Recognition of science excellence & achievementsts

Peter Heenan receiving the New Zealand Journal of Botany prize from senior editor Kevin Gould. Image - NZJB

Peter Heenan was awarded the New Zealand Journal of Botany inaugural prize for Sustained Excellence in Contributions to Southern Hemisphere Botany.
Malcolm McLeod was awarded the honour of presenting the Norman Taylor Memorial Lecture by the President of the NZ Society of Soil Science in recognition of outstanding contributions to soil science in New Zealand.
David Whitehead, our Chief Scientist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in recognition of his major contributions to research into plant–soil processes and greenhouse gases from terrestrial systems, and the mentoring of younger scientists.

Bill Lee was awarded a Marsden Fund Grant of $920,000 over three years to investigate whether history matters in plant community assembly and rates of speciation. He will collaborate with colleagues at Landcare Research, York University (Canada) and Stanford University (USA).
Ana Ramon-Laca was awarded a QEII Technicians’ Study Award.
Surinder Saggar was awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship.
Norman Mason was awarded a grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Dumont d’Urville NZ–France Science & Technology Support Programme.

Murray Dawson was appointed as Registrar for the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (RNZIH), only the second person since 1958 to hold the position.
Bill Lee was also appointed as an Honorary Professor at the University of Otago.
Phil Lyver was one of just 25 scientists from around the world to be elected to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Dan Tompkins was elected onto the Council of the Wildlife Disease Association, the international professional body for wildlife disease research, the first Australasian to sit on the Council.

John Innes was one of three finalists in the Environmental Science category of the Hamilton Science Awards Trust (Kudos) Awards.
Landcare Research was a finalist in the Sustainable 60 Awards for all four of the categories we entered – Strategy & Governance, Workplace, Marketplace and Overall Large Company. We were runner up in the Strategy & Governance and Overall Large Company categories.

Trevor Crosby was presented with a special award by the Entomological Society of New Zealand in recognition of his outstanding contribution as editor of the Fauna of New Zealand monograph series, which celebrated 30 years of continuous publication, with 70 volumes.
Aaron Hicks was recognised by the Tuakiri Access Federation for his technical consultancy services to the Federation, and was part of the Tuakiri team that won the Overall Award at the 2012 Microsoft Tertiary ICT Innovation Award.
Dave Morgan received a Shield in recognition of his exemplary 6 years’ service on the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee.