Catherina Magdelena Joubert | |
---|---|
Born | 21 April 1963 Cape Town, South Africa |
Nationality | South African |
Education | BSc Food Science (1984) BSc (Hons) (1986) BA Journalism (Hons) (1987) MSc Agric (1989) PhD (2018) |
Alma mater | University of Pretoria (MSc) Stellenbosch University (PhD) |
Known for | Science communication education |
Awards | NSTF award Honorary Life Member (PCST) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Science communication |
Institutions | NRF University of Pretoria Stellenbosch University |
Thesis | Factors influencing the public communication behaviour of publicly visible scientists in South Africa (2018) |
Academic advisors | Pieter Weingart, Johann Mouton |
Website | Marina Joubert at CREST |
Marina Joubert is a senior science communication researcher at The Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University. Previously, she was the communication manager for the National Research Foundation and managed her own independent science communication consultancy for a decade. Her consultancy presented the first online course in science communication in Africa. [1]
Joubert has been honoured with the NSTF award for "Communication for Outreach and Creating Awareness" and is an honorary life member of the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Network (Australia), granted for "distinguished contribution to the international science communication community". [2]
She is an outspoken proponent of science communication and opposes anti-vaccination propaganda, and all quackery and pseudoscience in general.
Joubert obtained her BSc Food Science (Cum Laude) at Stellenbosch University in 1984, followed by BSc Honours (Cum Laude) in 1986 and Journalism Honours (Cum Laude) in 1987. She completed her MSc (Cum Laude) at University of Pretoria in 1989 [1] [3] and her PhD at Stellenbosch University in 2018. [4] [5]
From 1989 she worked as communication manager for the Foundation for Research Development, followed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 1999. In 2001, Joubert became science communication manager for the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) (part of the NRF). [1] [4]
In 2005 Joubert established Southern Science, an independent science communication consultancy, that she managed until March 2014. Part of her work during this time was to co-present science communication workshops, aimed at early-career academics, in conjunction with Robert Inglis and the University of Pretoria. [6] The course was the first online course in science communication in Africa and more than 180 African science communicators had completed this course by 2019. [1]
In 2014, Joubert joined the University of Pretoria under contract as research communication specialist and part-time lecturer/researcher at Stellenbosch University. In 2015 she became a senior researcher at Stellenbosch University. [3] [4]
Joubert has been interviewed several times as part of her work. In 2017 she participated in the International summit on quackery and pseudoscience held in Stellenbosch. The summit covered areas such as: the rise and dangers of pseudoscience and science denialism, communicating uncertainty in science, health regulation, science in court, the media and pseudoscience, and exploiting the desperately ill, the vulnerable and the ignorant. [7] Her presentation was on "Science-based evidence: Accurate and ethical communication." [8]
Joubert was interviewed by Inside Education in 2017 with regards to the journal article In the footsteps of Einstein, Sagan and Barnard: Identifying South Africa’s most visible scientists. [9] In the interview she explained that less than 1% of the scientific workforce appears in public. Therefore these "visible scientists are increasingly recognised as the new scientific elite, because their high public profiles allow them to spread their ideas, influence policymakers, defend science and promote a culture of science in society. In our society, they are also the role models that shape the public image of science.” [10]
In 2018, Joubert said a collaboration was planned with researchers from the United States, UK and Australia with the "study aimed to better understand the messages and claims of anti-vaccination lobby groups and their potential impact on vaccination programmes in South Africa. .... We are hoping to collaborate with a number of countries to see how these groups formulate their arguments, what evidence they use and how they validate their arguments." The study was to run from 2019 to 2021. [11] She has also been interviewed in this regard by CapeTalk radio station. [12]
Amongst the awards presented to Joubert are: [4]
Joubert is a member of several organisations, including: [4]
Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term quack is a clipped form of the archaic term quacksalver, from Dutch: kwakzalver a "hawker of salve". In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares at markets by shouting to gain attention.
Stellenbosch University is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Saharan Africa, together with the University of Cape Town - which received full university status on the same day in 1918. Stellenbosch University designed and manufactured Africa's first microsatellite, SUNSAT, launched in 1999.
George Claassen is a South African journalist who was the head of department of journalism at Pretoria Technikon and Stellenbosch University. Claassen was the first academic in the field of journalism to develop a course in science and technology journalism and can rightly be called the "father of science communication in Africa"
Siddha medicine is a form of traditional medicine originating in southern India. It is one of the oldest systems of medicine in India.
Functional medicine (FM) is a form of alternative medicine that encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments. It has been described as pseudoscience, quackery, and at its essence a rebranding of complementary and alternative medicine. In the United States, FM practices have been ruled ineligible for course credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians because of concerns they may be harmful.
Bruce Harold Lipton is an American writer and lecturer whose work has been dismissed by some peers as pseudoscience. By his own admission, Lipton's ideas have not received attention from mainstream science. Lipton has not published original scientific research in a peer-reviewed medical journal in 30 years.
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) is the national science academy in South Africa. It was started in 1996, and encompasses all fields of scientific work. Its legal foundation is the Academy of Science of South Africa Act, Act 67 of 2001, which came into operation in May 2002.
The Conversation is a network of nonprofit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion and analysis. Articles are written by academics and researchers under a Creative Commons license, allowing reuse without modification. Copyright terms for images are generally listed in the image caption and attribution. Its model has been described as explanatory journalism. Except in "exceptional circumstances", it only publishes articles by "academics employed by, or otherwise formally connected to, accredited institutions, including universities and accredited research bodies".
Nicoli Nattrass is a South African development economist who is professor of economics at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is the co-director of the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa (iCWild) and was the founding director of the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR).
Johann Reinder Erlers Lutjeharms, was a leading South African marine scientist and an authority in the oceanography of the Agulhas Current, who authored a definitive work on the subject, The Agulhas Current. His main field of investigation was the large-scale circulation patterns of the oceans adjacent to southern Africa and their influence on weather and climate, and he participated in 17 research cruises and was responsible for a further 48 projects undertaken on such cruises.
The Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve is located in South Africa between the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg to the east and Rustenburg to the west. The reserve lies at the interface of two great African biomes — the Central Grassland Plateaux and the sub-Saharan savannah — and the remnants of a third biome, the Afro‐montane forest. The rich biodiversity includes floral species such as Aloe peglerae and Frithia pulchra, and faunal species such as the forest shrew, sable antelope and 443 bird species representing 46.6% of total bird species in the southern African sub-region.
Sarah Wild is a South African science journalist and author. In November 2017 she became the first African to win a AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award.
Open access to scholarly communication in South Africa occurs online via journals, repositories, and a variety of other tools and platforms. Compared to other African nations, open access in South Africa has grown quickly in recent years.
The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) is a non-profit company representing South African organisations in the public and private sector with an interest in science, engineering, technology, and innovation. Its aim is to promote science, engineering, and technology, and to engage with related government policies. Established in 1995, the NSTF organizes annual awards for research and development excellence in South Africa.
Nokwanda Pearl (Nox) Makunga is a Professor of Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University.
Adriana Marais is a South African theoretical physicist, technologist and advocate for off-world exploration. She is a director of the Foundation for Space Development Africa, an organisation aiming to send Africa's first mission to the Moon, the Africa2Moon Project. She is the founder of Proudly Human, an initiative of which is the Off-World Project, a series of habitation experiments in Earth's most extreme environments.
Anna Zakrisson is a Swedish science communicator and scientist living in Berlin.
Sarah Fawcett is a South African oceanographer and climatologist. A senior lecturer in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Cape Town, she is particularly interested in the role of oceans in regulating biogeochemical cycles and how their dysregulation contributes to climate change. She was honoured in the World Economic Forum Young Scientists Class of 2020, and a P-Rating from the National Research Foundation, which recognizes that the scientist's work will likely have high impact.
Professor Michael John Wingfield is a South African academic and scientist who studies plant pathology and biological control. He was the founding director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria. Wingfield has authored or co-authored over 1,000 scientific publications and is considered a leading expert in the field of forest health and invasive species. He has received numerous awards and honours throughout his career, including Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award and John Herschel Medal, the highest accolade from the Royal Society of South Africa. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and the African Academy of Sciences. Wingfield has had several fungi named after him.
The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) establishes prestigious research chairs in South African universities with the support of funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF). The programme, launched in 2006 as a joint initiative between the NRF and the national Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), aims to attract and retain excellent researchers in South African public institutions. The research chairs are reserved for established researchers and are renewable for up to 15 years.