Profiling Excellence 2011 2 ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND | HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 EXCELLENCE AND KNOWLEDGE 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 4 Celebrating excellence Message from the President and the Chief Executive 6 6 Shades of chemistry Welcome to Profiling Excellence, our annual publication which provides a snapshot of the 8 Honouring special Royal Society of New Zealand’s activities during 2011. In this you can read about some of the highlights achievements from our work in the past year – including celebrating the achievements of some of New Zealand’s top 10 Teaching and learning researchers, how we highlighted the International Year of Chemistry, and our involvement in organising New Zealand’s first National Primary Science 12 Supporting researchers Week for schools. As you will see, our work is varied, from our 14 On the world stage extensive lecture programme for the general public, to publishing peer-reviewed research journals, 16 Humanities Aronui to our information papers designed to generate informed debate. 18 New Zealand research We are very fortunate to run a number of contracts which support emerging and established researchers unplugged as they undertake exciting research projects, including through the Rutherford Discovery Fellowships and the prestigious Marsden Fund. Thank you to our many supporters and sponsors who make our work possible and, of course, to our 16 dedicated staff. Dr Garth Carnaby Dr Di McCarthy MNZM FRSNZ ONZM President Chief Executive 4 ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND | HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 Celebrating Excellence Every year the Royal Society of New Zealand showcases the contributions made by the country’s top researchers, through medals and awards presented at the annual Research Honours. 20-year milestone for Rutherford Medal In 2011 Professor Christine Winterbourn FRSNZ Images: Professor Christine Winterbourn, Rutherford Medal from the University of Otago, Christchurch, became winner; Dr Gary Evans, MacDiarmid Medal winner; Professor the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Sir Peter Gluckman, Callaghan Medal winner. Rutherford Medal in its 20-year history. She received New Zealand’s highest science and technology honour for her outstanding achievements and discoveries in free radical biology. Together with the medal awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, she also received $100,000 from the Government presented by the then Minister of Science and Innovation, Hon Dr Wayne Mapp. Professor Winterbourn’s research into free radical biology has opened the way for ground-breaking research into links to diseases. Her passion and dedication over the past 40 years into research on free radicals and antioxidants has led to her making several seminal discoveries which have important NEW MEDAL FOR THE implications for medical research. HUMANITIES She was one of the first scientists to demonstrate that our cells produce free radicals as part of their Professor James Flynn FRSNZ, from the University of normal function. She went on to characterise some Otago, was the recipient of the inaugural Humanities of the chemical reactions of free radicals that we Aronui Medal. Amongst other outstanding work, his now know occur in diseases such as cancer, stroke, research into nature versus nurture and IQ has had coronary heart disease and arthritis. far-reaching implications and continues to be one of the most cited discoveries to originate from New Zealand in the 20th century. Outstanding science The Humanities Aronui Medal was created to acknowledge research of outstanding merit in the communication humanities. The design incorporates the meaning of Three new medals were presented in 2011, two for Aronui ‘knowledge that makes us human’ through the science-related work and one for humanities research. woven Kete Aronui, the traditional kit of knowledge. The weaving incorporates modern symbols of The inaugural Callaghan Medal for outstanding technology and a fingerprint representing unique contribution to science communication was awarded human individuality within our collective society. to Professor Sir Peter Gluckman FRS FRSNZ for his achievements in science communication, in particular his contribution to raising public awareness of the Honouring MacDiarmid’s value of science to human progress. The medal memory is named after renowned New Zealand physicist Professor Sir Paul Callaghan FRS FRSNZ. The inaugural MacDiarmid Medal was awarded to Dr Gary Evans of Industrial Research Limited who Sir Peter Gluckman has had a wide-ranging has pioneered the design and synthesis of new influence on attitudes to science in New Zealand. pharmaceuticals for treating major diseases. His The Liggins Institute, which he co-founded in 2001, research has resulted in clinical trials of drugs for has encouraged secondary school teachers and gout, psoriasis and cancer of the immune system as students to access and interact with the scientific well as the preclinical development of treatments for research community. malaria, bacterial infections and solid tumour cancer. Dr Evans has developed strong relationships with Appointed in 2009 as New Zealand’s first Chief key international research agencies, particularly the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, Sir Peter Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. interprets science in its widest sense – as the organised acquisition of knowledge – and he The MacDiarmid Medal, for outstanding scientific promotes an evidence-based approach to policy research that shows the potential for application to formulation across government. His work in 2011 human benefit, is named in honour of Professor Alan reflected this, with reports about the Canterbury MacDiarmid FRS Hon FRSNZ, a New Zealander earthquakes, science in education, evidence in who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000. policy, and improving the transition for adolescents. 6 ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND | HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 Shades of chemistry 2011 was the In honour of Marie Curie Twelve female New Zealand research chemists, twelve venues and the twelve months of 2011 combined to International Year of create this year’s Marie Curie Lectures to honour Marie Curie’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her Chemistry and through ground-breaking studies in radium and polonium. our public programmes Inside out The role that chemistry plays in our everyday lives is we celebrated the many enormous, but generally goes unnoticed. At the close of 2011 International Year of Chemistry, the Talking Heads series examined how chemistry answers some facets of chemistry and of life’s complex questions. The series is a partnership between the Royal Society of New Zealand and Radio how it impacts on our New Zealand. Recorded in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, broadcaster Kim Hill discussed with everyday lives. scientists the chemistry underpinning our lives. Our chemical world One of the biggest questions in life is how did we get here? How did rock and steam become our world, full of life and diversity? The science community thought they had the answer with the achievement of the Human Genome Project just after the turn of the new millennium; however ten years on it seems that it may not be DNA which is the star but its sibling RNA. In the 2011 New Zealand Rutherford Lecture, Professor Warren Tate FRSNZ speculated on RNA’s role and how it may lead us into the development of therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, HIV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Professor Tate is currently Associate Dean of Research for the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago and was awarded the 2010 Rutherford Medal for his achievements in molecular biology and neuroscience. Applying science to art Rarely do scientific techniques make such an impact on seemingly unrelated disciplines, as in the area Science writing of Raman microscopy. This light-scattering technique “I unhem creation a little, to work out the stitch.” enables the accurate identification of pigments So wrote poet Vincent O’Sullivan regarding Marie in historical artefacts and leads to the detection Curie’s work on radiation 100 years ago. Short story of forgeries. When a major work of art is involved, writers were challenged to show how unpicking our the impact can be great. The 2011 Distinguished world in order to comprehend its mysteries can lead Speaker, internationally celebrated scientist Professor to unsought consequences. Robin Clark FRS Hon FRSNZ, has examined some of Europe’s best known artworks using scientific The annual short story competition, the Manhire techniques. His fascinating lecture was delivered Prize in Creative Science Writing, is organised in in venues across the country. association with the New Zealand Listener magazine and the International Institute of Modern Letters at The Art of Science Victoria University of Wellington. The judge was Jo Randerson, writer and theatre maker. Featuring the Royal Society of New Zealand’s The fiction section was won by Bridget Stocker for extensive collection of portraits of prominent scientists her story about Marie Curie Radium – a Love Story. and past presidents, this exhibition represents The non-fiction section was won by Joanna Wojnar many of the most eminent scientists New Zealand for her essay 100% Chemical Free. Unusually, this has produced. By connecting art and science, the year both winners were research chemists and this exhibition tells the individual stories of each scientist was noted by the competition judge – “There was portrayed – their innovations and successes. It also a clear thematic to this year’s fiction entries, and it looks at the science of paint and its chemistry and stems from the evocative terminology which colours the fascinating connections and disparities between the world of chemistry. Reactions, bonds, lone pairs – artists and scientists, and between science and many of the stories were based around relationships painting. In partnership with the New Zealand Portrait – totally in keeping with the chemist’s theme.” Gallery, the exhibition was on show on Wellington’s waterfront mid 2011 and is now on national tour Samuel Johnson said “If you are to have but one book through to mid 2013.