{"id":447315,"date":"2026-05-27T06:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/447315\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T06:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:42:08","slug":"on-the-up-science-awards-honour-climate-scientist-and-ngati-kuri-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/447315\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Up: Science awards honour climate scientist and Ng\u0101ti Kuri partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 50-year partnership between the Bioeconomy Science Institute Maiangi Taiao and Ng\u0101ti Kuri Trust Board<\/a> won the M\u0101ori partnership award, Te Tohu T\u016bhura.<\/p>\n

Grant, a geologist with Earth Science New Zealand, admitted she didn\u2019t feel much like an \u201cearly career\u201d researcher, as she was seven years past her PhD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But she agreed there was still so much to do in the field of climate change<\/a>, and so much that was still not understood.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Grant was chosen as the only scientist from Australia and New Zealand to drill core samples from Greenland\u2019s ice sheet.<\/p>\n

In the 2025\/26 summer she was also selected to go to Antarctica to drill core samples in the sediment deep below the ice sheet, with her research into past sea-level change helping to show how much sea levels could rise in future.<\/p>\n

Grant said she hoped to make her research relevant and helpful.<\/p>\n

\"Northland-bornNorthland-born Wellingtonian Dr Georgia Grant won the Early Career Researcher award at the Science New Zealand Awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really cognisant of the pressures that the world and New Zealand are under right now<\/a> because of climate change that\u2019s already baked in, and the impacts on food and water resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still not a lot of decision-making happening that is going to help New Zealanders prepare for sea level rise, increased storm surge, flood events and droughts \u2013 we still need to figure these things out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant also won the L\u2019Oreal-Unesco For Women in Science (FWIS) fellowship<\/a> in 2023 and credited her passion for her success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s ambition or just pure stubbornness,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the award-winning partnership with Ng\u0101ti Kuri Trust Board went back 50 years, originally with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), then Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and now the Bioeconomy Science Institute Maiangi Taiao.<\/p>\n

\"SheridanSheridan Waitai says the work of Ng\u0101ti Kuri Trust Board has been all about restoring the mana of Manawat\u0101hi, the Three Kings Islands.<\/p>\n

The partnership\u2019s achievements include saving one of the world\u2019s rarest trees<\/a> \u2013 the kaik\u014dmako manawat\u0101whi or Three Kings kaik\u014dmako.<\/p>\n

Ng\u0101ti Kuri Trust Board executive director Sheridan Waitai said the iwi was focused on restoring the mana of Manawat\u0101hi, the Three Kings Islands, which meant bringing the tree back from the brink.<\/p>\n

Just one female species of the tree, Pennantia baylisiana, was found on the uninhabited islands in 1945, with scientists later propagating hundreds more.<\/p>\n

The partnership also involved supporting Ng\u0101ti Kuri to rebuild its scientific capability<\/a>, with its own Te Ara Wh\u0101nui Research Centre founded in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Three Kings kaik\u014dmako can now be found in many places, including the rooftop garden of the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whang\u0101rei, as shown by 2022 visitor host Lucy Andrews. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Science New Zealand Awards\u2019 Supreme Winner was GenomNZ, for its work with the Bioeconomy Science Institute genomics team to increase lamb production in New Zealand ewes.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 50-year partnership between the Bioeconomy Science Institute Maiangi Taiao and Ng\u0101ti Kuri Trust Board won the M\u0101ori…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,10779,1558,4442,305,7568,27246,43300,228035,25449,111,43,139,32141,11225,69,90,4753,13235,69769,170390,1436,11590,147,388,223,10419,810,19135,17450,80],"class_list":["post-447315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-awards","tag-been","tag-climate","tag-have","tag-honour","tag-honoured","tag-impacts","tag-kuri","tag-level","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-ngti","tag-northlanders","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-partnership","tag-prestigious","tag-rarest","tag-researching","tag-rise","tag-save","tag-science","tag-scientist","tag-the","tag-trees","tag-up","tag-working","tag-worlds","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}