Team Week: Day 1 & 2
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a node as “a point in a network at which lines intersect or branch”. In the case of the Arid Lands Node, our lines stretch far, half-way across South Africa. Due to the distance, it is rare for all node staff, interns and students to be in the same place at the same time, so a "Team Week" was organised from 21 to 24 January 2019 to gather everyone in Kimberley.
On day 1, Idah Mnugi (NRF Employee Relations Specialist) led an Employee Relations and Policy workshop where the NRF's HR policies and expectations of employees were presented. Leazill Peenze (SAEON HR Practitioner) also facilitated a team building exercise, where each member of the ALN team made a visual representation of the arid lands in the form of a painting. These artworks demonstrates the wide diversity of perceptions and styles which make up the team.
On day 2, The node was fortunate to host Dr Clifford Nxomani (NRF Deputy CEO: National Research Infrastructure Platforms), Dr Pethiwe Matutu (NRF Group Executive: Strategy Planning and Partnerships) and Kedirang Oagile (NRF Group Executive: Human Resources and Legal Services), as well as several staff members from SAEON head office. The purpose of the visit was for the NRF executives and SAEON head office staff to gain an in-depth understanding of the ALN's scientific and science engagement programmes. During the morning, each member of the node passionately presented their work. The afternoon was spent at De Beers' Benfontein Game Reserve, where Marco Pauw and Mtho Moyo demonstrated the node's plant phenology project and planned science engagement activities, respectively. In the process, the node staff, interns and students also had the opportunity to learn more about each other's projects.
The ALN team is highly appreciative of the interest shown by the NRF executives and SAEON head office, who left with a better understanding of what we do, how we do it, and what challenges we face.
Photo: Marco (right) explains the Benfontein plant phenology project to Johan Pauw (front) and (rear, left to right) Kedirang Oagile, Clifford Nxomani, Pethiwe Matutu and Theo Jongwana.
