Supporting excellence: Moagabo Ragoasha joins Ocean Womxn
Moagabo Ragoasha’s career has followed a remarkable trajectory. From a childhood in Limpopo, where she visited the ocean only a handful of times, through to becoming the first black South African woman to get a PhD in physical oceanography at the University of Cape Town (UCT), she has blazed a trail for womxn in science.
Named one of Mail and Guardian’s 200 young South Africans in 2020, 29-year-old Ragoasha is now adding her exceptional talent and experience to the leadership team at Ocean Womxn.
“We are incredibly lucky to have Moagabo as the newest academic lecturer in the UCT Oceanography Department,” says Ocean Womxn co-founder Dr Katye Altieri.
“She is an expert ocean modeler and has a wealth of local and international scientific experience. This makes her an incredibly valuable addition to the Ocean Womxn team that will benefit the fellows for years to come.”
Ragoasha research is backgrounded in the southern Benguela Current upwelling system. Specifically, she examined at the Lagrangian pathways in the southern Benguela Current upwelling system and how they are linked to ocean circulation. The goal was to provide a basis for understanding physical drivers that impact ocean movements of as plankton, larvae and eggs.
It’s an impressive area of study, which is surprising considering Ragoasha only discovered her passion for ocean science by chance. “I actually wanted to study astrophysics, but accidentally registered with the code for atmospheric science,” she says.
New territories
“Creating an environment that is inviting to others will enable us to collectively venture into territories previously thought impossible.”
During registration, she was informed that she needed a second major and was immediately drawn to oceanography. “Even though I had only been a few times, I was fascinated by the ocean,” she says. “So much has changed since then. Now, when I visit the ocean, I see things that no one else sees.”
Not having grown up around the ocean wasn’t her only challenge. Ragoasha soon found that few womxn of colour in oceanography came before her, leaving few role models to look up to. “Imagine that you want to be an astronaut, but you never see anyone like you doing it. The lack of representation kills people’s dreams,” she says.
Ragoasha hopes to fill that gap for future womxn as a mentor for the Ocean Womxn fellows. Indeed, she says that she wouldn’t have achieved her goals without the help of similar organisations. These provided her not only confidence and tools, but also emotional support by connecting her with other professionals in the industry.
“I was one of the slow starters. Academically I did well, but my research was slow,” Ragoasha says. “Thankfully, I had support and a patient supervisor that helped me.”
She notes that all too often, supervisors are results driven and favour established students over raw talent. Her positive experience made her passionate about helping students like herself.
Ragoasha advocates holistic support and mental health in particular, believing that students need to be seen and heard. “That’s my main focus, that’s what I want to bring to the programme. Students just need someone to believe in them.”
As Ocean Womxn heads into its third year, having been founded in 2019, Ragoasha is excited to be part of its drive to support more, young Black South African womxn in ocean science.
She also feels privileged to join platform’s accomplished, diverse group of womxn. “Everyone on the team comes from different backgrounds and experience. We can all learn from one another, including the fellows we mentor,” she says.
Ultimately, her hope is that Ocean Womxn will draw attention to the value of diversity in all fields. “Creating an environment that is inviting to others will be enable us to collectively venture into territories previously thought impossible,” she says.
She also looks forward to a future where the true excellence of womxn in science shines bright. “My hope is that our fellows take away expertise and experience, and that they utilise that to build others up and impact the world.”