In February 2021, I met with a friend for lunch, as the pandemic restrictions had eased enough to do so. The conversation eventually turned to our work and career trajectories, which was a natural progression after the job losses that came from COVID-19. I was happy to engage, until things took a quick and uncomfortable turn.
“What socio-economic benefits come from or with what you do?” my friend asked.
I have never been a fan of this question. I always find that it undermines the work that I and other scientists do. It does not allow “science for the sake of science” to exist.
But what does that even mean? The idea behind “science for the sake of science” comes from the need to justify or validate doing science-related work as a form of research, when it doesn’t readily have a monetary benefit to it.
Contributing towards a growing scientific body of knowledge does not seem enough as a reason to pursue a career. Or maybe it doesn’t carry enough instant gratification - the results of science done now will become a base for science in the future and might only ‘pay off’ then.
And because science for the sake of science is usually government funded with taxpayers’ money, the intangible non-monetary results of it do not seem justifiable.
Science enables innovation
The truth is, science, and the innovation it enables, is vital to our economy. Earlier this year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stressed this point, calling on support for the country’s innovators.
“As we strive to harness science, technology and innovation in the cause of economic growth, we must provide all the necessary support to innovators and become a country that nurtures great ideas,” he said.
But that message isn’t making it to the people, in my experience. As a female in earth sciences, I find myself engaging with those that work in industry to be a challenge. Honestly, It can even be downright upsetting.
On top of trying to build a career and make a name for myself, I also have to defend the relevance of my work because it doesn’t fit society's norms. No, it is not a bank job, a construction-related job or even retail work. But it’s just as important.
African resources in African science
I am a junior research scientist at the National Research Foundations’ iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences (LABS), and a third year PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
I am also a recipient of the Advancing Womxn fellowship given by the Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) through the UCT Vice Chancellor’s For Womxn by Womxn initiative.
My work is research. And that research seeks to understand rates of erosion along the bedrock fluvial channels of South Africa’s major rivers. Rivers that are part of a landscape that formed a part of the background to human evolution. I use cosmogenic nuclides and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to do this.
This is important because the evolution of the southern African landscape has been of interest to many landscape researchers before, but many have used qualitative methods to do this. My work seeks to quantify these changes and ultimately contribute to the belief that the southern African region is stable.
My work is also important to society. It can be used to predict and understand how fluvial channels will evolve in the future, and how that could affect communities that rely on them.
But more than this, I hope to shed light on accelerator-based sciences in South Africa and encourage the use of African resources in African scientific studies.
I love what I do. But the fact I even have to clarify its value can be exhausting, and is something I don’t see my Global North colleagues having to navigate as often.
Elevating research and role models
I used to think that my counterparts in the Global North did not get asked about the socio-economic benefits of their work. Society there appears to recognise the significance of the role scientists play within the academic space and society.
In the 2017 article, Under the microscope: Science for the sake of science, Chantal Mustoe writes about this same subject. In it, she expresses her struggles with how to respond to such questions. She writes that she often doesn't know which part of her work to emphasise, because she recognises the research might not be relevant in the next 50 to 100 years.
My colleagues also struggle with this question. A researcher from the University of Vermont told me: “It’s often hard to tell whether science is going to have socio-economic benefits until the research is done.”
I suppose the point is, we should give science the chance to prove its benefits, regardless of how long it takes.
If we do that, maybe we can then embrace the benefits of science for the sake of science in building scientific advancement in general and positioning South Africa as a comparable and competitive contributor to the global knowledge economy. And the need for more of us to take up the work.
iThemba LABS, where I work, is the largest multidisciplinary national research facility in South Africa, with the largest accelerator research facility in the southern hemisphere.
On the one hand, myself and my colleagues are engaged in research with cutting-edge equipment that is found nowhere else on the continent. But on the other hand, we recognise that there aren’t enough of us - especially black women - doing that research.
We can change that by elevating our research and those of us doing it as role models. Create platforms where future generations of researchers see our careers as important, and not deride our careers and question our impact.
Role models who open doors
It’s really important for South African scientists to take pride in and promote their work - and for those in industry to support us.
We need a mental shift toward recognising the need for research-based careers that do not “fit” societal norms. It’s okay to be a PhD researcher and not a medical doctor. It’s okay to work in a lab studying ancient landscapes and not in an office.
In my life of work, I am a researcher, an aspiring role model, an academic, a woman geoscientist.
I am in a position that was created because it mattered enough to be created. Secondly, as an aspiring role model, I am in a position where, together with my colleagues, we are able to open doors for others to come into the field and contribute towards the same mission.
By doing this, we can open the door for “science for the sake of science” to employ more people, to strengthen our economy, to improve the livelihoods of others, and for South African talent to contribute to the global pool of knowledge - where we belong.
This article was written by HERI researcher Rivoningo Khosa.