Recognition for innovation

Congratulations to our remarkable researchers for receiving research honours awards from Royal Society Te Apārangi and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC). 

Royal Society Te Apārangi
Health Research Council of New Zealand

Their research has been recognised to be of the highest standard, demonstrating outstanding knowledge, innovative thinking and expertise in their respective fields. Their achievements will continue to inspire students, lecturers and researchers from all over the world.

Rutherford Medal

For exceptional contribution to advancing and promoting knowledge for the benefit of New Zealand.

Distinguished Professor Jane Harding, Professor of Neonatology at the Liggins Institute, was awarded the Rutherford Medal for her work determining the causes of newborn conditions and long-term consequences of interventions around the time of birth, leading to new therapies and understandings that have improved outcomes for mothers and babies around the world.

Hector Medal 

For outstanding work in chemical, physical sciences, or mathematical and information sciences.

Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, from the School of Chemical Sciences in the Faculty of Science, has been awarded the Hector Medal by Royal Society Te Apārangi for her outstanding contribution to the field of advanced polymers and nanomaterials and their application in biosensors, biomedicine and bioelectronics.

Te Rangaunua Hiranga Māori Award

For excellent, innovative co-created research, conducted by Māori, that has made a distinctive contribution to community wellbeing and development in Aotearoa.

The inaugural Te Rangaunua Hiranga Māori Award was awarded to Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. The Centre is Co-directed by Professor Jacinta Ruru and Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora.

Humanities Aronui Award

For research or innovative work of outstanding merit in the humanities.

Former New Zealand Poet Laureate and notable Pacific scholar Associate Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh received the Humanities Aronui Medal for her outstanding creative and scholarly work which has had a profound impact in academic, literary and public domains. She is Associate Professor of English in the Faculty of Arts and Education.

Pickering Medal

To recognise excellence and innovation in the practical applications of technology.

This year’s Pickering Medal has been awarded to Professor Cather Simpson, Department of Physics and School of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science for her pioneering research and commercialisation of innovative photonic technologies, addressing challenges with a New Zealand focus and global impact.

Pou Aronui Award

For distinguished service to the humanities-aronui.

Professor Emeritus Roger Horrocks from Media and Communication in the Faculty of Arts and Education was awarded the Pou Aronui Award for being a champion of New Zealand culture, particularly New Zealand’s film and television industries, as well as literature and the visual arts.

HRC Te Tohu Rapuora Award

To recognise the contribution to Māori health research leadership of an individual, research team, or community group.

For her outstanding leadership and contribution to Māori health, Dr Matire Harwood (Ngāpuhi) was awarded the Health Research Council of New Zealand Te Tohu Rapuora Award. She works at the Department of General Practice and Primary Healthcare in the School of Population Health, where she teaches and mentors 270-plus future doctors to practise in clinically and culturally safe ways.

HRC Liley Medal

To recognise an individual or research team whose recent research has produced a significant breakthrough within the health and medical fields.

Distinguished Professor Ian Reid, Dr Anne Horne and their team from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences were presented with the Health Research Council of New Zealand Liley Medal for their significant medical breakthrough, which has led to a global rethink of how to prevent fractures in older people.