Sandra Boitumelo Phoma is a final year Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics (CMEG), University of Pretoria (UP), currently working on surveying the microbial diversity and function in the Southern Ocean. The research involves analyses of the 16S rRNA, metagenomes, meta proteomes and metabolomes datasets generated from sampling trips on board the Agulhas II…

On this day in 1976, black learners in #SouthAfrica protested against #BantuEducation and the then enforced Afrikaans (medium of instruction) in our schools. The apartheid government responded with violence and brutality. Hundreds of school kids were murdered, hundreds more injured, some are paralysed today! Those student’s actions changed the sociopolitical landscape in this country. Their…

With me and a number of other researchers from various South African universities onboard, the second generation icebreaker, SA Agulhas II set sail on a research expedition to Marion Island. Marion Island is one of the two Prince Edward Islands, Prince Edward Island being the other. These are South African volcanic islands situated south of…