By Sam van Heerden, Communications and Research Assistant (ELRC), and Distinguished Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Director of ELRC and SARCHI Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems
Both Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 and the South African Journal of Science celebrate their 120th anniversary in 2024, marking their significant contributions to the scholarly community. Questions about who is involved in scientific research, and who the research is for, come into sharp focus as South Africa also celebrates its 30th year of democracy.
Although ‘science engagement’ often refers to how the public learns about and interacts with scientific research, ‘engaged science’ is about how communities can become involved in crafting the agenda and development of scientific research itself.
This becomes ever more important in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), where the nexus between people and nature is central to creating meaningful and long-lasting change for the health of communities and the planet.
The recent special edition of the South African Journal of Science, on ‘Sustainability Science Engagement and Engaged Sustainability Science’, explores these ideas and reflects on their progress in the South African landscape, notably including many Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 researchers and alumni.
“This conversation is not insignificant given calls to decolonise scientific practice in South Africa, to rethink human-nature relations in and through research, and to demonstrate a more visible impact of research in policy and practice arenas,” said guest editors and authors of the journal’s introductory paper, including Distinguished Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka of the Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC), Professor Janice Limson of the Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC), and their Stellenbosch 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 colleague, Distinguished Professor Lesley Le Grange. “Through such a conversation, we may potentially also contribute to rethinking, or at least broadening, the notion of science impact itself.”
Many contributors to the edition have been a part of a National Research Foundation (NRF)/ Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) Community of Practice (CoP) focused on Multi-disciplinarity, Social Learning, and Sustainable Development, led by Distinguished Professor Lotz-Sisitka. The CoP involves 11 Research Chairs working in the sustainability sciences in and across natural and social science disciplines, six of which are from Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网.
A CoP involves a group of people coming together to learn how to do something better – in this case, transdisciplinary sustainability science. At its core is the idea that achieving sustainability requires research and action to move beyond traditional boundaries where the researcher and the researched stand apart.
Instead, different groups of people should collectively shape research agendas and policy action, hence the term ‘trans-disciplinary’ as it involves research transcending the neat boxes of academic disciplines.
It is the public who is most affected by environmental and societal crises, and the sustainability of interventions rests in the hands of communities and diverse actors, whose knowledge and interests are integral to creating change on the ground.
The DSI/NRF CoP has explored how co-creating research and knowledge with the public, and co-learning between different researchers and communities, can drive sustainability development actions related to clean water, climate action, ecological infrastructure, food security, and biodiversity.
It can also alter the way we think about formal and informal education: some of the most transformative learning happens not between teacher and student but in community with others – learning from and interacting with each other in place.
This theme of engaged sustainability science permeates the special edition, which explores topics such as climate action, transdisciplinary curriculum design, citizen science, skills for sustainability, and social learning research applied to development action around water, rural livelihoods, agriculture, and landscapes.
From looking at the role of citizen science in river health to dealing with science legitimation and denialism, investigating the place of collective action and agency in sustainability interventions, exploring the concept of slow science, and considering the social and community aspects of water quality and land management – the papers in this issue situate science in a social world.
It features Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 scholars such as Distinguished Professor Lotz-Sisitka (ELRC), Professor Eureta Rosenberg (ELRC), Dr Dylan McGarry (ELRC), Associate Professor Lausanne Olvitt (ELRC), Professor Janice Limson (RUBIC), Dr Thandiswa Nqowana (RUBIC), Dr Ronen Fogel (RUBIC), Professor Carolyn G Palmer (Institute of Water Research), Dr Jane Tanner (Institute of Water Research), Professor Oghenekaro N. Odume (Institute of Water Research), Kim Weaver (Centre For Biological Control), Professor Martin Hill (Centre For Biological Control), Dr Jessica Cockburn (Department of Environmental Science), and Professor Nhlanhla C. Mbatha (ISER). Also included are Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 alumni Dr Gibson Mphepo (UNDP), Dr Presha Ramsarup (Wits 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网), and Dr Caleb Mandikonza (Wits 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网), as well as ELRC postdoctoral researcher Dr Mzukisi Kuse, and ELRC PhD Candidates Reuben Thifhulufhelwi, Aaniyah Martin, and Paulose Mvulane.
Overall, the journal brings together 67 authors from 20 institutions.
Along with teaching and research, community engagement stands as one of Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网’s most critical institutional pillars. This edition of the South African Journal of Science is a testament to this commitment and the socially grounded nature of its academics, students, and alumni, who have shown that science can be grounded in and engage the public to help create sustainable futures for all.
The publication is open-access and can be found at the South African Journal of Science website: https://sajs.co.za/issue/view/1231