South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA)

SAASTA is mandated to advance public awareness, appreciation, and engagement of science, engineering, and technology in South Africa. The agency's activities include:

• Building the quantity and quality of mathematics and science outputs at the school level (developing science, engineering, and technology (SET) human capital);
• Raising the general interest in, as well as the engagement and appreciation of, the public (and especially economically poorer communities) for the benefit of science (strengthening the SET culture); and
• Communicating science to the South African citizenry (bringing science and scientists closer to civil society).

Strategic approach

SAASTA is integrally involved in promoting science at the school level and in creating public awareness and greater public engagement in SET issues in public forums and in the general media. These efforts aim to grow the pool of quality science postgraduates who can benefit from research and development (R&D) funding and support, while also helping to create a more informed population that is better able to debate and decide on issues such as global warming, genetically modified foods, biofuels, and more.

SAASTA supports all science advancement interventions across South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF), working closely with the seven National Research Facilities. These focus on the fields of astro and geosciences, biodiversity and conservation, and nuclear sciences. SAASTA also works closely with other NRF business units, science facilities, science centres, higher education institutions, science councils, and government departments.

All SAASTA initiatives - from its travelling exhibits and competitions through to educator and learner programmes - fall under three key strategic areas:

1. Education (through which SAASTA seeks to increase the supply of tomorrow's scientists and innovators);
2. Awareness (through which SAASTA engages the public with the phenomena of science, engineering, and technology); and
3. Communication (through which SAASTA shares science and technology achievements with the public, building up their appreciation of the benefits of science).

These three areas are interdependent, each enhancing the effectiveness of the other, while accommodating different intended audiences and creating opportunities for joint initiatives across several government departments and different science agencies. More specifically:

Science Education
According to SAASTA, South Africa is rapidly reaching the forefront of science and technology advancement and has the potential to become a rich source of scientific expertise - but only if the system is fed with a healthy supply of learners whose interest in SET is guided by equally passionate educators.

SAASTA's education unit therefore implements, develops, and manages projects that promote science, engineering, and technology to learners and educators based on the following three focus areas:

1. School science support: This includes educator and learner programmes, science enrichment programmes, and competitions.
2. SET careers: This comprises career promotional material, role modelling campaigns, job shadowing, SET innovation, and entrepreneurship initiatives.
3. Science resources: This includes curriculum-based support resources, enrichment materials, web-based materials, and online learning.

Science Communication
SAASTA contends that the essence of good science communication lies in providing credible and accurate information that is accessible to all South African communities.

To achieve this, SAASTA's communication unit utilises three critical processes:

1. The scientific editorial process, which ensures that information is responsible, reliable, and credible;
2. Scientific editing, which considers ethnicity and ethnology of intended audiences, ensuring that messages are clearly communicated and understood; and
3. Audience analysis, with the intention to better understand South Africa's diverse audience categories by measuring information needs and information-seeking behaviour.

The unit has the following focus areas:

• Science and the media: This includes media-scientist networking, events, and the facilitation of workshops to assist media practitioners and scientists to popularise science.
• Science promotion: This includes various communication tools and resources that are used to promote science to the general public, one of the best known being SA Science Lens - South Africa's scientific photographic competition.
• Science communication and capacity building: This includes developing the media and communication skills of researchers, enabling them to more effectively share their achievements in priority research areas.

Three Department of Science and Technology-funded programmes are managed by this unit: the Public Understanding of Biotechnology programme (PUB), the Nanotechnology Public Engagement programme (NPEP), and Hydrogen South Africa Public Awareness.

Science Awareness
SAASTA believes that the wonder of science often only reveals itself when it is presented as something that everyone can see, touch, feel, and experience. To this end, SAASTA's awareness unit manages a collection of travelling exhibits and programmes that help to spread the word on science at festivals and exhibitions throughout the year, and around the country.

By combining in-house facilities and programmes and outreach and mobile awareness initiatives, coupled with festivals and events, SAASTA works to demystify science for the public in a way that makes it tangible, practical, and fun.

This unit occupies the Observatory in Johannesburg, where exhibitions on engineering, optics, astronomy, astrophysics, and space science are hosted. Learning facilities include the infinity room, forensic laboratories, telescope domes, and the TheoRetical and Applied Chemodynamics (TRAC) laboratory.

The unit's Science and Technology Centre Networks programme provides support to science centres around the country in areas such as human capacity development. It also provides training in the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of exhibitions at these centres.

Under the curatorship of SAASTA, the Johannesburg Observatory is being considered for development as a centrepoint for SAASTA's broader education, communication, and awareness activities. It is envisaged that it will become a centre of excellence in the sciences, combining educational outreach with hands-on interactivity.

Technology, Education.