Victoria researchers awarded prestigious fellowships
Two Victoria University of Wellington researchers are among a small group of leading New Zealand scientists to receive Rutherford Discovery Fellowships.
Two Victoria University of Wellington researchers are among a small group of leading New Zealand scientists to receive Rutherford Discovery Fellowships.
Dr Nicholas Golledge, a senior research fellow in Victoria’s Antarctic Research Centre and Dr Kevin Norton, a senior lecturer in Physical Geography in Victoria’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences have been awarded funding of $800,000 each over five years to continue their leading-edge research in aspects of global climate stability.
Victoria University staff receive two of twelve fellowships announced by Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce, which are designed to support and foster the development of future leaders in the New Zealand science and innovation system by encouraging their career development and enabling them to establish a solid track record for future research.
“Receiving these fellowships is a mark of great distinction for both Dr Golledge and Dr Norton,” says Professor Kate McGrath, Vice-Provost (Research) at Victoria University.
“It is also confirmation of the strength of research capability at Victoria and the outstanding contribution our scientists are making to understanding the potential impact of a changing climate.”
Dr Golledge plans to use his fellowship to further understanding of how the Antarctic ice-sheet, the largest ice-sheet on Earth, will respond to a warming world and the contribution it is likely to make to future sea-level rise.
“With around 10 percent of the world’s population currently living less than 10 metres above sea level,” says Dr Golledge, “the societal impact of the potential collapse of the Antarctic ice-sheet would be significant.”
Dr Golledge says he is delighted to be awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship and excited about the new research possibilities that it will facilitate.
“Particular benefits of receiving the Fellowship are the international collaborations that I hope to develop and the two new PhD students that the funding will support."
‘Are the hotspots cold?’ is the title of the research project to be undertaken by Dr Norton using funds from the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, which aims to more accurately predict the response of soil to accumulating CO2 in the atmosphere.
Using New Zealand as a natural laboratory, Dr Norton’s research will look at whether erosion rates accelerated significantly over the past few million years as glaciers carved the landscape and whether chemical weathering—and hence CO2 drawdown—speeds up with faster erosion.
Dr Norton says he is thrilled to have received a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship. “It is an honour to have this opportunity to build new capabilities for Victoria University and for New Zealand.”
Victoria’s Dean of Science, Professor David Harper, says the University is extremely proud of Dr Norton and Dr Golledge.
“Winning these fellowships is well-deserved recognition of the impact of their work so early in their careers, and a reflection of the quality of earth sciences and Antarctic research at Victoria University,” says Professor Harper.
About the researchers:
Dr Golledge started his career as a geologist with the British Geological Survey (BGS), based in Edinburgh, Scotland. During his 12 years with the BGS he mapped and interpreted the geological deposits of past ice sheets, but it was during his PhD research (undertaken part-time while at the BGS) that he began to appreciate the strength of computer modelling as an additional tool in the reconstruction of past ice sheets and the climates that gave rise to them. Since moving to New Zealand in 2009, Dr Golledge has focussed on the Antarctic ice sheet, using computer models to simulate ice growth and decay during periods of the past that otherwise can only be inferred from sparse geological records. This research is now looking to the future, attempting to predict the ice-sheet changes that might occur as the climate warms.
Dr Norton studied Chemistry and Geology at Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the United States before completing a doctorate at the University of Hannover in Germany. He is deeply interested in the processes that shape the land that we live on. During his PhD research, Dr Norton used geochemical tracers and numerical modelling to provide some of the first field evidence that there might be a limit to how fast rocks can weather into soil. He continued this work with postdoctoral positions in Germany and Switzerland to study erosion, weathering, and mountain building in the European Alps and Andes. Since moving to Victoria years ago, Dr Norton has been addressing questions of importance to New Zealand. In 2013, he was named Emerging Researcher in Geography by the New Zealand Geographical Society.