Dr Mary-Jane Bopape

I am the Managing Director of one of the business units within the National Research Foundation – the South African Environmental Observation Network (NRF-SAEON). NRF-SAEON is comprised of seven nodes: four terrestrial nodes located in Phalaborwa, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town, and Kimberley; two marine nodes in Gqeberha and Cape Town; and an ICT and data node in Cape Town.

Additionally, NRF-SAEON hosts three research infrastructures under the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). Since 2017, NRF-SAEON has been implementing the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network (EFTEON) to establish densely instrumented sites across six South African landscapes. It is also implementing the Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure (SMCRI), which operates four sentinel sites and a number of satellite sites in the marine environment. The third research infrastructure, the South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI), began its implementation in 2021, and its work includes observation collections and monitoring in the three adjacent oceans to South Africa, Antarctica and the subantarctic Islands. The NRF-SAEON data repository holds the CoreTrustSeal certification, affirming its reliability. All NRF-SAEON platforms are accessible to researchers for studying environmental change and variability, aiding in policy development.

NRF-SAEON is also active in science engagement, working with school learners, educators, and the general public to promote environmental science. Our national office in Pretoria houses support staff in finance, supply chain management, and human resources.

Established in 2002 within the NRF, NRF-SAEON operates under the National Research Infrastructure Platforms (NRIP) program. As the MD of NRF-SAEON, I guide its strategic direction and oversee the operational management of the business unit. This involves close collaboration with the management team responsible for each node and research infrastructure. Support functions, such as SCM, Finance, HR, and Communications follow a business partnering model, allowing Corporate NRF to provide oversight and support.

NRF-SAEON enables the NRF to engage in critically relevant research and provision of long-term environmental platforms, especially in this era of climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and dwindling natural resources essential for human sustainability.

What inspired you to become the leader that you are today?

I left Limpopo as a 16-year-old with the hope of registering for a degree in Meteorology at the University of Pretoria (UP). This aspiration began when my mother brought me a pamphlet from the then South African Weather Bureau detailing careers in meteorology which also listed institutes of higher learning offering this opportunity.

I pursued my degree at UP and then joined the South African Weather Service (SAWS) as a scientist, specialising in regional climate modelling for seasonal timescales. During my tenure at SAWS, I completed an MSc in meteorology at UP, supervised by Prof Willem Landman and funded by the Water Research Commission. My MSc research, published in the International Journal of Climatology, focused on the internal variability of a regional climate model in South Africa and earned me the 2008 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Research Award for Young Scientists.

After five years at SAWS, I transitioned to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), initially working at the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) and later in the Natural Resource and Environment (NRE) division. At the CSIR, I specialised in climate change research, particularly dynamical downscaling to produce high-resolution projections. I also pursued a PhD in meteorology at the University of Pretoria, supervised by Prof Francois Engelbrecht, Prof David Randall from Colorado State University, and Prof Willem Landman, focusing on cloud microphysics parametrisation in a non-hydrostatic model, which I completed in 2013. For my PhD work, I received a Business Unit Award as the most promising young researcher.

In 2014, I moved to the United Kingdom for two years, working as a postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Reading with Prof Robert Plant as the Principal Investigator, where I conducted research on modelling the atmospheric boundary layer. Returning to South Africa in 2016, I rejoined the CSIR NRE and then CHPC before returning to SAWS as a chief scientist responsible for weather research.

At SAWS, I led a project in collaboration with the CHPC to support the implementation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Cyber-Infrastructure Framework. This project, funded through the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) initiative (secretariat with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and funding administration by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS))  and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), involved collaboration with cyber-infrastructure experts and meteorologists from Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa on the simulation of heavy rainfall events using Numerical Weather Prediction models. For this work, I was recognised as one of the most influential Africans of 2022 and honoured by the Ghana-based Humanitarian Awards Global for my contributions as a scientist. Subsequently, I took on the role of senior manager of research at SAWS before becoming the Managing Director of NRF-NRF-SAEON.

My leadership journey has been gradual, allowing me to understand the technical and strategic needs within my field. As a leader, I aim to drive direction in these critical areas, while stressing the need for the development of homegrown solutions for African challenges.

What advice would you give to the next generation of women leaders?

When an opportunity comes your way, seize it and make sure your excellence is noticed. Don’t wait for opportunities to find you – proactively seek them out.

In today’s technological age, the Internet offers a wealth of opportunities. Follow organisations on social media that operate in your field of interest to stay informed about available opportunities, advancements, and new initiatives.

Continuously develop yourself; you can access lectures from top universities by searching for topics of interest on video platforms.

Lastly, never doubt your ability – you are capable of achieving greatness.