Faculty of Natural Sciences
Faculty of Natural Sciences
P r o f e s s o r D e l i a M a r s h a l l t o P ac h i e v e r
D R A n u s h A R A j k A R A n R i s i n g s tA R
HOD appointment three days into lockdown was ‘baptism of fire’ Professor Delia Marshall’s research interests lie in under- one of the major challenges was how Covid-19 amplified the algraduate physics education and methods of enabling ready existing inequalities in higher education. “Many lecturers, it seems to me, have expestudents to access the disciplinary knowledge and practices of physics. she is passionrienced similar distress witnessing their students falling behind and feeling soate about the public good purposes of cially isolated, yet being unable to higher education, and its impact on adequately connect with them or students’ life trajectories, and reprovide support. This is somecently co-authored a book titled Going to University: The influthing we perhaps need to think ence of higher education on about as an institution, if we want to mitigate the long-term the lives of young south Africans, which explored some effects.” Personally, she tried to set of these themes. up boundaries, deliberately “It is not just female academics who have been demarcating non-work time affected by the pandemic. and unplugging from emails and screens. she also tried Many of our female stuto make time for restoradents have also struggled tive activities, like planning to study from home, with walks or runs with friends, or the demands of household an early morning swim or surf. chores and childcare.” “But I certainly don’t think I got on a personal level, Prof Marthe work-life balance right a lot shall has lived very close to the of the time.” frontlines of this pandemic. “My Alongside the intensity of adapting husband is a healthcare worker to a new way of working, there were who was working closely with Covid patients on a daily basis, so there was an also moments of real joy in 2020. “I found ever-present sense of dread and vulnerabilmyself enjoying the less hurried pace of life that lockdown brought, finding pleasure in the simity in our household.” 2020 was a whirlwind for her: she ple aspects of daily life – with more “I found myself enjoying the less hurried family time together, early morning started a new job as Head of the Department of Physics & Astronopace of life that lockdown brought, finding coffee in my garden, or pausing at my just three days into the Covid my home desk to watch the birds national lockdown. “It really was a pleasure in the simple aspects of daily life …” outside my window.” Looking ahead, Prof Marshall is baptism of fire. Leading my department’s sudden shift to online learning was challenging, and I was excited about a new “science for Development” Honours modextremely grateful for the deep sense of collegiality in my de- ule being set up in the department, led by colleague Carolina partment. Colleagues stepped up to help each other master the odman, which will develop physics students’ ability to apply their technical and educational design aspects of online teaching, and scientific, mathematical, computational and data skills to broader sustainable development contexts. shared ideas and resources.”
Dealing with anger and isolation during the lockdown Doctor rajkaran was trained in the Department of Botany at “After a while the term ‘the new normal’ drove me to different levNelson Mandela University, and specialised in the els of anger and resentment, just because I was feeling ecology and functioning of mangrove forests, an inability to accept the situation.” which are the rarest forest type in South AfAlthough she admits to not maintaining a rica. these are significantly threatened work-life balance, she did find strategies globally, and in particular by microthat helped her to cope. “I found solplastics.” ace in the little things – flowering With so much of her work taking plants, visiting sunbirds, dogs and place outdoors, the lockdown cats staring out their windows. proved to be difficult as she I tried to find things that kept was forced to stay indoors me positive and engaged. and grapple with isolation. Gardening, taking pictures “As a single woman, my exof my plants and posting perience of lockdown and to Instagram were often a covid-19 brought about much-needed source of challenges of isolation engagement and contact which lead to loneliness, with the outside. trying to as well as a struggle to reexercise, feeling my heart main productive and crearate increase and sweattive. these feelings were ing allowed me to feel like compounded by the constant something healthy was being worry about family, colleagues, achieved. Keeping track of stuundergraduate and postgradudents, engaging with colleagues ate students, and was driven by via meetings and WhatsApp also concern for their physical and menhelped keep the mind busy.” tal health, the inability to provide help, It was a huge moment for her to get and the need to maintain some sense of back out into nature. normality for all concerned.” “the joy of being in nature returned in abunShe was prone to constant worrying and said that dance and we saw old field sites with new eyes sometimes the worrying led her to and appreciation. Just being able arguments with family who were to drive the research rubber duck “As a single woman, my experience of not obeying to lockdown regulabrought back the feeling of the ‘old lockdown and Covid-19 brought about tions. “It definitely kept me awake normal’.” at night – or perhaps that was the challenges of isolation leading to loneliness, During the next three to five years, sound of emails arriving 24 hours her teams’ research on the impact as well as a struggle to remain productive a day.” of microplastics in estuaries and and creative.” Although academics are used to on ecosystem services will grow working beyond office hours, she in leaps and bounds. “In the next often found her day starting late at night, hitting higher levels of 18 months, we will continue to develop our microplastics lab, productivity around midnight, and also finding that emails to col- furnishing it with much-needed equipment that will allow us to leagues were being replied to in the late hours, as they too were provide in depth knowledge on the source, type and end point awake.” of microplastics in mangrove, salt marsh and seagrass habitats.”
