Professor Abby Smith receives the 2024 NZ Marine Sciences Society Award from NZ Marine Sciences Society President Pete Wilson.
Professor Abby Smith of the Department of Marine Science has been awarded the prestigious 2024 NZ Marine Sciences Society Award.
Presented at the combined NZ Marine Sciences Society (NZMSS) and Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference held in Hobart recently, the award recognises an individual’s continued outstanding contribution to marine science in New Zealand.
Abby says she was astonished but honoured to be recognised with the award.
“The NZMSS has been a constant presence throughout my career as a marine scientist in Aotearoa New Zealand, so I’m delighted to be recognised by my colleagues and the discipline for my work and contribution over the years.”
Abby recalls attending her first NZMSS conference as a student in 1991, and her long association with the NZMSS has included serving on Council as Treasurer and, later, as President for three years.
She feels privileged to be recognised alongside two previous recipients of the award who were based in the Department of Marine Science - Associate Professor John Jillett and Associate Professor Keith Probert.
As a sedimentologist and a geochemist, Abby’s main area of research is what marine shells are made of, including the taxonomy, distribution, and significance of marine bryozoans in New Zealand.
Over her 32 years on staff at Otago, she has been a popular teacher and mentor, which was recognised by the 2019 Miriam Dell Award. Abby has been instrumental in supporting the development of marine reserves in Otago, particularly the Papanui Marine Reserve which protects offshore bryozoan meadows.
With plans to retire next year, Abby says the NZMSS award is “a perfect cap to my career”, and she’s looking forward to delivering the keynote address at next year’s NZMSS Conference to be held in Blenheim.
Otago postgraduate students who contributed to winning Battle of the Labs: (left to right) Elli Leinikki (PhD), Ian Dixon-Anderson (PhD), Nico Winterle Daudt (PhD), Rose Ursem (MSc), Saskia Foreman (PhD), Jessica Moffitt (PhD), and Steph Bennington (PhD).
Otago students also made a strong impression at the conference in Hobart, particularly in winning the Battle of the Labs, a prize awarded to the New Zealand university whose students receive the highest average score for presentations.
Contributing to this great result for Otago was Saskia Foreman, who is in her final stages of a PhD in Marine Science researching human impacts on estuarine carbon dynamics.
Saskia won the Best Student Talk relating to coastal marine science and resource management, a category she’d also won two years earlier. She says attending the NZMSS conferences is not only inspiring, but also that her work is now becoming valuable to others.
“I’m starting to be known in my field, which has created opportunities to connect with the marine science community on a different level than before,” Saskia says.
“I’ve made some valuable connections from both Australia and New Zealand so I’m now frantically trying to follow up with everyone I met. There’s the possibility of future collaborations with other researchers which is really exciting.”
- Kōrero by Guy Frederick (Sciences Communications Adviser)