Dr Tara McAllister, Freshwater Ecologist Winner Of The Prestigious “Zonta Science Award 2022”

The Zonta Club of Wellington congratulates Dr Tara McAllister, a freshwater ecologist, who is the winner of the 17th Biennial Zonta Science Award for an emerging scientist.

Tara’s research provides a new focus on the global understanding of toxic blooms in rivers and has helped develop novel approaches to bloom mitigation and management. High-quality freshwater is a vital commodity and the deterioration in water quality at a time of increasing demand is a key global issue.

Tara has utilised Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) in her research in Aotearoa and has contributed to a review of the challenges and solutions to managing underwater cyanobacteria (microscopic organisms found naturally in water that produce blooms and toxins) with collaborators from France and the USA. Tara’s research has been incorporated into policy and she has worked alongside the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor in an internship.

Her nominator Cate Macinnis-Ng, Associate Professor and Rutherford Discovery Fellow School of Biological Sciences at Auckland University says, “Tara has an impressive track record at this stage in her career. She has published 21 significant papers and many of these pieces of work have attracted media attention.”

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