The 2014 Prime Minister’s Science Prize was awarded this week to the He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, led by Philippa Howden-Chapman from the University of Otago. The 28-strong collaboration has worked on the relationship between housing and health, showing that warm dry houses have many health benefits. Philippa Howden-Chapman has been on Our Changing World before,talking about the heatsmart programme.
The Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize has gone to ‘Nanogirl’ Michelle Dickinson, who runs New Zealand’s only nanomechanical testing laboratory at the University of Auckland, and also teaches kids that science doesn’t have to be boring or take place only in the classroom.
The Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize went to University of Otago researcher Karl Iremonger, who has discovered a new brain cell structure and communication system, setting the stage for more targeted therapies for neurological diseases,
The Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize was awarded to Onslow College’s Terry Burrell.
