Stellenbosch University’s Food Science Department was buzzing as delegates arrived to attend the Science Café seminar held on February 29.

The seminar, entitled “Exploring the role of food scientists and nutritionists in human health and environmental sustainability”, is a collaboration between British Council South Africa and Southern Science.

Southern Science is a company that offers innovative science communication training for scientists, helping them to share their work with the public: www.southernscience.co.za.

The seminar focused on the Food, Health, Nutrition & Sustainability programme, a British Council South Africa initiative whose aim is to create public awareness about diet and how it is affected by culture and society.

Organiser Zorica Lazic, a project officer at British Council South Africa, says: “This programme is a partnership between the UK and South African Institutions of Higher Learning. It was launched to find innovative ways to package messages around nutrition in the school curriculum, the arts, the media and through scientific research.”

She adds that the seminar was attended by about 70 delegates, including academics, students, journalists and experts on nutrition. “The seminars generally raise a lot of interest wherever they are run. This one offered an opportunity for networking as well as a new way of raising awareness about the importance of healthy living among South Africans.”

Marina Joubert, a director of Southern Science and a partner of the seminar, has been working with British Council South Africa on a number of projects. “The Food, Nutrition, Health & Sustainability programme is one; I have also helped with a project called Climate Change,” says Joubert.

She says the seminar gave scientists a better idea of which issues interested the wider public.

“The idea of the seminar is to have short presentations, lively dialogue and some debate and thus give people a chance to talk,” she says.  

British Council South Africa project manager Chris Griffiths attended the seminar. “It was very informative,” he says. “There was a diverse group of participants, including representatives of companies like Pick n Pay and Woolworths.

“From a nutritional perspective, it provided an understanding of what people eat. From a cultural perspective, it allowed participants an opportunity to understand what influences the eating behaviour of South Africans. It also showed the importance of communication and bridging the gap between scientists and other people

Griffiths adds that the event allowed South Africans to share knowledge with participants from the UK.

“The seminar helped to make science seem easier to understand,” he says.

This was the last science seminar for the current financial year. To find out about other British Council events in South Africa, and in Africa, please visit our events calendar.

British Council is involved in several Science projects and initiatives around the world. To read more about this, go here, and to learn about Science seminars and events held in the United Kingdom, visit the Science Seminars page.