Being part of the inaugural cohort at Ocean Womxn brought me closer to other black women and women of colour in my field of research. It additionally opened up a new world of opportunities for me in a range of fields within ocean sciences and externally. My brand became larger than life! Of course, as…

Two years ago, my PhD advisor asked me to mentor one of her 3rd year students. This is one of my responsibilities as an Ocean Womxn fellow. I had a Zoom session with the student and in that first meeting, she became so emotional from being reminded that she is brilliant, that she is not…

On an adventure down south at the unique Prince Edward Islands in the middle of the austral Southern Ocean, I met an intriguing sealer, Nasreen Khan. I had never met a woman sealer before and had to know more about her and how she became a sealer doing scientific research on Marion Island! Nasreen was…

The year is 2019 and big things are happening! For me, this is the year of grabbing opportunities by the neck and using them to my advantage. It is a year of further growth! I’m a believer in fortune cookie messages and one fortune cookie completely re-enforced my thinking and how I approach life. The…

This International Women’s Day I celebrate the very witty, Professor Julie Granger. Professor Granger’s work tries to understand what controls the fertility of different parts of the ocean. Granger is originally from Quebec, the only Canadian province that acknowledges French as an official language. She was raised in this part of the world within a middle-class…

Science communication has bitten me like a bug and I love the effects! Through science communication, we as scientists get the precious opportunity to tell our science-related stories to the public. This sharing of scientific research and discoveries with non- experts in our different fields of expertise can be in the form of science exhibitions,…

Affectionately known as the “Twitter Streets”, the academic networking on Twitter has taken the world by storm. I am pleased to introduce to you, Associate Professor Nox Makunga who I identified on social media, particularly on Twitter. Prof Nox grabbed my attention a few months ago when I realised how dedicated she is to scientific…

On a research expedition to the Subantarctic, I had the pleasure of sharing a room with Hsin Cynthia Chiang aboard the R/V SA Agulhas II. She struck me as shy, but extremely intelligent and as we introduced ourselves to each other I immediately knew that I had to feature her in my women in science…

The Ph.D. tempo has considerably increased as I reach the second year of study and panic mode is an element in the equation. My Ph.D. focuses on understanding nitrogen (mainly nitrate and ammonium) uptake in the surface waters of the Indian Ocean (nutrient poor) and Subantarctic Ocean (nutrient rich as nutrients are not fully consumed by the marine…

It’s a new year, a chance to improve, conquer and be fierce. The new year brings opportunity, a chance to correct our mistakes and of course work towards finishing what we started. I’m one of the most prominent believers in women. Women are powerhouses, we sometimes forget just how valuable and influential we are in society….

The first South African Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE Project XII) workshop took place at the University of Cape Town in November 2017. The University of Cape Town, Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela University and Cape Peninsula University are part of ACE Project XII. At the workshop, students and supervisors gave talks on their areas of research…