Community Engagement

SciMathUS

An introductory statistics module presented by the department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at SU as a bridging course for previously disadvantaged students with the potential of enrolling at universities. I was the course coordinator in 2010 which included the preparation of course material, tutorials and tests. It was a privilege to lecture this wonderful group of students that had so much potential. One of the students joined my S186 class the following year and performed exceptionally well while one of the other students moved to UWC.

Maths4Stats

The Department of Statistics and Population Studies was approached by Statistics South Africa and the Western Cape Education Department to provide training on the CAPS curricula to the grade 10 to 12 Mathematics and Mathematics Literacy educators. I joined my departmental peers in this community outreach project and I completed three successful stints with them. The photo below was taken at the 2013 certificate ceremony. Left to right: Dr Morné Lamont (SU), Dr Retha Luus, Prof Renette Blignaut, Mr Abduraghiem Latief and Mrs Ronell Lombard-Jacobus

I was responsible for enriching the introductory probability background of the educators (↪ view). Preparing for this project took many hours but the positive feedback and appreciation of the educators made it all worthwhile. Also knowing that we were not simply reaching the few educators that sat in front of us, but also the learners they teach was greatly fulfilling. In a small way we have contributed to the improvement of the mathematical education of the Western Cape learners and I am proud to be able to say that I was a part of this.

Divas and Dudes in Data Science

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) Department of Statistics and Population Studies launched the Women in Analytics initiative to expose more girl learners in high schools to careers in analytics. I was part of the organising committee that arranged this high tea on 30 November 2019. The objective of the event was to make grade 11 girls taking mathematics aware of the exciting world of analytics and how they all had the starter skills required to embark on the path to successful careers in analytics. More importantly, we wanted them to believe that as young women there should be nothing standing in their way of becoming successful at anything their hearts desire. The keynote address was delivered by Prof Jennifer Priestly, Director of the Centre for Statistics and Analytical Services at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, USA. It was my task to thank everyone that contributed to making the event a success (event programme). An article of the event can be found here.

In 2020, due to the Covid pandemic, the event was replaced by a competition where learners had to submit their definition of what Data Science is. I was responsible for designing the flyer. Winners all received e-gift vouchers.

With the pandemic continuing in 2021, an online Zoom event was held for the learners on 26 November. Also, "Women in Analytics" was expanded to include "Dudes in Data". This time a number of lucky draw prizes were handed out at the end of the event and I was in charge of managing the online lucky draw.

This initiative is now known as "Divas and Dudes in Data Science" and the event was hosted in a similar way on 28 October 2022 and 20 October 2023. In 2022 I started using an online random selection tool for the lucky draw prizes. This was done by setting up an online wheel of fortune spinner used to randomly select the winners in a fun way. Registered learners' names were added to the wheel making it easy to do repeat draws quickly if learners were not in attendance.

Teachers 4 Data Analytics

The Department of Statistics and Population Studies at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and SAS® hosted a Teachers 4 Data Analytics event. For this we received funding (R100 000) from the Centre of Excellence for Mathematics and Statistical Sciences (CoE-MaSS). I was part of the organising committee of the event of which the aim was to provide Mathematics teachers with material and ideas to make the teaching of data analytics more interesting and exciting in class. The teachers were very excited by the initiative and very thankful for the opportunity to learn some new skills. It is envisaged that this might become a repeat event in future. An article of the event can be found here.

At a ceremony held on 8 August 2023 to acknowledge 2023 Academic Achievers' Awards, UWC’s Data Science programmes won the prestigious 2023 UWC Community Engagement Excellence Award as the Excellent Community Engagement Team (↪ view).

Statistical Consultation for Other Scientific Institutions/Departments

UWC School of Pharmacy

Assisted with design, sample size calculation and/or statistical analysis for the following research projects:

Van Niekerk, L. (2024). The effect of Dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy on the body weight of HIV-infected adult female patients. MSc Pharmaceutical Science.

Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability (TCAID)

From March to October 2020 I worked as the Lead Statistician at the Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability (TCAID) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). TCAID is an international and multi-disciplinary research centre examining key issues in ageing and the life course, informing policy and debate at the national and local level. Under TCAID falls the Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA), a longitudinal study researching ageing in Ireland among people with an intellectual disability aged 40 and over. For more information on TCAID, click here.

In my role:

I was the owner and manager of the various large questionnaires administered by IDS-TILDA;
I was in charge of managing the computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) system;
I wrote, tested and validated the routing rules for the various questionnaires;
I was responsible for ensuring the protection of the data;
I consulted on Master's and PhD thesis analyses;
I consulted on and conducted the statistical analyses for various researchers in the centre;
I planned statistical methodology for research grant applications;
I planned and executed the statistical methodology for research reports; and
I served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the research project.

All analyses were conducted in RStudio or IBM SPSS and used in publications, conference presentations and/or reports.

The South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI)

Biobank Survey

In 2017 I, along with Prof Renette Blignaut, was contacted by Prof Alan Christoffels, the Director of SANBI, to assist with a Biobank survey. The primary researcher on this project is Ms Anja Bedekker with co-investigators Dr Dominique Anderson and Prof Christoffels. The objective of this study is two-fold. Firstly, as outlined by Ms Bedekker, to establish the needs and requirements of Biobanks in resource-limited settings. Furthermore to use the information gathered to improve the Baobab LIMS application such that it becomes a more viable option to other institutions. A pilot study was completed towards the end of 2017 which included the development of a questionnaire and an initial descriptive analysis of the results from the pilot study that was undertaken in Lyon, France.

Speaking Book

The same research team from SANBI has developed a Biobank speaking book with 3 different language settings with the objective to educate listeners on what Biobanks are. They have consulted with myself and Prof Renette Blignaut about conducting an experiment to determine whether these books are effective as Biobank educational tools. The project has been completed and the results were published in an academic paper that can be viewed here.

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