Audio is the broad term used to describe recorded, transmitted, and reproduced sound transformed into a distributable form through technology. Scholars from various disciplines have begun to explore the incorporation of audio in broadening access to knowledge in their respective fields. The Chair’s focus is on the use of audio for the dissemination of scientific knowledge through two ongoing projects: The Academic Citizen, a podcast series that aims to engage with issues higher education and the promotion of science communication for social justice, and Sound Matters, an interdisciplinary symposium that focuses on knowledge production through audio modalities.
The Academic Citizen
The South African Research Chair in Science Communication produces and funds the independent podcast series The Academic Citizen since 2022.
The aims of the podcast are to:
- Create a space for wide and deep discussion about key issues animating higher education in South Africa, Africa, the global south and beyond.
- Create a space for interdisciplinary exchange for academic researchers and educators.
- Help researchers, educators and scientists to tell their stories, and listen to and learn from each other’s insights and experiences.
- Create a space for science (in all forms) to be communicated in order to serve social justice (broadly conceived).
A full list of the episodes can be found on our website or on major streaming platforms.
From 2023, we can be commissioned to create a podcast about your research project. If you’d like to explore making a podcast of your own to serve your research project, contact us with your proposal. Listen to our advert for more information.
Sound Matters
Interdisciplinary explorations into audio knowledge production
An online symposium hosted by the SA Research Chair in Science Communication, The Academic Citizen, and the South African Journal of Science.
Convenors and Hosts: Prof Mehita Iqani and Dr Nosipho Mngomezulu
The Sound Matters Online Symposium was held in November 2023 and brought together presentations that explored interdisciplinary perspectives on how the mode of audio offers new possibilities in the formation, articulation, and dissemination of academic and/or scientific knowledge.
Selected presentations are now included in the new season of The Academic Citizen for sharing with the wider world. Current and upcoming episodes are available on the podcast’s website and major streaming platforms.