“Women’s Suffrage is an important time to remember in New Zealand’s history. We have the unique privilege of being the first country that gave women the vote, thanks to Kate Sheppard and her friends who fought so hard for the right of New Zealand women to vote” said Karena Brown, Chairperson of the Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust.

“That is why the Trust chose to announce the successful recipient of the 2020 Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust Award on NZ Women’s Suffrage Day, the day we commemorate women in New Zealand getting the vote. This year’s recipient is Laura Keenan, a 28 year old PhD student at Lincoln University”.

“Laura is an impressive young woman who completed her completed an honours degree in Agricultural Science graduating in 2014, has worked within the area firstly with Canterbury – Soil Matters and then Agricom in Palmerston North before commencing her PhD study in June 2020 at Lincoln University. With New Zealand’s reliance on the agricultural sector, we need such high calibre graduates undertaking study here, especially when the field of study is such a topical one.”

“Laura’s PhD is focussing on creating a tool that will assist with predicting yield and quality of a number of plants and herbs that are being included in pasture mixes across much of the landscape to improve drought resilience and feed supply for farmers. This research is vital as warmer temperatures across New Zealand have seen more areas of the country suffer drought conditions on a regular basis and anything that can help these farmers not only survive but thrive in the future is something that we felt needed to be supported.”

“The Trust is very pleased to be able to continue to assist talented women achieve their dreams. Given the importance of food production around the world, the research being undertaken by this year’s recipient will be very important not only to New Zealand but to overseas as well. We are sure that Kate Sheppard would be proud to lend her name to such a worthwhile area of study.”

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