Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

Celebrating our achievements

Murray DawsonResearcher Murray Dawson became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020, a well-deserved recognition for Murray’s long career and voluntary work supporting botany, horticulture, natural history, and public engagement.

Sandra LavorelSandra Lavorel, leader of our Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation portfolio, has been elected an international member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. This prestigious honour recognises her significant contributions to science. Sandra has collaborated widely during her research career, including extensively in the USA. She has authored a prodigious number of papers, and her number of citations put her in the top 1% globally for her discipline. Sandra was nominated by colleagues in the USA (membership is only through nomination), and her work with the Academy will include editing papers for their journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, one of the highest-ranked journals in the world. Sandra will be formally welcomed into the Academy at their next annual meeting, scheduled for April 2021.

Donna GiltrapDonna Giltrap, research priority area leader at Manaaki Whenua for Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Mitigations, has been appointed by MPI as a member of the Overseer Science Advisory review panel. Overseer is a management tool that supports farmers and growers to improve performance and reduce losses to the environment through better use of nutrients on-farm. Utilising Donna’s expertise in modelling, physics, and mathematics, the review panel will lead a technical review of Overseer’s environmental modelling software to ensure it remains suitable as a tool for effective land management.

Janet WilmshurstPalaeoecologist Janet Wilmshurst was appointed a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund Council 2019–2021. The Council, appointed by the Minister of Research, Science and Innovation, makes decisions on Marsden funding, which aims to drive world-class research in New Zealand, supporting researchers to work on their best and boldest ideas and to connect internationally. The Council consists of 11 eminent researchers spanning a range of disciplines. Janet convenes the Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour panel for Marsden Fund applicants.