SAEON-GSN Indibano 2013 celebrated its sixth anniversary in style!
By Sindiso Chamane, External relations SAEON GSN
This year, the 6th Annual Indibano (19 – 22 August) organised by the Graduate Student Network (GSN) Committee has again been very successful. It was held at the Kirstenbosch Research Centre situated in the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town. The delegates were welcomed to the new GSN image created by the GSN Committee. The aim of the Indibano is to equip postgraduate students with useful skills as part of a workshop, present their research on long-term observation data (as the core mandate of SAEON) and create a platform for networking with students from various universities in South Africa.
Usually, SAEON fully sponsors about 20 students from various disciplines (within long-term monitoring research) and universities in South Africa to present their research projects. However, the standard of abstracts and relevance of the research to SAEON, meant that a new record of 33 delegates from 13 South African academic institutions attended this year’s Indibano. This decision was made by SAEON’s head office?: to meet the increasing demand for this much needed platform for the best emerging scientists from different fields of specialisation with a common purpose of conducting long-term monitoring research. This was a great success and everyone left Indibano richer in networks.
Observing Our Changing Ecosystems
On Monday, 19th August, delegates arrived in Cape Town where the official opening of the Indibano (meaning “gathering” in isiXhosa) was held in the evening in an intimate and cosy environment at the Empire Café in Muizenberg. Melissa Boonzaaier (Committee Coordinator) welcomed all the delegates, and highlighted the mandate of SAEON and the importance of integrating researchers in similar fields (long-term monitoring) across various disciplines and institutions.
The following day, the conference was opened by Ms Carmel Mbisvo from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). She set a very positive tone as her talk focused on career paths and opportunities for researchers in South Africa. She emphasized the need for researchers to continue to do “actual research” and further pointing out that researchers can make it into well recognized positions without going into management. The opening address was followed by Dr Nicky Allsopp, the manager of SAEON’s Fynbos Node, on SAEON history, the six SAEON nodes and their research tasks and mandates. Thereafter, delegates were given the opportunity to present their research, in an oral or poster presentation format, with Dr Genevieve Thompson (SAEON Fynbos Node) and Dr Charles von der Meden (SAEON Egagasini Node) as the adjudicators during the event.
This year’s conference theme “Observing Our Changing Ecosystems” was well incorporated in the delegate’s presentations. Their fascinating research presentations resulted in discussions and emphasised on the need and importance of long-term monitoring research in various disciplines. The possibilities and benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to effectively carry out long-term observation and monitoring of environmental changes were highlighted through various discussions during the conference.
Communicating your research to the wider audience
The third day of the Indibano was kick-started with a science communication workshop in the morning. The theme for the workshop was “Communicating your research to the wider audience”. This workshop was facilitated by Mr Lorenzo Raynard, the Science Communications Unit Manager at South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA). Mr Raynard was accompanied by two of his colleagues, from the ICS division and a journalist. The workshop covered various methods of engaging and communicating one’s research to a wider audience specifically non-scientists.
Amongst the methods covered was developing media engagement strategy to profile one’s research findings and to effectively use social media such as blogging, Twitter etc. to showcase research. The key message to take home from the workshop was that, to effectively communicate research, one has to know their target audience well and present the research accordingly. The workshop also touched on “citizen science”, which involves the participation of the public to aid in for example, biodiversity accounts such as iSpot and BioBlitz. This form of science has a potential of making long-term monitoring research more successful with less resources. After his presentation, Mr Raynard facilitated an activity where the delegates were divided into groups and had to discuss ways of effectively publishing research targeted to intrigue and engage with the public.
