Posted on by SAYAS

Blow by blow

By Yonela Z. Njisane

thinkingThings don’t always go according to plan; but that does not mean you should not plan at all, otherwise you might end up frustrated and moving in circles. Even the Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

It was all planned out perfectly

According to the proposed timeline I presented in the beginning (2013) of my PhD journey, I should be submitting a complete thesis this month. Well, I really wish I could, but it’s not going to happen. I am not there yet. See, at the time all seemed easy and doable until I faced hurdles on the ground and had to revise my approach, which also meant finding other resources to reach the goal. Trust me, I am not making up excuses…

The revised plan

After the proposal, literature review and really useful preliminary studies we ran, the core of the project was done this year. Yup! It’s been such a hectic year that I even find it hard to travel the 320 km to go home; I don’t even go for shopping. This is when the PhD pressure really sunk in- can’t even remember the last time I was bored, wondering what am I doing with my time.

I am currently writing up my chapters, step by step. Beginning of last month, I was asked to write down and submit a realistic roadmap to follow till the finish line. I’ve been doing my best to stick to it. Though the pace is sometimes not as I would have planned, I’ve found it to be really helpful for my progress.6 steps

So far, I have progressed up to about 60% of the thesis. As anticipated, writing about my own work (experimental chapters) has been more interesting and fun, compared to the review. I must say though, the review is helpful as a reference point for the paper writing. And, after completing my first experimental paper, I went back and revised the review script 🙂 , finally.

The mean part

There is just one beast that sometimes has the power to put you down: Statistical analysis of my data. I used to think numbers were my thing until I came across statistics. The data collection for Chapter 2 was my favourite. And, then all the fun vanished as the statistical output was just not coming out right, over and over again.

I used to nail maths in high school, but nobody really taught me how to think analytically, like a statistician. It’s a whole different ball game. But I am learning, thanks to Lizwells’ assistance — a good friend with great stats expertise. I hear it’s not even that hard. Well Yah! It’s great when your hypotheses are supported. I’m learning that doing stats requires practice. You can read all the stats books you want, but nothing prepares you for throwing your own data at statistical tools.

I’m starting to see that a PhD is not just following a clever plan; there’s a lot of battling with schedules and drafts and strange numbers. It’s a learning curve, is it not… As Albert Einstein said, “Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.”

Posted on by davidegaglio

A story from the past: “The Fallout of the Guano Fever”

By Davide Gaglio

Doing a PhD is not just an academic exercise — it can make you attuned to events, ideas, and knowledge that has real-world consequences for humans and the planet we inhabit.

It is well known that oceans play a vital role in the welfare of humans and are an important economic resource, which sustains a large portion of the global food industry, renewable energy, tourism and much more. And I often wonder why we are so indifferent to the future of the ocean which we use? Not far in time and in space from our southern African coastline, personal profits created human deprivation and exploitation of an ecosystem that has not recovered to this day. Did we forget about the tragedy that happened during the White Gold Rush in South Africa? For about one hundred years (1890-1990), the rush for guano caused slavery, death and significant disturbance at breeding sites of endemic South African seabirds for the profit of only a few. I spent a lot of time on offshore islands for my PhD, and using my photographic passion, I would like to tell you this story with a short film.

This film interprets the hypothetical journey of a guano scraper reliving the first moments; the discovery of a pristine island that soon would become a prison; the first encounter with the unsuspecting wildlife, harsh weather, struggle for survival; the horror.

I am glad to introduce you: The Fallout of the Guano Fever

guano fever

It’s a story from the past that brings us to the modern era where the same marine environment is still being over-exploited.

Maybe it’s not clear for all but over-fishing, and its associated environmental impacts, is our biggest global environmental challenge alongside those posed by climate change. Scientific research (which includes my ongoing PhD) highlights that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will most likely see dwindling supplies of seafood within the next few decades. Over-fishing in southern Africa is emptying the seas faster than nature can replenish it, threatening the food security of all of us.

And things are getting worse.over fishing

The main solution is that fishing needs to be sustainable in order to restore the regions highly degraded marine environment, without negatively impacting Africans’ food security.

In South Africa, the WWF is doing a great job with their SASSI program. The goal is to improve fishing practices that are destructive to our oceans. This includes issues like illegal fishing, over-fishing, by-catch (the catch of species not intentionally targeted by fishers but harmed in the fishing process) and habitat destruction. Their system includes an advice pamphlet for the consumer to make the right choice once in the supermarket. By using a “traffic light” system, the colour-coded SASSI list categorizes selected South African and imported seafood species according to their conservation status.

This is happening now and here…it’s your choice to avoid repeating mistakes from the past today!