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11 February 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs and Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied
The superpowers of women scientists at the UFS

The University of the Free State (UFS) has implemented several interventions to increase the diversity of its researchers, including its women scientists. Actions have paid off and resulted in an increase in the percentage of rated female researchers, from 27% in 2016 to 34% in 2021.


The university is also host to a number of science leaders in the six National Research Foundation (NRF)-funded South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI). Four of these research chairs are held by women. These are the research chairs in Vector-borne and Zoonotic Pathogens; Disease Resistance and Quality in Field Crops; Higher Education and Human Development; and Pathogenic Yeasts.

Health, medicine, and food sustainability are but three examples of areas in society where the women of the UFS is playing a critical role in science today.

In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science instituted by the United Nations General Assembly on 22 December 2015, the UFS is honouring its women scientists.

The science of science expos

One of the researchers at the UFS who is using science to make a difference in the lives of learners in our country, is Dr Angela Stott, Researcher and Teacher Educator in the Division of Social Responsibilities Projects (SRP) on the UFS South Campus. Together with colleagues in the SRP, she is involved in numerous Maths and Science outreach interventions to teachers and learners.

Science becomes fun for learners through the different initiatives created by Dr Stott and her colleagues. These include the online Learn Science programme (a brainchild of Dr Stott), using tablets donated by ioT.nxt, and the Creative Clubs intervention started by Dr Joleen Hamilton, a colleague of Dr Stott. In the latter, learners can take part in a MathArt competition and coding sessions.

In this year’s Creative Clubs projects, 100 Grade 9 learners from township schools will be mentored to prepare science fair projects for participation in the Expo for Young Scientists.

But why all this hard work for an expo? For these learners, the expo is more than just a public platform to showcase excellence. According to Dr Stott, learners in South African township schools tend not to be stimulated in extracurricular programmes, since teaching in these contexts is typically restricted to exam training.

However, her research has shown that higher-achieving learners from contexts of poverty respond well to such programmes and gain valuable knowledge, skills, and values from them. “This year, 100 higher-achieving Grade 9 learners from township schools will benefit from this programme, and next year another 100,” she says.

She adds that literature on this subject points to the need for structure, while also supporting learners’ development of autonomy when mentoring a learner to produce a science fair project. Dr Stott explains that the online programme around which this year’s intervention is built, has been created in a manner informed by literature on what is most likely to work. “By us researching the process, we will improve our understanding of how to maximise the benefits and mitigate the weaknesses that learners from poverty gain from such participation. This knowledge could help improve the effectiveness of such programmes throughout the country, and in other parts of the world where similar conditions apply,” she says.

Fighting for stronger immune systems

An international student from Zimbabwe, Nakai Matongera, a PhD graduate in Plant Breeding in the Department of Plant Sciences on the Bloemfontein Campus, is playing a key role in food sustainability in Africa with her research. She is a maize breeder working at the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The focus of her PhD thesis is on the development of high-yielding and nutrient-dense maize varieties enriched with provitamin A, zinc, and essential amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan.

“With my research, I aimed to develop zinc-enhanced maize varieties that have great potential to reduce zinc deficiency in maize-based developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” she says.

Matongera explains that zinc-enhanced hybrids were developed by crossing introduced zinc donors and locally adapted maize inbred lines from three nutritional categories (normal, provitamin A, and quality protein maize (QPM). The hybrids were evaluated for both agronomic and nutritional performance under optimum drought and low nitrogen conditions.

“Results indicated that zinc-enhanced QPM hybrids accumulated high zinc under all growing conditions. However, the zinc-enhanced normal hybrids had the highest yield potential, implying dilution effects.”

“I find my research rewarding, because this biofortification strategy to combat micronutrient deficiency is cost-effective and has wide coverage and sustainability compared to other strategies such as clinical supplementation and food fortification,” says Matongera.

The outcomes of her research will one day, when it is implemented, change the lives of thousands of children in Africa who are suffering from zinc and iron deficiency. The shortage of zinc and iron in their diets affects their cognitive development as well as their immune systems, making them susceptible to a number of illnesses, including diarrhoea.

According to Prof Maryke Labuschagne, Nakai’s supervisor for her PhD study, this research will have a practical impact in Africa, as it will contribute towards the nutritional value of food.

Saving generations of humans and animals

When she could not pursue her childhood dream of becoming a vet, Dr Nthatisi Nyembe forged a new path in zoology, and today she is working in the Department of Zoology and Entomology on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus, where she focuses on veterinary parasitology.

Dr Nyembe’s research looks at the treatment and epidemiology of parasitic diseases in animals and humans, because – as she says – if animals are healthy, then humans are healthy. She says the ripple effect could save generations to come. “I want to be remembered for creating a drug that will make life easier for animals, because if animals are healthy, then the food we consume will also be healthy,” she says.

Dr Nyembe completed her studies on the Qwaqwa Campus from undergraduate to master’s level, specialising in Zoology. She was then awarded a scholarship to complete her PhD studies in Japan, where she spent four years looking into creating compounds that can treat and prevent unwanted parasites in animals, with a specific focus on mice.

“If I can get to a point where I can find one compound that has various benefits on multiple micro-organisms, then I will be happy”, she says.

While acknowledging the wide gender gap that still persists in her field of science, Nyembe says it should not hinder young girls who are interested in pursuing all levels of science.

“Society still looks down on girls and women, especially in Africa. If I go to a farmer as a woman and try to advise them about animal health, very few of them are receptive. However, the majority believe that I need to come with a man in order to be taken seriously. I just want to tell young aspiring female scientists that it is possible.”

“Whatever you put your mind to, you can pull through and achieve. Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated.”

News Archive

JN Boshoff Memorial Lecture: Dr Charles Nwaila
2005-09-13

Dr Charles Nwaila, Director-General of the Free State Provincial Government and Vice-Chairperson of the University of the Free State's (UFS) Council, recently discussed the repositioning of the Free State Provincial  Government to respond to the 21st century demands during the JN Boshoff Memorial Lecture at the UFS. 

 

 

From left:  Dr Nwaila; Prof Tienie Crous, Dean:  Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences; Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor and Dr Moses Sindane, Departmental Chairperson:  Department of Public Management at the UFS.
 

A summary of the lecture.

Free State government to focus on training of public servants

The Free State provincial government in collaboration with higher education institutions in the province is to establish the Free State Association of Public Administration to get public servants to work effectively towards the growth and development of the province.
This was announced by the Director-General of the Free State provincial government, Dr Charles Nwaila, during a lecture he delivered at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein this evening (Thursday 8 September 2005).

Delivering the annual JN Boshoff Memorial Lecture at the UFS, Dr Nwaila called on higher education institutions to play a critical and leading role in the re-engineering of the existing Provincial Training and Development Institute housed at the Vista campus of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.

Dr Nwaila was formerly the Superintendent-General (head) of the Free State Department of Education and currently serves as the Deputy Chairperson of the Council of the University of the Free State.
He said the proposed Free State Association of Public Administration is a joint initiative with the National Academy of Public Administration based in Washington DC.

“We take this opportunity to invite the University of the Free State and other knowledge based institutions to join the Provincial Government in fostering a collaborative network to help us develop our public servants,” Dr Nwaila said.
He said there were accelerating demands and a lot of pressure on limited resources, with Free Staters expecting more from their government than ever before.

“Civil servants in a developmental state are servants of the people, champions of the poor and the downtrodden and not self-serving individuals that seek only advancement on the career ladder,” Dr Nwaila said.
According to Dr Nwaila, the Free State Growth and Development Strategy has identified 11 areas that need to be addressed by the year 2014, including:

• To reduce unemployment from 38% to 20%
• To improve the functional literacy rate from 69,2% to 85%
• To stabilize the prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS  and reverse the spread of the disease
• To provide a free basic service to all households
• To provide adequate infrastructure for economic growth and development


Dr Nwaila said that the Free State government will continue to follow a people-centred approach towards these development objectives with a keen sense of unity and unwavering determination to create the best of times for the Free State and all its people.


 

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