Women Academics From South Africa

"I’m talking about the whole social justice system because it's not just the perpetrators. It is the victims, their families, everybody around them. So, this whole matter of bringing justice to victims has many dimensions."

"Over the past 18 months, we have been working to identify natural preservatives in indigenous biological resources that can be used in the preservation of cosmeceutical products."

"Because when I started, so little was known about the human genome. It was unthinkable that we could look at a person’s DNA and make a diagnosis for a disease or perform a prenatal diagnosis where we could diagnose babies in utero to see if they inherited a genetic disease from their parents. I feel that I have been so fortunate in my career to have experienced all these changes and to work in a field that has its heyday right now."

"In terms of the health of a person, this is really a difficult thing to study because there are endless combinations, and trying to understand what is relevant and important is not so easy."

"We already know a lot about human history from archaeology and anthropology, but recently genetics has provided a wonderful boost to the field."

"Global Learning – is that the field becomes increasingly more than just knowledge, but it becomes a field that is about what you do with that knowledge."

"I want to cater to the subsistence farmer, the person who wants to make enough food to live"

"We should make agriculture part of the solution to our issues… the climate change problem is so huge everything should be on the table"

"Without trying to be rude, they are very ignorant about the subject. Genetic modification of plants is probably the safest kind of GM, yet it is the most vilified one."

"The crops that we are eating [today] are highly genetically modified. Through conventional breeding, thousands of gene changes happened without us knowing that we were doing GM all along."

"In terms of what I want to do, Africa, Africa, Africa. We are a continent that’s reliant on rain for our crops: we are already a poor continent so we cannot put in a lot of irrigation."

"That may be talent development, industry research, or even developing innovative curriculum to meet emerging workforce needs"

"I also assist on the business process and program development of our prototyping facility which develops photonics prototypes well-aligned to market needs."

"My responsibilities involve implementing structured light to increase the bandwidth of optical communications systems. I design and construct optical experiments as well as develop code to automate measurement processes and analyze data."

"It is also the continent where there is the greatest predicted food shortage compared to the population growth. The United Nations has projected the African population to double to 2.4 billion by 2050, while global warming is likely to worsen droughts and reduce crop yields. But apart from all of that, it is my passion to do this for Africa."

"Farmers are becoming more and more dispirited, and droughts are killing them."

"No, definitely not. It can be a solution for only a small amount of crops that are going to help with food security. People are thinking about aeroponics, hydroponics, eating insects, eating all sorts of other foods. Resurrection crops is one solution of many – but I think it is a very important one."

"Our goal is to build relationships with companies so we can help meet their needs and solve their problems in ways that benefit our students, too"

"Apart from enjoying and having an aptitude for math and science at school, I decided to pursue a career in physics because there are very few female scientists in South Africa. Having a degree in physics opens the door to a variety of careers across a variety of sectors. And since only a few women pursue these careers it means more opportunities for those who do."

"Addressing only the notion of parity in numbers is not enough. We need to take bolder steps,"

"She continued, “However, gender transformation involves far more than achieving gender parity. It is a shift from a focus on statistics to a deeper dimension that embraces an understanding of the needs and aspirations of all people, especially women."

"Institutions and academies worldwide should give more visibility to women scientists."

"The Role of Gender-Responsive Organizations in Global Science," explaining the concept and expanding on it. Being gender-responsive, she said, means creating an environment that promotes an inclusive approach, recognizing the needs of both women and men."

"There are still many unconscious biases that prevent building a workplace where everybody is appreciated, respected and treated equally. Unfortunately."

"TWAS has great potential to play a powerful gender-transformative role and to influence norms and practices in science academies across the developing world. TWAS draws its fellows, prize winners and attendees at events from multiple countries and also has five regional partners through which it can play an influential role.” And finally"

"Achieving gender transformation requires the engagement of both men and women. It's not only a men's or women's responsibility: we can travel this journey together"

"The project I was involved in, in northern South Africa, looked at the effectiveness of reactive or targeted IRS (responding only when there was a malaria case) versus proactive IRS (the standard IRS blanket spraying program carried out at the beginning of the season) and how much each cost per annum."

"Throughout my career, my research has focussed on the mosquitoes that transmit malaria parasites and how to control them. I have studied their morphology, chromosomes, and isoenzymes, cross-mated them, and bred them in huge numbers in the laboratory."

"Entomology is quite often neglected but is critically important if real control or elimination is to be achieved. Capacity building in entomology would also be a crucial aspect that could be addressed by the savings made in targeted IRS."

"I often work with the Association for South African Women in Science and Engineering and I’m very involved in trying to promote and encourage young people to come into science"

"Everybody underestimates. And then there are people that think, am I a freak? Am I kinky? Is this strange? And I always say, "No." Find the person who loves to do what you love to do, and then you'll have the best relationship."

"If you're with somebody you feel is judging you when you make a suggestion, give it a try if you're really attracted to the person, but I wouldn't stick around for that."

"South Africa certainly has unique issues. As you know, our country has the legacy of the apartheid. So for me, as an Indian woman, growing up in South Africa meant that there were certain restrictions — which universities I could attend, what I could do. If you look at the numbers of black women in science in South Africa"

"We tend to think that numerical gender parity is a good achievement in itself and that increasing the number of women fellows within institutes and academies is a valuable milestone," Diab said in her presentation."

"I was lucky enough to be mentored by Dr. Botha de Meillon, the doyen of African Anopheles mosquitoes and author of several books on the topic, who encouraged me to embark on post-graduate studies at Wits University."

"It's hard for anybody. There are people who are comfortable -- I don't know what the percentage of the people who are comfortable or are not comfortable [is], with people being differently able. I wrote in my book"

"When fossils are found, people try to identify and understand the fossil itself. But my research goes beyond that. I want to try and understand something about the animal when it was living — how long did it take to grow, what kind of factors affected its growth, did it have any disease, was it male or female."

"I’m a paleontologist, and a biologist. The particular area that I work in is called paleobiology. I use my understanding of bone structures of modern animals to make extrapolations to the fossil record."

"My second book is called . This book is about is the history of life on earth from a perspective of the African continent. It’s like a big picture story. The book was aimed at the high school level but can also be enjoyed equally by adults.One of my very big interests is to promote science through different platforms."

"To be honest, I’m 62, so I kind of feel like my career is – with the lens that the glass is half full – that I am at a career summit somehow. I suppose I’ve been quite reflective in thinking what has been achieved and what still needs to be done."

"There is an epidemic of obesity now. So we are trying to say to young women: ‘this BMI [Body Mass Index] is going to get you into trouble. What can we do, sister? How can we help you? What’s your diet? Can we advise around the dietary side?’ You know, gentle engagement around non-communicable diseases"

"I’ve got a lot of thoughts now about ensuring that the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation and the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre are in stable and sustainable spaces. But you’re right, it’s such an exciting time in prevention, particularly antiretroviral-based prevention. I’ve also been looking back on 40 years of the epidemic: What have we done?"

"Kids have so much information about the prehistoric world, it is unreal. They know the geological time, they know about predators and prey and the names of so many dinosaurs."

"It might have to do with how my mother was, and I observed her dealing with people who were different and as matter of fact and equal to anybody else, as deserving of respect and kindness. People have asked me over the years, "How do you work with people who are differently abled?" I always say,"

"So we’ve had a youth centre down in Masiphumelele for years. But we realised that we were missing young men aged between 17 and 29. So we have built a health park alongside the youth centre, basically it’s a gym with all the latest equipment."

"I’m constantly looking for new ways to reach people"

"So the message now is: ‘get ripped, get prepped.’ You know, if you want to look gorgeous, if you wanna be attractive, build your muscles, but have a healthy penis too."

"And in the middle of the health park, we still have the sexual reproductive health clinic"

"I just have to learn what their special needs are. And what I'm going to do with them, I do with everybody. I want to find out what they're capable of, not what they're not capable of -- I mean, we know what they're not capable of, but it's so different for everyone, even if you don't have a physical disability."

"Plus a mental health support component. We are seeing a ton of mental health difficulties post-COVID. So just some basic support. Somebody who can sit next to you and say: ‘I see you, I feel your pain. If you are using substances, can you use less? If you’re smoking, can you smoke less?’ We’re trying to address the non-communicable diseases as well."