非洲分析：维持南非科学论坛

Linda Nordling suggests ways to sustain the popularity of the first South African science forum.

Last month, scientists,决策者来自非洲各地的记者聚集在南非比勒陀利亚，参加了首届科学论坛南非（SFSA）。

该活动被吹捧为非洲首次“开放科学”活动，于12月8日至9日欢迎1,500多名代表参加科学和工业研究委员会（CSIR）国际会议中心。

Attendance exceeded all expectations, with a lack of seating meaning that latecomers had to stand during the opening session. The organiser, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of South Africa, says it will host another event around the same time in 2016.

根据DST的数据，从长远来看，它将试图参加非洲，诸如双年展的欧洲科学公开论坛之类的聚会是针对欧洲的，或美国美国科学进步协会为美国举行的聚会。

“随着科学会议的发展，该论坛是一个生动活泼的事情。”

Linda Nordling

But to live up to this ambition, and keep the punters coming year after year, the organisers will have to up their game. Here are some things they could try.

More science

For starters, the next forum will have to offer delegates — and especially journalists attending the event — more genuinely new science.

Many famous South African scientists attended SFSA. But none of them chose to present new and exciting研究活动中的发现。

That may not be so strange given that the SFSA as a platform is young and untested. Most scientists, especially those with an international reputation, choose to reveal their best results at international conferences.

Nevertheless, for future events, the DST should try to secure some previously unannounced research results that are both scientifically significant and interesting.

A good start would be to publish rigorous studies performed by, say, the CSIR focusing on timely South African or African challenges such asclimate changeordiseaseoutbreaks.
This would entice journalists, who turned out in force at the first SFSA, to continually patronise it. By contrast, the prospect of listening to African dignitaries talking about the importance of science might not seem so exciting the second time around.

Different dialogue

Future alterations of the forum should also be a bit braver in how it gets delegates to talk and interact with each other.

随着科学会议的发展，该论坛是一场生动的事情。每个演示文稿和会议都包含时间结束，以提出听众的问题和评论。正式会议大厅外的走廊和大厅之间，在会议期间也经常进行了许多生动的讨论。

However, as so often happens, the public comment part of discussions often turned out rushed and curtailed by time-sensitive moderators.

一些讨论，包括关于需要或不“非洲化”非洲人的受欢迎的讨论知识, could have benefited from a longer and moreinnovativesession format.

事实上,这样的讨论可以很容易地延伸everal hours, and why not? As long as the delegates are happy to invest that much time in a topic that interests them.

The agenda should be tailor-made to suit the different types of delegates attending. Press briefings should be held in the morning, so journalists are able to meet afternoon deadlines.
Traditional moderated sessions featuring expert presentations and debates should be mixed with more inclusive, and possibly lengthier, discussions where the topic requires it.

Building bridges

Another important discussion to make space for is science policy. This might not be the sexiest topic on the agenda, but it is a vital link between science and society.

“There were some good discussions at the forum about how to make evidence-based policymaking. However, many of the voices talking about these topics did not come from Africa.”

Linda Nordling

Science policy requirescommunication在不同群体之间，包括科学家，政客，商业领袖，非政府组织和整个社会 - 取得了良好的结果。

There were some good discussions at the forum about how to make evidence-based policymaking. However, many of the voices talking about these topics did not come from Africa.

While we can learn from international best practice, future discussions need to be more grounded in African experience and contexts.

But scientists should also be able to use the forum to air challenges facing them in their day-to-day lives.

After all, a forum such as this is not just a good time for the South African DST to show off local talent, but also for those who make science policy in the country to listen to their stakeholders.

展望未来

这些只是关于论坛的组织者如何建立在第一个论坛上产生长期成功的能源的一些想法。

The inaugural event showed that there was an unmet need for this kind of debate, both within the scientific community and in wider society.

未来的会议应该利用这一能量并提高它。There are enough interested people to fill a conference hall twice the size of the CSIR International Convention Centre.

If the forum does not need to find a bigger home in a couple of years, it will have failed to reach its potential.

Journalist Linda Nordling, based in Cape Town, South Africa, specialises in African science policy, education and development. She was the founding editor of Research Africa and writes for SciDev.Net, Nature and others.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.