SAEON’s Graduate Student Network: Then and now

By Nasiphi Ntshanga, External Liaison, GSN Tweet

Looking back

Ten years ago, graduate students Silvia Mecenero, Saras Mundree and Glynn Alard attended the First International LTER Graduate Student Collaborative Research Symposium in Oregon, USA.

The symposium exposed them to a network of 60 graduate students from 34 different LTER sites across the globe. Upon their return to South Africa they were inspired, and envisioned a similar network for South Africa. This is how SAEON’s Graduate Student Network (GSN) was born.

In March 2006 the GSN held their first student workshop to coincide with the first SAEON Summit

The GSN was envisioned as a platform where graduate students would feel comfortable to share ideas, collaborate with one another and gain a broader understanding of long-term environmental research. The network was founded with a vision of promoting interaction among graduate students, and between students and senior scientists, within the realm of long-term environmental research.

In 2005, the call was made for members to join and within one week the GSN already had 32 members. In March the following year, the GSN held their very first student workshop, now termed the Indibano. Since then the Indibano has been held successfully each year in collaboration with the different SAEON nodes.

The GSN Committee for 2015. L-R: Victor Modiba, Jimmy Osidele, Nasiphi Ntshanga, Tercia Strydom and Arrey Ivo (Picture: Thabang Sibiya)

Where are we now?

The GSN has grown in leaps and bounds since its first call for membership. Presently, the GSN boasts a membership of 193 students and 98 alumni members, from 21 South African and eight international universities (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Number of GSN members from different institutions

The GSN is primarily a network of postgraduate students, but recently more and more undergraduate students have shown interest in the network (Figure 2). In a recent survey, undergraduate students said that the GSN provides them with a wealth of knowledge on available postgraduate opportunities.

GSN alumni, who make up almost a third of the GSN membership, are mostly past students who find the GSN useful for information on PhD and postdoc opportunities as well as job vacancies.

Figure 2: Level of study of members within the GSN

The GSN has evolved over the years, with more and more technical students joining the network who are usually enrolled in technical degrees (B.Tech, M.Tech and D.Tech). This is probably due to the fact that SAEON runs numerous remote data-collecting stations, and these require the skills of such technical graduates.

The survey revealed that GSN students are involved in a diverse range of research fields within the realm of long-term environmental monitoring; covering 15 different fields (Figure 3).

In 2016 the GSN will be celebrating 10 years of providing a dedicated networking, collaboration and development platform for students. Today, the GSN continues to grow, with new members joining and alumni keeping in touch through involvement with GSN activities.

Looking ahead, the GSN aspires to continue to grow, and to provide students with opportunities to network and collaborate with each other and with senior scientists; both within SAEON and externally.

Figure 3: Chart showing the number of GSN students within different fields of research