 |
|
Xola Mati is one of the scientists leading the research on giving advice without angering people
|
March 10, 2006, 14:30
By Christina Scott
Some of South Africa's top scientists have met in Pretoria with some of the country's highest elected officials in order to thrash out a thorny problem: how to give advice without triggering anger or - even worse - resounding indifference?
The prestigious Academy of Science of South Africa (Assaf) hosted its first international "double symposium" on this issue. Xola Mati, a senior project officer at the academy's headquarters in Gauteng, called it "a supremely important topic".
"Look at the bitter arguments over the safety and efficiency of the proposed pebble bed nuclear reactor due to be built at Koeberg to provide power to the Western Cape. Or what can be done to cope with climate change triggered by humanity's thirst for ancient fossil fuels. Or the debates about coal-powered electricity plants versus wind and solar energy."
An information gap exists between vested interests, lobbying groups and the various government departments in charge - a gap which can easily fill with a toxic mix of resentment, half-truths and conspiracy theories, with the result that the participants sometimes only talk to each other in court. No wonder the public does not understand what is going on.
Good resource for government
"That's because the South African way of doing it is to give yourself advice," says Wieland Gevers, the academy’s executive officer and former deputy vice chancellor at the University of Cape Town.
Many government departments produce their research in-house. Others use government-funded bodies such as the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). In both cases, critics will inevitably complain that the source of funds has tainted the findings.
But there is another route. It is called using your brains. In the US, the resolutely independent National Academy of Sciences is a workhorse, producing 250 studies a year and annually mobilising the skills of 8 000 scientists, at minimal cost. In the United Kingdom, the 1 400 fellows of the venerable Royal Society are a powerful influence on government policy - and have been since 1660.
"The Assaf is an opportunity for the government to tap into the expertise of its higher education system at very little cost," said Mark Orkin, the former head of the HSRC, at the Pretoria conference. Academics, to put it bluntly, are a lot cheaper than consultants. They are used to serving on panels and on peer-reviewed journals with only their costs being covered. And they are seen as being far more independent than civil servants whose careers may depend on confirming the minister's preferences.
Development of African science academies
At a conference in Kenya last year, however, there was strong criticism of African science academies for not doing more to advise their governments on critical issues affecting the continent. But academies in Africa are often relatively young and inexperienced at speaking to governments so that their message will be acted upon, and have not yet set up ways to safeguard their independence and finances.
"In African countries there is no tradition of science academies being trusted or used," Gevers said. "It is a tightrope between being independent and being heard." But African scientists are learning how to balance on this tricky tightrope.
The US-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have used their Microsoft millions in part to tackle this precise issue through the African Science Academy Development Initiative, which is building links between the continent's brainpower and its political power. As a result, a 10-year project by the US National Academy of Sciences is strengthening science academies in Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa.
The idea is not to set up academies as rivals to universities by conducting their own original research, but to use the members of the academy to sift through the available evidence. Think science jurors, rather than science detectives.
Assaf at the helm of scientific research
Friday's Pretoria symposium was part of this process. In a way, it was the academic equivalent of speed-dating, with the cream of South African scientists telling government officials from a variety of departments: "We're here. We're good. Look how well it works in other countries. Are you interested?"
With high-ranking government officials present - including Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the deputy health minister - the answer may well be positive. The benefits for the public are enormous. The academy stipulates that regardless of who asks for the report, the South African public gets it at the same time as the highest-ranking official. The recommendations can never, ever, be buried in a file.
In the meantime, South Africa's academy is moving ahead with several significant projects. It has already has taken over responsibility for the Pretoria-based and highly-rated South African Journal of Science and produces the science magazine Quest every two months.
Gevers will soon be releasing the academy's first study on the uncertain future facing peer-reviewed scientific publishing in South Africa, in which original academic work is checked and double-checked by leading experts before it becomes part of the permanent record of research for the entire world.
Research on HIV/Aids
The decisions made by his 14-member panel, which includes Michael Cherry of the hugely-respected journal Nature, are likely to have a resounding impact on university funding, academic careers and the position of South Africa in the global science community.
But the really hot potato is being handled by Barry Mendelow, an acclaimed biomedical scientist, scholar and administrator from The University of the Witwatersrand. Mendelow is chairing an academy panel producing an eagerly-awaited, rigorously-conducted study into nutrition and immunity in relation to HIV/Aids and tuberculosis infections.
Beetroot, garlic and olive oil are not going to escape scrutiny. The study is going to have to run the scientific gauntlet later this year, when the first draft will be assessed by independent members of the academy. All this fact-checking takes time.
The nutrition/immunity study may only undergo its public baptism by fire early in 2007. But accurate, dispassionate review of all the available evidence does take a considerable effort. Opinions, on the other hand, take only a minute. But speculation does not help much to improve the quality of life of South Africans.
Participation in the SciFest
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, the Assaf deputy president, has been asked to speak at the 10th annual Sasol SciFest in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape on March 25. The University of Cape Town expert in deciphering the microscopic clues in dinosaur bones will be speaking about her interest in flying reptiles from 220 million years ago - some as small as sparrows, others as big as fighter jets.
Her talk takes place at 12:30pm on March 25 in the 900-seat Guy Butler Theatre in Grahamstown's 1820 Settlers' Monument building. The SciFest's popular midday lecture series is meant for high school pupils, university students and adults.
This year the lunchtime talks include Patricia Murray, a British scientist, on the use of stem cells from human embryos, Ian McCallum, a former Springbok and psychiatrist, on the need to develop what he calls "ecological intelligence" and South Africa's Sara Prins, currently in the US designing space-age super-strong materials which thrive in the high temperatures of jet turbine engines needed by the aerospace industry.
Each talk costs R7.50 due to extensive help from the department of science and technology and Sasol, and booking is advised. To book, contact Tammy at (046) 603 1106 or visit their website in the SciFest link below. The Assaf website link is also provided below. Mati can be reached at (012) 392 9321.
|
|
