The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) on Friday, 16 August received a visit from 53 learners and four educators from Siphumile Primary School, located in Lloyd Location, Alice.

School tours to SAIAB are a great learning curve and SAIAB uses this opportunity to display some of the specimen curated in its Collection Facility. Tours to the Collection Facility have always been very interactive and success with learners wanting to find out more about water and water-based research and careers. The aim is to teach learners how preserving and curating natural history specimens is essential for understanding, conserving and protecting our natural heritage and resources.

The learners also got an opportunity to watch the MzanSea video, which celebrates South Africa's 20 new Marine Protected Areas, as a fun way of teaching them about South Africa's rich coastal and ocean biodiversity.

Promoting school tours is one of the many interventions implemented by SAIAB to encourage young people's interest in science by making it fun and accessible. SAIAB’s ambitious goal is making science education and careers attractive to young people and to contribute to the improvement of science literacy in our society.

Interestingly, this year also marks a milestone for SAIAB, which will be celebrating its 50th year as a research Institute. As such, SAIAB continues to open its doors to the public to promote formal and informal science education events as well as to advance the NRF’s role in science and career development of young South Africans in our often-neglected Eastern Cape Province.

In addition to this, SAIAB seeks to foster the uptake of Responsible Research and Innovation - #LivingRRI - to ensure good institutional governance in society.