Meet #CSIR Senior Researcher, Monique Potgieter, who is currently involved in a project focusing on the performance modelling of a Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar

From a young age, Monique has been fascinated by how things work, constantly fiddling with various objects to understand their mechanisms. Her parents nurtured this curiosity and supported her involvement in a diverse range of activities, from dancing to taking on almost all the additional subjects humanly possible to joining the chess club. She always enjoyed challenges and never settled for mediocrity in any endeavour.

After high school, she was fortunate to receive several bursary offers and chose to accept one from the CSIR, marking the beginning of her 13-year journey with the organisation. Monique pursued a degree in electronic engineering at the University of Pretoria, eventually obtaining her PhD in 2018. She recalls her first day of vacation work at the Radar and Electronic Warfare department, where she had no prior knowledge of radars or their purpose. Nevertheless, she was warmly welcomed, and she has always admired her peers' willingness to share their knowledge. Since then, she has had the privilege of working with fascinating people on numerous exciting projects.

On the technical front, Monique has recently transitioned to a new project focusing on the performance modelling of a Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar. She finds this application to be very intriguing and has gained significant insights from her current technical lead in a short amount of time. Prior to this project, she had the privilege of working on numerous other interesting projects. Her journey at the CSIR has been rewarding, encompassing various project aspects, from requirement analysis, proposal writing, client engagements, producing technical documents, authoring research articles and conducting technical work. In addition to the technical project involvement, she actively seized opportunities to mentor and guide students, contributing to the CSIR’s STEM community.

Monique also served on the REW Youth Forum, enhancing her engagement with the broader technical community. It is rare to find companies that afford employees the chance to participate in such multi-faceted project experiences should they wish to seize the opportunities.

She has been fortunate to receive support as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field. Recognising that this is not universally the case, Monique, along with a group of female colleagues with backing from Exco, established the CSIR Women’s Forum in October 2021, and she has been serving as the co-chair. The forum is built on four pillars: Outreach, Support, Development and Mentorship and serves as a solution-finding space. It often implements a bottom-up strategy to address issues and find practical solutions for the unique environment, as well as fosters an inclusive and supportive culture for women in STEM fields. Through this forum, Monique has collaborated with and learnt from many incredible women and leaders in the organisation.