First Pacific scientist to win NZ’s Callaghan Medal for Science [1]
Friday, November 15, 2024 - 13:18
A New Zealander of Tongan descent, Associate Professor Dianne Sika-Paotonu from the University of Otago, Wellington, has been awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Callaghan Medal for science communication.
The University of Otago said today that Associate Professor Sika-Paotonu is the first Pacific scientist to receive this honour.
The Callaghan Medal award recognises Associate Professor Sika-Paotonu’s evidence-based science communication and her engagement efforts in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific region.
“Science communication is really important across a number of different areas: it’s important in the public setting, the research setting, the teaching setting, and the community and cultural settings, such as the Pacific contexts across which I also operate,” Sika-Paotonu said.
The award was presented at the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Research Honours Aotearoa ceremony in Dunedin yesterday, Thursday, the first of three events to be held around the country.
Otago Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson said, “Dianne is a true leader in her field. Her genuine commitment not just to share science with others, but to listen to others and learn from them is inspirational.”
An immunology and biomedical scientist, Associate Professor Sika-Paotonu was described by the selection committee as an exceptional communicator, who focused on her areas of expertise, was highly empathetic and engaging and aware of the needs of her audience.
As a New Zealander of Tongan descent, she was one of the few Pacific voices working alongside others and qualified to speak in detail on the pandemic.
Her research at Otago focuses on cancer, rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, and infectious diseases, with a focus on equity and addressing health inequities for disproportionately impacted Māori and Pacific peoples in Aotearoa and the Pacific region.
“Significant health inequities exist for many different groups, including for Pacific and Māori communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and in the Pacific region, with many of these disparities having continued and persisted over time.”
She says to help address these inequities in health and achieve better outcomes, it’s important for everyone, including health, scientific and medical workers and researchers to also connect and engage appropriately and constructively with those they encounter, including Pacific peoples and Māori and communities.
Associate Professor Sika-Paotonu also leads work with collaborators that is contributing towards the development of longer lasting and less painful penicillin for rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease prevention – and is involving Pacific and Māori communities in the process.
“As part of this work, we’ve engaged with our communities and embarked upon what’s still actually considered a novel approach to drug design, because we’ve chosen to involve our communities – our Pacific, Māori and other communities – in the scientific work."
“Science communication should be respectful, appropriate, and involve two-way interactions, ultimately seeking to build relationships if researchers are wanting to progress work that is more inclusive, and involves input from our communities."
"Our research efforts have certainly been strengthened through meeting with our communities and coming together to share the research work that’s taking place, but also importantly, by listening to people telling us about what has been happening for them, what they think, and inviting them to be involved in any of the work that is being progressed.”
Associate Professor Sika-Paotonu also won the 2022 Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize for her commitment to communication and for being a leading voice during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She has given more than 220 broadcast media interviews and contributed to more than 1,500 online and print media stories.
She was also awarded the Cranwell Medal from the New Zealand Association of Scientists in 2020 and was a finalist in the Wellingtonian of the Year Awards in 2021. She was part of the team that won the 2023 Liley Medal from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to support her rheumatic fever research. She has received a Royal Order awarded by the late King George Tupou V of Tonga in recognition of scientific achievement.
Other awards
Another scientist, Otago PhD graduate Dr. Ehsan Arabahmadi won the Royal Society’s Hatherton Award for the best scientific paper by a student registered at a New Zealand university for a PhD in Physical Sciences, Earth Sciences, or Mathematical and Information Sciences.
Otago Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson congratulated both recipients on their awards.