Ms Kolisa Yola Sinyanya is passionate about sustainability and conservation of the planet, particularly the ocean. Currently she works at the department of oceanography at the University of Cape Town. She is also a PhD candidate with her research in oceanography focusing on the ‘Marine Biogeochemistry’ of the ocean. Her research seeks to critically look at bio-geochemical cycling in the ocean and as well as the exploration of phytoplankton community dynamics and microbe-nutrient interactions in the Indian Ocean, including subtropical and Southern Ocean waters. At the heart of her research is to make planet Earth habitable.
Producing sugar
Ms Sinyanya was born and raised in Mthata, Eastern Cape where she received her primary and secondary school education. Upon completing her Grade 12, she enrolled for a BSc undergraduate degree at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) double majoring in Zoology and Botany. “I fell in love with the science of plants because it has a lot of bio-technology-based work which fascinated me. I took this further in my Honours degree as I decided to pursue Botany where I worked with microbes. We produce bio-ethanol through a process involving using tree barks (plant remnants). We produce sugar from the tree barks in the laboratory and then ferment them into bio-ethanol,” says Ms Sinyanya.
Two Master’s degrees
While studying at WSU she was head-hunted by the National Research Foundation where she worked as an intern for a short stint. She applied to the University of Cape Town, where she was enrolled for two Master’s degree programmes: chemical engineering and botany. She chose the latter, studying the fynbos biome where she once again dealt with microbes or bacteria.
Sustainability and green environment
Sinyanya says to understand how the planet operates and how to sustain it; we need to first understand how everything works. Science is vital, she says, as it enables us to look deeply at what is happening, how it is happening and why it is happening. “The biggest conversation we are having as scientists, communities, policy makers and government is how do we ensure that whatever we do in STEMi is sustainable. “My particular work in the oceans entails understanding how biological systems within the surface waters contribute to the climate crisis currently devastating the world,” says Sinyanya. She says we need to understand that the ocean is the biggest absorber of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, adding we therefore need to keep it clean and healthy. “We need to understand all these because without the ecosystem in the ocean working as it should, everything else will fall apart,” says Sinyanya.
Inspiring school children
Sinyanya is the current global ambassador of the American Geophysical Unions where her role is to inspire and bring in more young black people into the science field. She also motivates and gives hope to young people who always thought that science is for certain group of people. She also does science communication educating communities about how to maintain our limited resources including the ocean.
Professional tips and advices
Sinyanya says young people, particularly girl learners, should not limit themselves. “You should shake off the imposter syndrome and work hard on your science subjects; mathematics, physical science, geography, biology and chemistry. Those are the major subjects for you to succeed in STEMi,” says Sinyanya. She says another subject that they should master is coding because it is one of the biggest career building course, adding that in the future it is going to grow even more. “Believe in yourself and chose the career path that you will enjoy. Don’t stick with something you do not like for you will fail many times and you will be miserable, advises Sinyanya.
Sinyanya has received a number of awards and acknowledgement for her contribution in science. They include, among them:
- She was awarded the Advancing Womxn Fellowship in the Department of Oceanography awarded under the “For womxn by womxn: conducting research in a field in which womxn are in short supply” category of a new initiative at UCT
- She is one of the researchers who were on 5-week cruise to Marion Island in the Sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean in 2017
- In February of 2020, she presented one of her PhD chapters at Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Diego, USA
- Towards the end of 2019, she was recruited to run and manage the social media of the new Advancing Womxn: Ocean Womxn Fellowship at UCT
- She was one of the invited African scientists who gave ocean and climate change related talks at #VirtualBlueCOP25
- In the same year Kolisa was nominated as one of the Inspiring Fifty Women in STEM South Africa
- Kolisa was the first (black) PhD candidate in the history of UCT to stand in as acting HoD at a departmental graduation ceremony in 2019
- She participated in some science communication engagements such as Pint of Science South Africa and TEDxUCT
- Presented the preliminary findings of her Agulhas System Climate Array (ASCA) research at the 2018 SANAP Symposium
- In 2018, Kolisa had the privilege to be interviewed as a woman in science under the theme “#SHEsInSTEM” by the women’s organisation, Young&BosSHE, based in the United States.
- In 2019, her science communication work was featured by Crastina in Sweden under the theme Science Communication Africa
