The operational environment
All three nodes are actively involved in the sharing of knowledge amongst researchers within the CBTBR through lab meetings held at least weekly. Journal Club meetings, held weekly at the three sites, also provide an opportunity to share broader-based scientific issues and ideas within the field of biological sciences. We also attend numerous local and international conferences, often as invited speakers, where we share our work with the international community. We have had numerous meetings and contacts with health authorities, such as W and E Cape Departments of Health, to share with them our findings and the implication of these. These are just some of the bodies we have met with. We have also been invited to assist with advice to international organisations, such as GATB and WHO.

Knowledge translation to stakeholder groups
CBTBR members were involved in numerous public awareness activities countrywide in 2011:

Public awareness, public engagement, and publicity

• Prof. Mizrahi was interviewed by the Wellcome Collection in London as part of the Exchanges at the Frontier program. Her interview was broadcast by BBC World Radio on 10 and 11 December 2011 to an estimated international audience of >40 million listeners. The interview is available as a podcast from www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lzhr6.
• Prof. Warren gave a talk on Tuberculosis to members of the SANDF at Youngsfield Military Base
• Prof. Warren presented two lectures in the MBChB module on Infections and Clinical Immunology in 2011. Title: Molecular Epidemiology of Drug Resistant TB in South Africa.
• Numerous radio, TV and newspaper interviews locally and abroad. Owing to extreme administrative burden, opportunistic interviews, no accurate records were kept.
• Du Plessis N. Presentation: Worms and Tuberculosis: Do co-infections shape disease outcome? New Voices in Science colloquium. 2 December 2011.
• Kleynhans L. Presentation: Injectable contraceptives: Good or bad? New Voices in Science colloquium. 2 December 2011.
• In November 2011, Dr. Kana from the Wits node served on an expert panel at a workshop run by Discovery Health entitled: Award winning Health Journalism - lessons from the first three years of the Discovery Health Journalism Awards. This workshop was held at the Discovery Health headquarters in Sandton, Johannesburg and was facilitated by Prof. Harry Dugmore, interim director for the Discovery Centre for Health Journalism, School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University. The workshop was attended by several health journalists with video conferencing to participants in other areas of South Africa.
• Dr. Bavesh Kana served as a judge for the 2011 Discovery Health Journalism Awards.

Outreach activities
Prof Corfield has continued her involvement in outreach activities that engage the general public in a greater awareness and appreciation of biomedical science; since 1998, she has received support and encouragement for this work from different stake holders and has actively encouraged the participation of others in these events. Many of these activities have been undertaken with “outreach” funding from the CMCB or with the Community Liaison Office/Research Translation Office of the MRC, previously with Mrs Khalipha Ramahlape and more recently with Ms Benita Mayosi.

A highlight of 2011 has been the completion of phase three of the Wellcome Trust International Engagement WTIE grant awarded to Prof Corfield (Principal awardee) in partnership with the MTN Sciencentre, Cape Town. The first two phases of the project entitled “Catalysing partnerships: the role of science centres as intermediaries between the public and scientists in engagement with biomedical sciences in South Africa” brought science centres and scientists together to make biomedical science issues more assessable to the general public. Regional workshops held in 2010 had brought together a mix of scientists from local tertiary and research institutions and from science centres across the region (including science centres in rural areas). Several MRC employees attended these workshops, as well as postgraduate students and staff from MRC Centres/Units in the Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng.

Consequently, a successful outcome of the project has been the planned “seeding effect” with independent development of existing and new public engagement activities across the country. Thus, in 2011, the workshops “The Trouble with TB”, “HIV comes to the party”, “The DNA Detective, what’s in your genes?”, “TIK’s Tricks”, “Enzyme Antics” and “Basic Biotechnology” and exhibits “The Trouble with TB” and “The Skin you’re in” (all developed originally by Prof Corfield)have been presented occasionally by Prof Corfield but generally by others at, inter alia, The Cape Town Science Centre, the Giyani Science Centre [Limpopo], the Gateway Science Centre and the Science Centres at the Universities of Pretoria, Limpopo, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Zululand.

The final phase three of the project was completed in December 2011 with the production of a “Handbook for South African Science Centre Communicators” and a website containing an electronic version of the handbook and supporting material (http://www.saastec.co.za/scibiolosa.htm) which has achieved the goal of empowering others to become involved in furthering public awareness and engagement in biomedicine and in examining the ethical and societal issues raised by new technologies.

Another highlight of science engagement activities in 2011 was Prof Corfield’s participation at the Sixth Annual Science Centre World Conference, held in Cape Town. She was invited to participate in two panel discussions; for the first one she presented a talk entitled “Can ‘Science and Society’ be squeezed into a one-size fits all science centre experience?” in which she examined the need to tailor activities for culturally/ linguistically different target audiences. The title of the second contribution “Promoting women in science centres across cultures; the contribution of science centres” examined the ways in which science centres can change help change mindset and raise awareness among young girl learners about careers in science and technology. The two posters presented by Prof Corfield outlined the role of SAWISE and the goals of the WTIE award and were entitled “SAWISE: South African sisters in science and engineering network with science centres” and “Catalysing partnerships: can science centres bridge the gap and promote dialogue between scientists and the public in biomedicine?”, respectively

An interesting spinoff of the WTIE workshops conducted in phase two has been the further development by Prof Corfield in 2011 of the use of the Murder Mystery genre to engage the general public in the science underpinning DNA forensics and in the ethical issues that this technology raises. Prof Corfield has written a number of “who-dun-it” scenarios which have been used in public engagement activities, viz., at Scifest Africa 2011, the University of Limpopo Science Centre schools’ programme and at the AGM of South African Women in Science and Engineering (SAWISE), an organisation to strengthen the role of women in science and engineering.

During 2011, Prof Corfield was involved in other activities that furthered public awareness of various aspects of science. One of these is the continued rollout of the DNA Project, an organisation which seeks to raise awareness of the importance of DNA forensic evidence through many activities. During 2011, Prof Corfield has presented lectures for the DNA Project to the University of the Third Age, to the National Prosecuting Authority and to the company responsible for developing the Project’s advertising material. She has also been involved with a workshop, DNA CSI, which she has helped develop and has presented to the South African Police, Neighbourhood Watch groups, Rape and Women’s Abuse Centres and schools. Prof Corfield has lead further training projects with the Public Understanding of Biotechnology programme (PUB), viz., facilitating and assessing the Basic Biotechnology programme of the University of Limpopo Science Centre and she undertaken an assessment of media reports of biotechnology for SAASTA (SA Association for Science and Technology Advancement).

In 2011, in response to the need to raise awareness of the range of health-related careers available to school learners, Prof Corfield updated a presentation she had previously prepared entitled “Careers in Health Care”. She has presented this talk to the University of Stellenbosch’s bridging programme and made it available to the MRC’s Research Translation Office – who presented it at the Limpopo’s 2011 Eding Science Festival. She also devised SAWISE’s “meet-a-female-scientist” event for school learners.
The oral presentations skills workshop previously developed by Prof Corfield has also been updated and in 2011 was presented twice as part of the University of Stellenbosch’s Research Capacity Development office’s programme for lecturing staff and senior students and to the CMCB’s BSc Honours students. In addition, a shorter version entitled “101 tips for a pitch perfect presentation” was given at an SAWISE workshop and at the Biannual Conference for Women in Engineering (Gauteng).    

In summary, the activities in which Prof Corfield and members of CMCB/MRC were involved in 2011 are detailed below:

• 1 February: “Sci-speak to street-speak; How to de-jargonise genetics” workshop presented to Genetic Councillors UCT
• 9 February: DNA:CSI workshop Pinelands High School and Tamboerskloof Neighbourhood Watch
• 15-17 February Basic Biotechnology training workshop University of Limpopo Science Centre
• 18 February DNA:CSI workshop Rape Crisis Centre Khayelitsha
• 1 March DNA:CSI workshop Saartjie Bartman Centre Athlone
• 10 March “DNA:CSI what’s happening in South Africa?” seminar University of Stellenbosch
• 14-18 March Eding Fest, Polokwane. Part of MRC team, “HIV comes to the party” workshop and “Careers in Health Care”
• 24 March TB drama workshop at Delft clinic with Dr Gill Black
• April 7 and 8 DNA forensics lecture to University of Third Age Hermanus and DNA:CSI workshop to Hermanus Neighbourhood Watch
• May 4-6 Scifest Africa, Grahamstown. DNA:CSI workshop (award for best workshop); “The DNA Detective: what’s in your genes?” workshop. Basic Biotechnology workshop and DVD for teachers; Murder Mystery and part of MRC team.
• June 1 and 2 “TIK’s TRICKS” teachers’ workshop, Primary Science Programme, Phillipi
• June 21 SAWISE “101 tips for a pitch perfect presentation” CMCB
• July 18 “Careers in Health Care” University of Stellenbosch bridging programme
• July 20 and 21 DNA Project DNA:CSI workshop further development of a “train the trainers” programme
• August 4 DNA forensics lecture for National Prosecuting Authority
• August 10 DNA:CSI workshop Steenberg SAPs
• August 18 Guest speaker University of Stellenbosch Faculty of Health Sciences Academic Year Day “The Science Communication Scene in South Africa: what’s happening and who really cares?”
• August 22 SAWISE celebration of women in science – “Meet-a-female-scientist” schools’ career morning
• September 4-8 Sixth Science Centre World Conference. Presented two orals and two posters.
• September 22 DNA:CSI workshop Claremont SAPs
• October 11-13 Facilitate and assess University of Limpopo Science Centre’s Murder Mystery and DNA forensics schools’ programme
• November 18 “101 tips for a pitch perfect presentation” given at 2nd biannual women in Engineering conference
• December 5 SAWISE “Murder in the ‘bos” Murder Mystery event Kirstenbosch