Honeybush Project News

 

Four team members involved in the DSI/ARC Honeybush Project were featured as part of an awareness campaign about women in South African science during Women’s Month in August this year.

The campaign was run on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram by the Association of South African Women in Science and Engineering, also known as SA WISE.

The two project leaders at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of the DSI/ARC Honeybush Project, Prof Lizette Joubert and Dr Cecilia Bester were among those featured. Prof Joubert is a principal researcher (Food Science) at the ARC Infruitec–Nietvoorbij, and involved in product research and agri-processing matters. She is also associated with Stellenbosch University as an extraordinary professor in food science. Dr Bester is involved in horticultural production research as a senior researcher in crop development at the ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij, and also helps to develop small-scale businesses in the honeybush sector as part of the community development portfolio.

It was also hat’s off to food sensory expert Ms Nina Muller of Stellenbosch University’s Department of Food Science. She has been collaborating with the ARC since 2010 on herbal tea research. This collaboration has since resulted in more than 20 research papers. She recently helped to organise workshops for the honeybush industry on how to use a new sensory quality control guide (see article in news section). The workshops as well as the compilation and printing of the guide were made possible through support from the DSI/ARC Honeybush project.

The spotlight also fell on science communication expert Dr Marina Joubert of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology, who is involved in the DSI/ARC Honeybush Project as media and communications advisor.