Rebecca Priestley | |
|---|---|
 Priestley in 2019 | |
| Alma mater | University of Canterbury, Victoria University of Wellington |
| Awards | Prime Minister’s Science Communicator’s Prize 2016 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Science communication |
| Institutions | Victoria University of Wellington |
Rebecca Katherine Priestley CRSNZ is a New Zealand academic, science historian, and writer. She is Professor in Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington.
Priestley earned a BSc in geology at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) in 1990, a Bsc (Hons), First Class, in physical geography at VUW in 1992, and a PhD in history and philosophy of science from the University of Canterbury in 2010 with a thesis titled Nuclear New Zealand: New Zealand's nuclear and radiation history to 1987. [1] [2]
Priestley is a Professor in Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington, where she teaches undergraduate courses in science communication and creative science writing, and leads a Master of Science in Society programme. [3] [1] [4]
The three areas of Priestley's research are: 20th-century history of science, with a focus on science in New Zealand and Antarctica; science communication and public engagement with science; and creative science writing practice. Priestley took a sabbatical to do a Master of Arts in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), in the nonfiction stream, writing a book about Antarctica.
Priestley co-founded the Centre for Science in Society at Victoria University which focuses on the relationship between science, scientists, society, the history of science, and the communication of scientific ideas and issues to different audiences using the vast range of media sources available today.
She was the 2016 winner of the Prime Minister's Science Communicator's Prize. In June 2017, Priestley co-founded the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund, which offers funding for projects reporting on science-related issues of importance to New Zealanders.
In July 2018, Priestley was elected as a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. [5]
The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, which ran from 1968 to 1995.
Sir Ernest Marsden was an English-New Zealand physicist. He is recognised internationally for his contributions to science while working under Ernest Rutherford, which led to the discovery of new theories on the structure of the atom. In Marsden's later work in New Zealand, he became a significant member of the scientific community, while maintaining close links to the United Kingdom.
The Royal Society Te Apārangi is an independent, statutory not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities.
Sir Albert William Liley was a New Zealand medical practitioner, renowned for developing techniques to improve the health of foetuses in utero.
Sir Paul Terence Callaghan was a New Zealand physicist who, as the founding director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington, held the position of Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences and was President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance.
Lucy Beatrice Moore was a New Zealand botanist and ecologist.
Harry Ricketts is a poet, biographer, editor, anthologist, critic, academic, literary scholar and cricket writer. He has written biographies of Rudyard Kipling and of a dozen British First World War poets.
Alastair Gibson Smith was a New Zealand academic in the field of library and information science. He retired in 2014 after spending most of his career at Victoria University of Wellington.
Brenda Chawner is a Canadian-New Zealand library academic specialising in the intersection between librarianship and information technology.
Ocean Ripeka Mercier is a New Zealand academic specialising in physics and Māori science.
Sir Neville Jordan is a New Zealand electrical engineer and businessman.
The Prime Minister's Science Prizes are awarded yearly by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. They were first awarded in 2009 in order to raise the profile and prestige of science among New Zealanders. The 2019 awards were presented in early 2020.
Veronika Meduna is a scientist, science journalist and broadcaster who was the founding New Zealand editor of The Conversation.
Wendy Larner is a New Zealand social scientist who has focussed on the interdisciplinary areas of globalisation, governance and gender. She is currently Provost at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. From the 1st of September 2023, she will be Vice-Chancellor and President of Cardiff University.
Ruth Buchanan is a contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand artist of Te Āti Awa, Taranaki, and European decent. Buchanan was born in New Plymouth and grew up in Wellington. She lives and works in Berlin.
Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa won the inaugural fiction prize at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011, and Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings won the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction in 2014. She lives on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand.
The Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing was set up in 1996 by benefactors Denis and Verna Adam. It is awarded to an outstanding MA student at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington.
Ashleigh Young is a poet, essayist, editor and creative writing teacher. She received the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2017 for her second book, a collection of personal essays titled Can You Tolerate This? which also won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
The Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award was first awarded in 2002 by the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA). It aimed to encourage the production of the best non-fiction writing for young New Zealanders. The award was previously known as the LIANZA Young People's Non-Fiction Award, before being renamed in honour of Elsie Locke. The LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award became the Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award when the LIANZA Awards merged with the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2016.
Rebecca K Reilly is a New Zealand author. She is of Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Wai descent. Her debut novel Greta & Valdin (2021) received the 2019 Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing. At the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, it was shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction and received the Hubert Church prize for the best first book of fiction.
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