2021 Prime Minister's Science Prizes - awarded 2022

Tēnā rawa atu koutou Thank you for joining us today for the 13th Prime Minister’s Science Prizes.

The Prizes recognise transformative science discovery from New Zealand’s best scientists and emerging science leaders. They acknowledge our passionate science teachers, students and those who communicate science.

Science and scientific discovery are fundamental to transforming our economy and improving wellbeing. Aotearoa New Zealand’s broad-ranging research ecosystem provides scientific advice to underpin evidence-based decision-making, and supports the health and resilience of our communities.

New Zealand science is world-leading. Among this year’s winners we acknowledge pre-eminent research that is leading to new practice and understandings, improving outcomes for untold numbers around the world. All the winners are exemplars in their respective fields.

We thank the members of the judging panels for their dedication in assessing applicants and selecting the winners, which is always a difficult task.

Royal Society Te Apārangi is proud to be the Secretariat of these Prizes.

Prime Minister of New Zealand Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern is unable to attend in person this year but she sends her warmest congratulations to the winners and wishes them well in their future endeavours.

Mō Te Puiaki About The Prizes The Government of New Zealand introduced The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes in 2009 as a way of raising the profile and prestige of science among New Zealanders, in Aotearoa and internationally.

The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes 2021 have a combined value of 1 million dollars and are awarded for:

Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Ānamata The Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao The Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize Te Puiaki Kaiwhakaako Pūtaiao The Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea The Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize Te Puiaki Pūtaiao Matua a te Pirimia The Prime Minister’s Science Prize

Supported by the New Zealand Government with funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Nā Te Hīkina Whakatutuki te mana hāpai.

Ko te Kaiwhakahaere the Secretariat for The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes is Royal Society Te Apārangi.

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Mā te kimi ka kite.

Mā te kite ka mōhio.

Mā te mōhio ka mārama.

Seek and discover.

Discover and know.

Know and become enlightened.

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Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Ānamata The Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize Awarded to a secondary school tauira student for outstanding achievement in carrying out a practical and innovative science, mathematics, technology or engineering project.

Carol Khor Shun Ting

YEAR 13 STUDENT, BURNSIDE HIGH SCHOOL

Carol has produced an excellent piece of research investigating the synergistic effects of a cancer drug alongside a non-cancer therapy drug to reduce drug resistance for the treatment of melanoma. Her research has shown the combined effectiveness of the two drugs against cancer cells in the lab, with potential for further research, which she continues to carry out this year. She has been mentored by researchers at the Centre for Free Radical Research at the University of Otago, Christchurch. Carol has demonstrated her understanding of the technologies used to test her ideas through problem solving and in her analysis of her data, including further research into discrepancies between two different methodologies.

Carol has had an incredible learning journey in a relatively short time, developing her skills in culturing cancer cells and methods of measuring cancer cell viability.

The judges were particularly impressed with Carol’s ability to respond to questions about her experimental design, statistical analysis and the background biology involved in this project.

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Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao The Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize Awarded to a practising scientist who can demonstrate an interest, passion and aptitude for science communication and public engagement, or to a person who has developed expertise in public engagement and communication of complex scientific or technological information to the public.

Toby Morris THE SPINOFF

Toby is a big believer in the power of illustration to convey complex messages, capturing both facts and feelings simultaneously. Over the past two years, Toby has produced some of the most effective science communication on COVID-19 seen anywhere in the world, helping New Zealanders understand the science behind the pandemic and compelling us to look after each other.

Science communication has played a huge role in Aotearoa’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The cartoons and animated graphics that came out of Toby’s

collaboration with Dr Siouxsie Wiles MNZM, were used by the Prime Minister to explain several key concepts throughout the New Zealand response. Toby has also worked with community health providers to create translations of his graphics into Te Reo Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Mandarin, Punjabi and many other languages, to be shared with those communities. His collaboration with the World Health Organization is seeing his work reach a wider global audience.

The impact of Toby’s work on lives and communities has been incredible.

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Te Puiaki Kaiwhakaaroaro Pūtaiao The Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize Awarded to a registered teacher kaiako who has been teaching science, mathematics, technology, pūtaiao, hangarau or pāngarau learning areas of the New Zealand curriculum to school-age children in a primary, intermediate or secondary New Zealand registered school or kura kaupapa.

Bianca Woyak

BURNSIDE PRIMARY SCHOOL, CHRISTCHURCH

Bianca is a specialist science teacher for all year levels at Burnside Primary School. In this role, she shares her passion for ecology and mātauranga Māori with students and other educators, encouraging them to be kaitiaki for their community.

Bianca’s teaching celebrates a “hands on” approach including real-world learning with a local curriculum focus. This provides all students with opportunities to shine and to develop a wide range of observational, analytical and practical skills in and outside of the classroom. As a result, there has not only been a huge improvement in science learning outcomes, but also in other curriculum areas.

Bianca engages her students in community-focused activities and projects supporting sustainability, building long-term connections rather than one-off experiences for students. Within these experiences there is an ever-strengthening connection to mātauranga Māori supported through ongoing connections with tangata whenua.

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Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea The Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize Awarded to an outstanding emerging scientist who has had their PhD or equivalent qualification conferred within the last eight years.

Dr Jemma Geoghegan UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Jemma’s research focuses on understanding how viruses evolve and spread. She seeks to understand why and how viruses jump to new hosts in the first place and to expand our knowledge of the true diversity of viruses that exist in nature.

Using metagenomics, which is the study of all of the genetic material from environmental samples, she has been able to determine the fundamental patterns and processes of viral evolution, ecology and emergence. She has identified biological features of viruses that could predict human-to-human transmissibility. She has also shown that while many viruses seem

to co-diverge with their hosts, overall ‘host jumping’ plays a much greater role in shaping virus evolution than previously thought. Moreover, she has combined genomic and epidemiological data to uncover insights into the spread of infectious disease within populations. All of this meant she was uniquely placed to establish genome sequencing of COVID-19 in New Zealand with collaboration with ESR (Institute of Environmental Science and Research), which has greatly helped inform New Zealand’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

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Te Puiaki Pūtaiao Matua a te Pirimia The Prime Minister’s Science Prize Awarded to an individual or team for a transformative scientific discovery or achievement, which has had a significant economic, health, social and/or environmental impact on New Zealand and/or internationally.

The Neonatal Glucose Studies Team

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, ET AL. LED BY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR DAME JANE HARDING FRSNZ

The Neonatal Glucose Studies Team has spent more than twenty years researching the effects of high and low blood sugar on babies’ brain development. They have shown that low blood sugar in newborns can lead to brain injury and have developed new, non-invasive diagnostic and treatment methods to prevent this from occurring. Approximately 30% of all New Zealand newborns, or 12,000 babies a year, are born at risk of low blood sugar.

The multidisciplinary team brings together expertise in neonatal care and development, bioengineering, psychology, education and vision science. Their research in this area has changed practice around the world, saving millions of healthcare dollars and leading to the development of, and investment in, new, patented commercial products. Most importantly, their research has improved the lives of mothers and babies by reducing admission to intensive care, improving breastfeeding, and reducing the occurrence of brain injuries in newborn babies.

L-R, from top: Associate Professor Christopher Mckinlay, Professor Trecia Wouldes, Gregory Gamble, Dr Deborah Harris, Jenny Rogers, Distinguished Professor Dame Jane Harding FRSNZ, Dr Richard Edlin, Dr Philip Weston, Dr Jane Alsweiler, Distinguished Professor Geoff Chase FRSNZ, Professor Benjamin Thompson.

Ngā Tohu The Trophies The trophy design for The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes reflects scientific process in concept, form and production technology.

Science and mathematics both rely on a cyclical process of observation, hypothesis, prediction and experiment and the design, based on the Helix, or Möbius Strip, reflects this thinking.

The medium chosen for the trophies is aluminium, based on the numerous advances New Zealand has made with aluminium alloys, and for the frequency with which we use the metal as a nation.

The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes Secretariat is very grateful to Callaghan Innovation and its advanced engineering protoshop for designing the trophies and producing them each year.

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WHAKAPĀ MAI CONNECT WITH US The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes Secretariat PO Box 598, Wellington 6140 Phone (04) 472 7421 Email pmscienceprizes@royalsociety.org.nz pmscienceprizes.org.nz NZPMSciPrizes NZPMSciPrizes May 2022