Representing South Africa’s womxn ocean scientists

Ocean Womxn is shaping the future of South African ocean science leaders, said Ocean Womxn’s co-founder Dr Katye Altieri during the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)’s online workshop held on 15 September.

The workshop, called Navigating a Research Career in Southern Ocean & Antarctic Sciences, was designed to leverage young researchers with tips and guidance from those in the field who also started as ECRs.

Altieri used her talk to highlight the growing opportunities for South African oceanographers, and the increasing need for diverse representation of Africa’s ocean science talent.

“South African oceanographers want representation, and researchers are frequently asked to represent South Africa in the international sphere, even to represent sub-Saharan Africa and the whole Southern Hemisphere,” she said.

“But frequently they end up with someone like me. It would be much better if they had different representation from Africa.”

This was one of the big motivators, Altieri said, for the founders of Ocean Womxn to launch the programme, which celebrated its one-year anniversary the month before the workshop in August 2020.

Boasting an inaugural cohort of five talented womxn researchers, Altieri described Ocean Womxn as a prestigious research and leadership training programme for black womxn that recruits, retains and enables success for black womxn oceanographers.

Emphasis, she said, is on prestige and leadership. “We’re looking for the next generation who are going to be the outstanding international leaders in oceanography and Southern Ocean science in SA and beyond."