Prime Minister’s Science Prizes Recognise Work In Health And Climate Change

Scientists’ work on reducing the incidence of stroke throughout the world, improving health outcomes for Pacific peoples, and predicting the effects of climate change on ecosystems have been recognised in the latest Prime Minister’s Science Prizes. A teacher encouraging more students to study science with exciting and useful online content and training future science teachers and a student studying properties of elastic material of relevance to many areas of structural engineering were also recognised.

The Prizes were presented by Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall at the Prize’s ceremony at Wharewaka Function Centre in Wellington on 1 May 2023.

The winner of the Prime Minister’s Te Puiaki Pūtaiao Matua a Te Pirimia Science Prize 2022 for a transformative impact is the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences (NISAN), led by Professor Valery Feigin FRSNZ, Professor of Epidemiology and Neurology at Auckland University of Technology with co-investigators Professor Rita Krishnamurthi, Dr Alexander Merkin and Balakrishnan Nair.

Prof Feigin and his team have spent more than 40 years uncovering the epidemiology of stroke and associated conditions and developing digital tools for patients and clinicians to reduce stroke risk worldwide.

Their work has led to the insight that stroke has become the second leading cause of death and of disability in the world. New Zealand has an unexpectedly high level of stroke incidence (fourth highest in the OECD) and Māori and Pacific people have two or three times greater risk compared with New Zealand Europeans.

The team has developed two world-first digital tools to assist people to lower stroke risk. The mobile app Stroke Riskometer calculates a person’s stroke risk and guides them how to reduce it, and PreventS-MD, provides the same information via desktop computer software for clinicians to use during consultations, and is soon to be adopted by Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ Waitematā and then across New Zealand.

Stroke is perceived as a disease of the elderly, but more people under 65 are having strokes due to an accumulation of contributing lifestyle factors and its important people know about the risks early, says Valery as stroke is highly preventable.

The Prime Minister’s Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist 2022 is

Dr Jonathan Tonkin, Associate Professor School of Biological Sciences at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha University of Canterbury.

Dr Tonkin has been recognised for his work developing new ways to forecast how biodiversity might respond to environmental threats, including the rapid changes occurring due to climate change.

The research aims to enable scientists to anticipate the outcomes of management interventions and identify the need to change management practices long before issues arise. It looks at the response of individual species and whole ecosystems, with the overall goal being to turn ecology into a more predictive science so that biodiversity can be protected for the future.

The Prime Minister’s Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao Science Communicator 2022 is Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu, Associate Professor of Biomedical & Health Sciences-Immunology, and Associate Dean, Pacific, at the University of Otago, Wellington.

A leading voice during the Covid-19 pandemic explaining the technical aspects of immunology, vaccines, the SARS-CoV-2 virus and infectious diseases, Dianne contributed to more than 220 broadcast media stories and 1500 online and print media stories. She provided expert advisory to public health discussions on misinformation, and the importance of evidenced-based information.

Dianne has achieved breakthrough work on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, which disproportionately affect Pacific and Māori communities, and improved health outcomes in the Pacific region by engaging and educating communities and assembling multidisciplinary teams to address these health conditions.

The Prime Minister’s Te Puiaki Kaiwhakaako Pūtaiao Science Teacher 2022 is Doug Walker, Head of Science, St Patrick’s College, Wellington.

Doug engages students in science with innovative and often explosive experiments and found a way to encourage more students to take science and gain University Entrance at his school by introducing new general science subjects. The change resulted in 60 percent more senior students taking science following the 2017 initiative and many aspiring to achieve University Entrance.

Doug, who is President of New Zealand Association of Science Educators, has built a large online student following of his experiments and NCEA exam paper tutorials and established a network of teachers providing online classes for akonga throughout Aotearoa.

The Prime Minister’s Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Ānamata Future Scientist 2022 is Benjamin Smith, formerly of Onslow College, now studying at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

Benjy won the Prize for his research into mathematically modelling the behaviour of twisted elastic bands, knowledge that can be applied to many types of structural engineering.

Presented with a problem at a Young Physicists’ Tournament while a Year 13 student, Benjy decided to investigate how elastic bands acted when twisted or stretched and built a device to measure the pull and resistance of elastic bands. He found that the current mathematical models used to predict measurements either don’t work or are limited. This area of research applies to many structural engineering situations, such as bungee jumping and construction cranes. If we could predict the behaviour of these materials in order to prevent fatigue or breaking, it would be very advantageous, says Benjy.

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