Motivating young people [E81tVKS9yuG]
Phakeng believes young people should be made aware of the benefits of maths such as logical thinking and making sense of things around us, as well as the careers available to mathematicians. “Many young people think that mathematics doesn't mix with certain things. I mean, I put on makeup and do mathematics. So, I say to them that it is possible. And this is how you can make it possible. Every day, at least an hour, you do mathematics to practice what you've done before,” she says. Her love for mathematics took her into a career in the non-governmental sector, working as a teacher in rural farm schools “with the most impoverished people” before she joined academia. Now, a member of the board of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) in South Africa, girls and many others look up to her for inspiration. She is also a member of the board of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator, a body that brings together different communities to jointly anticipate scientific and technological advancements and, based on them, develop inclusive and global solutions for a sustainable future. The secret of her success as a maths teacher? “I have this philosophy that if you want children to do well in mathematics, you must make them love mathematics, and to make them love mathematics comes in how you teach it so that they can do it even when you're not there,” she says. Her journey through academic institutions saw her work in a variety of roles before landing the vice-chancellor role at UCT, considered among the best on the African continent. Phakeng says her rating as a B1 scientist was necessary because “when you're a black African woman, the assumption is that you are an affirmative action appointee”. According to the National Research Foundation of South Africa, a researcher with B1 rating is one who “enjoys considerable international recognition for the high quality and impact of his or her recent research outputs, with some of them indicating that he or she is a leading international scholar in the field”. “It's been very important for me to tick every step, even to get the rating,” says Phakeng, because “there will always be doubting Thomases [who] question how capable you are… So, it’s essential that people can see what you have done. They can check your international reputation as a scholar, as a leader…the data and evidence of leadership and scholarship is there to be seen. I felt that it's essential to do that as a black African.”