Professor Phillipa Howden-Chapman of the University of Otago, Wellington, and her team of 28 other researchers have today been named as the recipients of the Prime Minister’s top Science Prize worth $500,000 for their work leading the HRC-funded He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme. Professor Howden-Chapman is the first woman and the first social scientist to receive the prestigious award.
Professor Howden-Chapman’s team has worked nationwide for 15 years to address long-standing quality deficiencies in housing, particularly as they affect vulnerable groups such as children, older people and those with chronic health conditions, including asthma.
Through large scale community trials, involving around 10,000 New Zealanders, the team has tested, quantified and demonstrated the effectiveness of initiatives such as retrofitting insulation to modern standards, installing effective and non-polluting heating, and remediating injury hazards in homes.
The team’s work has earned international acclaim and informed policy developments for successive New Zealand governments.
The Prime Minister’s 2014 MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize of $200,000 went to Dr Karl Iremonger from the University of Otago. Dr Iremonger has discovered a new brain cell structure and communication system, setting the stage for more targeted therapies for neurological diseases. Last month, Dr Iremonger was awarded the HRC’s prestigious Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship worth almost $500,000 to determine what changes occur in the brain’s neurons after chronic stress.
For more information, check out the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes website: www.pmscienceprizes.org.nz