Prof Jacqueline Goldin is an extraordinary associate professor of Anthropology and Water Sciences in the Centre of UNESCO Chair in Groundwater and Earth Sciences. Her water project, Diamonds On the Soles Of Their Feet, won a prize at the Berlin Science Week Summit in 2021. The project involves farmers and farm workers working alongside scientists using their smartphones to share the data they acquire about the quantity of underground water in remote inaccessible parts of South Africa. This data is uploaded to a portal that can be used for research purposes.
“I worked for many years in the School of Economics, focusing then on household poverty surveys. We did a survey – then (1992) to inform the new South African government – and what was evident across the households was the issue of water stress and access to water, Prof Goldin was quoted as saying. “I then worked on the Working for Water Programme, Clearing of Alien Invasives and got closer to rivers and learnt about water flows, and again – an obvious focus on water. I then did my Doctoral thesis on Trust and Transformation in the Water Sector and I learnt about shame – and how not having water – or having dirty water – can impact on people’s lives in such a negative way.”
Read the article here.
