Dr Jemma Geoghegan wants to “demolish the stereotype of what a scientist looks like”. Dr Geoghegan has today become just the second woman to win the Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize. The University of Otago researcher is one of the scientists behind New Zealand’s COVID-19 genome sequencing programme and plans…

One Health Aotearoa investigators have been highly sought after as opinion leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to providing technical advice to various authorities, our investigators have featured prominently in the media in the effort to provide accurate and timely expert opinion on this developing situation and to keep New Zealand informed. A number…

In an era that has been called ‘Pandemicene’, it is important to map regions where biodiversity and people’s health are at risk. That is what School of Veterinary Science Professor David Hayman alongside his team at Massey University and collaborators based in institutions overseas have been researching since 2020. The multidisciplinary team across New Zealand,…

Dr Liping Pang – a science leader in ESR’s Groundwater team – is one of just 17 HRC Explorer Grant recipients nationwide. An expert in subsurface microbial transport, Dr Pang has been awarded $150,000 over two years to carry out research that will reduce the risk of water-borne Legionellosis and inform better water systems design.…

The game changing WellKiwis Infant study led by ESR experts needs to recruit more Wellington whānau that could hold the key to developing longer lasting vaccines – especially from the region’s Māori, Pacific, and Asian communities. Having moved to Wellington, Bing and Quinn Ho were quick to join WellKiwis after hearing about the study from…

Aotearoa New Zealand has entered new COVID territory, characterised by high vaccination rates but also the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and rising numbers of hospitalisations. As we approach the peak of this wave, some have suggested it would be better to drop remaining public health measures, let the infection rip through our population…

One Health Aotearoa investigators were contributors to the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor’s report, Kotahitanga: Uniting Aotearoa against infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance, which was publicly released late last week. Six of the 10 members of the expert panel are One Health Aotearoa investigators including co-directors Professors Nigel French and David Murdoch. The other investigators…

Two years ago today, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in Aotearoa New Zealand. Few of us could have imagined the huge impact this pandemic would still be having two years later. As New Zealand enters its third year of the pandemic, we are facing widespread community transmission as an epidemic wave of…

Our latest newsletter has a reminder that EOIs for One Health Aotearoa leadership positions close today, congratulates Professor David Hayman on his recent appointment and reviews the 7th OHA Symposium held late last year. View the OHA Summer 2022 newsletter

The Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and the University of Otago have partnered with Maui Studios Aotearoa to create a short animation to highlight the role of genomic sequencing in the management of COVID-19. The animation is guided by Koro, an elderly Māori scientist and his granddaughter, Ruia, a young Māori girl intrigued by science…