Joan Marjorie Dingley was one of the pioneer women of New Zealand science. She worked for the DSIR Plant Diseases Division from 1941 to 1976, becoming the head of mycology. She was a major research scientist in New Zealand for both laboratory and field-based plant pathology, and for taxonomic mycology.
The Royal Society Te Apārangi is a not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. These fundings are provided on behalf of the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Dame Alice Joan Metge is a New Zealand social anthropologist, educator, lecturer and writer.
The Hector Medal, formerly known as the Hector Memorial Medal, is a science award given by the Royal Society Te Apārangi in memory of Sir James Hector to researchers working in New Zealand. It is awarded annually in rotation for different sciences – currently there are three: chemical sciences; physical sciences; mathematical and information sciences. It is given to a researcher who "has undertaken work of great scientific or technological merit and has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the particular branch of science." It was previously rotated through more fields of science – in 1918 they were: botany, chemistry, ethnology, geology, physics, zoology. For a few years it was awarded biennially – it was not awarded in 2000, 2002 or 2004.
Greta Barbara Stevenson was a New Zealand botanist and mycologist. She described many new species of Agaricales.
Lucy Beatrice Moore was a New Zealand botanist and ecologist.
Hayat Al Sindi is a Saudi Arabian biotechnologist and medical scientist who is one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. She is famous for making major contributions to point-of-care medical testing and biotechnology. She was ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
Kathleen Maisey Curtis, Lady Rigg was a New Zealand mycologist and was a founder of plant pathology in New Zealand.
Dame Margaret Anne Brimble is a New Zealand chemist. Her research has included investigations of shellfish toxins and means to treat brain injuries.
Ocean Ripeka Mercier is a New Zealand academic specialising in physics and Māori science.
Siouxsie Wiles is a British microbiologist and science communicator. Her specialist areas are infectious diseases and bioluminescence. She is based in New Zealand.
Dianne Christine McCarthy is a New Zealand scientist and professional director, who was the chief executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand between 2007 and 2014. She lives in Blenheim.
Wendy Alison Nelson is a New Zealand marine scientist and world expert in phycology. She is New Zealand's leading authority on seaweeds. Nelson is particularly interested in the biosystematics of seaweeds/macroalgae of New Zealand, with research on floristics, evolution and phylogeny, as well as ecology, and life history studies of marine algae. Recently she has worked on the systematics and biology of red algae including coralline algae, distribution and diversity of seaweeds in harbours and soft sediment habitats, and seaweeds of the Ross Sea and Balleny Islands.
Wendy Larner is a New Zealand social scientist who has focussed on the interdisciplinary areas of globalisation, governance and gender. She has been Vice-Chancellor and President of Cardiff University since September 2023, having previously been provost at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.
Miriam Cather Simpson is a New Zealand-American physics/chemistry academic and entrepreneur. She is currently a professor at the University of Auckland, a joint appointment between the physics and chemistry departments. She is the founder of the Photon Factory laser lab at the University of Auckland and the chief science officer for two spin-off companies, Engender Technologies and Orbis Diagnostics. She is an Associate Investigator for the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies and an Emeritus Investigator for the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. She was awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi Pickering Medal in 2019. She has a strong focus on teaching, mentoring and public outreach and is an outspoken advocate for issues of gender equality and ethics in science.
David A. W. Hutchinson is a quantum physicist and professor at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. He was the inaugural director of the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, a New Zealand government-funded national Centre of Research Excellence. He served as director from the centre's inception in January 2015 through to the end of March 2023. Hutchinson's research interests are in the areas of quantum biology, Bose-Einstein condensates, and the underlying mathematics of quantum physics.
Robin Peace is a social scientist from New Zealand. In 2018 she was appointed a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi for her contribution to the promotion and advancement of the social sciences in New Zealand.
Richard Hugh Sibson is a New Zealand structural geologist and emeritus professor at the University of Otago, who has received numerous honors and awards for his work in the field of earthquake research. He has caused a 'fundamental shift' in the interpretation of the relationship between earthquakes and fault zone geology and on the origin of fault-hosted mineral deposits.
David Kear was a New Zealand geologist and science administrator. He served as director-general of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research from 1980 to 1983.
Bronwyn Mary Hayward is a New Zealand political scientist. Her areas of research are democracy, sustainability and young people. She was a lead author on a United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report.
