?In celebration of Women's Month, Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 (SU) is shining a spotlight on extraordinary staff and students on our campuses who champion women's rights and gender equality. Through their dedication and leadership, they inspire and drive positive change within our community. Prof Lynn Hendricks from the Division of Health Systems and Public Health is an award-winning academic known for her transdisciplinary approach, blending creative methodologies, multidisciplinary theories and community engagement to drive meaningful impact.
You've referred to yourself as 'a daughter of the Cape Flats'. Can you share your journey in academia and what inspired you?
I have lived in several areas on the Cape Flats, including Athlone, Mitchells Plain, Bridgetown, and Silvertown. My parents are both from the Cape Flats, and the church we grew up in was central to our lives. I call myself a daughter of the Cape Flats because it's a community where everyone, not just your parents, is involved in your upbringing.
My academic journey began with a passion for animals and zoology at Freed-Hardeman 中国体育彩票 in Tennessee, America. However, in my third year, I realised I could not get over my fear of rats which was a requirement for zoology, and I enjoyed statistics and experimental psychology more. I made the switch to psychology, and I graduated with a BSc in Psychology. I did a master's degree in research psychology at the 中国体育彩票 of the Western Cape, focusing on experiment design and data analysis. After working in government and academic institutions, I joined SU in 2015, where I completed a MSc in Clinical Epidemiology and a PhD in social science (KU Leuven, a research university in Belgium) and public health (SU). My academic journey is very transdisciplinary, with a strong focus on innovation for inclusive research methods and analysis.
Can you tell us about the award-winning documentary film and art exhibition that were part of your PhD project?
I was a fellow of the VLIRUOS Global Minds scholarship at KU Leuven, a research university in Belgium. The way that scholarship is set up is that you do your PhD at both institutions. At KU Leuven I was registered for a PhD in social science and here at SU, I was registered for a PhD in public health.
I worked with Prof Taryn Young here from the Department of Global Health, and Prof Karin Hannes at KU Leuven, and what I had dreamed to do for my PhD was to make a documentary. Not that I'm a filmmaker, I knew nothing about it! But in my heart, I wanted to use art – dance, poetry, photography and video. I wanted to work with young women in a way that was inclusive and relevant for them.
The documentary, More than a pill, focuses on young women with perinatal infections. Their mothers had HIV and had passed it down to them, so they were between the ages of 16 to 21.
Many are orphaned and they share their joys, their tears, their challenges and their dreams in this 40-minute documentary. They talked about how they negotiate economic challenges, violence in the community and the stigma associated with HIV.
I was lucky that I had funding for my PhD, which gave me creative freedom and flexibility.
I wanted to push the boundaries of what we did in health research in a way that was complementary to evidence-based research such as systematic review work. I used the review to locate the evidence gaps and the target group and then used participatory approaches to prioritise the research aims.
?How do you see the intersection of art and science contributing to public health and community well-being?
I believe that in a world where inequalities persist and the divide between the privileged and marginalised widens, it is our collective responsibility to seek innovative solutions that promote inclusivity and foster positive change.
We can use art and creativity to discuss emotions, experiences, challenges like we do in our Public Squares for Social and Environmental Determinants of Health. It allows people to connect with their feelings and talk about issues in a comfortable, reflective and fun way. Creative solutions make research eco-systems accessible and inclusive.
On my LinkedIn profile, I describe myself as a transdisciplinary 'pracademic' because I love being an academic involved in community work and advocacy. My work allows me to advocate for gender and race equality and to continue to create access points for communities into decision and knowledge making spaces. I incorporate creativity and art into my classroom and research, using drawing and collage for teaching and public engagement workshops.
Currently, we're running a project with Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company, using art as a digital intervention for mental health. It's a new randomised controlled trial, and we hope it will be something we can scale up.
Using funds from our Springer Nature Inclusive Health Award, we have started a new research group called Inclusive Strategies to Promote Innovation, Research and Equity in Health (INSPIRE Collab). Our mission is to collaborate with the public and other stakeholders to plan, implement and report research in ways that people can connect with, ensuring it is relevant, context-specific and community-informed. One of our social impact initiatives is the design and launch of an adolescent friendly waiting room at the Bishop Lavis Clinic. This is the follow through from the findings of the documentary that was partly filmed there.
What is your strategy to balance your multiple roles as a lecturer, researcher, community activist and mother?
My strategy is prioritising the irreplaceable. It's been especially difficult for me now during this period, because apart from my two sons, I've got a laatlammetjie, a three-year old daughter. My job entails a lot of travel and she's at that age where she knows when I'm away, so mom guilt is something that I am really struggling with now. It's hard when you must choose between being a present mom at home with your family or taking up international opportunities for career advancement that means being away from home.
Finding that balance is especially hard for women in academia. Not that it's not easy for men, but I think particularly for moms who have so much going on in terms of what they do – that it makes it very hard. Of course, family always comes first but it comes at a price for women in academia. We need more supportive structures such as paid childcare when travelling to conferences, or sufficient funding mechanisms to support more hybrid events and allowing visitation of collaborators to our home institutions.
PHOTO: Stefan Els
?
