Scientist wows global audience

EMERGING scientist Tamlyn Sasha Naidu received global recognition for her novel approach to tackling acid mine drainage.

Naidu, 30, formerly of Chatsworth and now based in Gauteng, wowed the audience at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin with her ground-breaking research and won the main prize in the 2022 World Finals with her presentation on “Breaking the Wall of Acid Mine Drainage”.

In the emerging talents (Falling Walls Lab) category, the “Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year” was awarded to students and early-career professionals for their innovative ideas.

Eighty winners from 54 countries pitched their breakthrough ideas, tackling modern-day challenges such as vaccine equity, global warming, and the tracking and removal of space debris.

Naidu’s PHD and post-doctoral project tackle mining-related water pollution and land loss. She uses waste products from the refining and agricultural sectors to treat mining wastewater, resulting in a nutrient-rich sludge which can be used for hydroponic farming.

Naidu said acid mine drainage was a huge problem in developing and first world countries.

“It’s often overlooked. If you are not directly affected or part of a mining community living in a rural area or mining area you don’t really see it, but the effects are far reaching from the place it emanates from. In SA we have so many mines that are abandoned or changed ownership and no one is taking liability for this water.

“My project looked at treating the water. Water quality varies from site to site, but there are always a few constant characteristics and one of them is acid mine drainage. It has a low ph and a high content of metals and sulphates. Sometimes those rare earth metals are very valuable because they are used in technology,” said Naidu, a post-doctoral research fellow

at Wits University.

“Primarily we want to treat the water and create clean water from a contaminated stream that is affecting communities. Water engineering and chemistry is so important because the quality of water is decreasing. Protecting any water resource we have is extremely important,” she said.

She added the quality of the research presented at the summit was phenomenal. “I learnt a lot. I was shocked that out of all the significant research outputs this project was selected. The project received a lot of interest and a lot of people were not aware of acid mine drainage.”

Falling Walls Science Summit is a leading international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral forum for scientific breakthroughs and science dialogue between global science leaders and society. The annual event commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is a forum where global science leaders from academia, business, politics, the

media, and civil society debate the potential of scientific breakthroughs to solve grand challenges and shape a sustainable future.

Dame Sarah Springman, Principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford and Falling Walls Lab jury chair said: “It’s really great to listen to 80 young entrepreneurs from around the world, diverse in every which way, as they pitch, persuade, network and knock those walls down. I believe that it is a really important informal part of a young person’s education to be able to expose and present their ideas, within a relatively supportive growth environment, and on a more intimate stage than they will meet later in life.

“Nonetheless, to back onto the prestigious Falling Walls event as a Labster, and on these historical anniversaries, offers the opportunity to attend and observe more advanced entrepreneurs and to learn from them and to model (and even improve on) their behaviour and performance!”