was followed by a summary for policy-makers: "Combat change with change". Both books are freely downloadable from the SAEON website and were cited in South Africa's state of environment report processes.
Contract reports written by SAEON scientists, as well as some applied papers, are relevant to natural resource managers and policy-makers. Scientists regularly participate in government meetings about environmental matters such as climate change and response strategies. SAEON management is represented in globally influential meetings of organisations such as Future Earth and the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
During the period under review, SAEON submitted three proposals to the Jobs Fund, the Green Fund and the DST respectively with regard to the creation of a low-cost environmental monitoring service, commensurate with SAEON's mandate as a public entity. Neither of these proposals attracted funding but two other similar but solicited proposals, one to the Natural Resource Management branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs and one to SANParks, received three-year contracts. The principle of SAEON providing environmental monitoring services has tested positively in the potential market.
A key constraint is the lack of sufficient resources (mainly human resources) to participate effectively in all relevant national policy-related science projects. This type of project demands considerable time from participating scientists, which includes extended time of travelling within and outside the country.
It is not easy to strike a balance between participation in all these activities and pursuance of the scientific mandate of the organisation. However, as SAEON fully acknowledges the importance of participating in setting the national policy agenda, it is planning to employ social and policy scientists to work on translating SAEON research outputs into policy recommendations, and to participate in national science-policy interface activities. The appointment of at least one such social and policy scientist must happen in the next three years.
Conclusion
SAEON's approach to education outreach has reached a level of maturity that is unsurpassed in its intensity and value addition to the education system by delivering quality learners well-prepared for following a career in science. The pool of black research scientist available to SAEON is demonstrably small, but SAEON is working at the foundations of the problem through education outreach, internships, the GSN, support for honours-level students, bursary support for research students, offering research opportunities and student supervision and supporting postdoctoral research development.
