SAYAS Blogs are Back!

With a difference!

The SAYAS Blog ran for many years with the same formula. Towards the end of each year we would put out an advert for the SAYAS Blogging Competition – entrants needed to submit a blog post in which they introduced themselves and the work they are doing as either postgraduates or postdocs in South Africa. A panel of members of SAYAS would then evaluate the 100+ submissions to choose just four bloggers.

Over the years, you have met these cohorts of bloggers. Each month, you would hear from each of the four bloggers, and would follow their journey through the year. These bloggers represented different fields of science, and different universities. But… it was only four bloggers. And only those four (of over a hundred) bloggers received the training in science communication.

This year we tried something different. We allowed everyone who was interested in applying to attend a workshop on Science Communication. The workshop took place during an afternoon in early August via Zoom. Presenters included Ozayr Patel and Sheree Bega from the Mail and Guardian, our former SAYAS Bloggers Dr Mauro Lourenco who spoke about his post on the IPCC 6th Assessment Report, Lonwabo Makapela who spoke about how her blog posts helped her process living in three countries during one year of her PhD, and Mukhtaar Waja who spoke about #dayinthelife vlogging and how it helped him focus in on his discussion chapter edits. I also spoke to the group about elevator pitches.

Following the workshop, the participants were then able to write and submit a blogpost to appear on the SAYAS blog. Yes – every participant would be able to appear on this blog. They could write on their journey as a postgraduate student, or their field of science, or both. They had a week to do this. Over the next few months you will be reading their posts.

Do you have 100 posts to read – interestingly no! Although a lot of people showed initial interest, only 28 people attended the workshop, and only 7 submitted blog posts. Only 6 revised theirs on time. We hope to repeat this process in future years – because that is still 2 more people blogging than we would normally have, and 24 more people receiving science communication training. The disjunct between interest and enthusiasm, however, is interesting.

Science communication is an important step in bridging the gap between paywalled scientific papers and the general public. It remains a key interest of the South African Young Academy of Science, and certainly a key interest of mine. Just last month, I was the very proud recipient of the 2023-2024 NSTF Communications Award, and of course – all in the name of a good hook – I dressed up in a Taylor Swift at the Grammy’s inspired outfit! And I guess it brought me luck. It goes to show, that while we all have the pressure of publishing, lecturing, admin and feedback to our co-authors, science communication increasingly is being recognised in the Academic space.

So – enjoy the next few months of blogs from a wider range of students, from a broader reach of scientific domains, and hopefully these will encourage you to venture into science communication

Finally… a #dayinthelife of the SAYAS Blog Editor

In 2020 I was elected to SAYAS. At the first induction meeting I heard about the blog, and was so keen to get involved. As it turns out, the SAYAS ExCo were hoping they’d find someone “so keen to get involved” and before I knew it I became the incoming blog editor, responsible for my first cohort of SAYAS bloggers in 2021. My role was to continue running the blog as smoothly as the previous editors had done, and I was very fortunate to have an excellent 6-month handover from the previous editor Prof Roula Inglesi-Lotz. I was also encouraged to bring in my own ideas and innovations.

And so… the postgraduate SAYAS blogger #dayinthelife vlogs were born.

The background to this was covered in one of my first editorials – Down the rabbit hole… and into the world of ‘Study Tubers’. As you’ll read, in February 2021 I made a promise: “My own ‘day in the life’? Watch this space”. Those reading the blog all this time have had to “watch this space” for much longer than I’d initially thought when I wrote that. As it turns out, filming a day in your life is actually a lot more difficult than these prolific YouTubers or indeed our own SAYAS bloggers would make it seem.

Actually filming yourself isn’t objectively difficult. You unlock your phone, swipe across to your camera and click record. You ramble at your phone for a bit. You record a video of your cat You set your phone, camera or iPad against a stack of books and start a Timelapse, recording yourself typing away. Easy.

What is less easy is getting around to it. Choosing a day that feels sufficiently interesting, but not SO interesting that there isn’t time to film. Choosing a day where you have the self confidence to speak to a camera. Choosing what to wear. Brushing your hair. Finding a day that ticked all of those boxes took me 2 years.

There were a few failed attempts in those 24 months. I’d start filming and then get so engrossed in what I was doing that I would forget to keep going 2 hours in. Or, I’d start filming, and then something urgent but confidential would come up, and I’d have to start. Or, on a few occasions, I would start filming on a day working from home, and my cat would sit on the phone I was recording on! I thought it would be fun to film a day doing fieldwork, but realised on -10°C morning in eastern Lesotho last June that between holding equipment, logging data, and planning routes on a tight schedule, it just wasn’t practical to film.

So, eventually I set a reminder on my phone for a random date in January and stuck to it. Perhaps a good lesson in motivating ourselves when doing things outside our comfort zone. Create a non-negotiable.

As expected, the filming wasn’t that difficult. Thanks to modern technology, you can do it all with the equipment that you have. Film on your phone. Edit on the pre-installed software on your computer. But oh was the editing the challenge. This is where it becomes both technically difficult and time consuming.

Step 1: download all of the video clips to the computer. Well, this took a few attempts. Big files. Loadshedding. Slow(ish) internet.

Step 2: Import them, organise them. Quite easy, when you have the hang of it.

Step 3: Editing. This took ages, but was fun. A creative project. Speeding up some sections, finding Creative Commons licensed music to play in the background. Clipping the music track. Doing this, you do have to become very ok with what you chose to wear that day, the sound of your voice, and any other insecurities you have. If you squirm, like I do, every time you listen back on one of your own voice notes, this will definitely be an uncomfortable few days!

Step 4: Export. This should be easy, right? No. Exporting to your computer is a very slow process as you’ve created a very big file. Then trying to upload it to Dropbox to send to our SAYAS YouTuber and current co-chair Prof Dustin van der Haar to process. Those were another two days spent practising skills in patience. But, here is the outcome:

So, what have I learnt? Definitely that I wouldn’t make it in a career as a YouTuber. I don’t have the self-confidence or the patience. I’ve learnt that as productive as I usually am, there are places where procrastination sneaks in. This was one of them. I’ve also re-learnt how important it is to make science and scientific careers accessible. To pull away the veil and mystique that hides our day to day lives. As difficult as it was, I so strongly encourage my fellow scientists to film their own day in the life. To show that we really are all human! I hope you enjoy this insight into a Day in my Life!