Scholars made companions

From stargazing to studying microscopic organisms, the director of Otago Museum and a teaching fellow at the University of Otago have been made Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Museum director Ian Griffin, who has a PhD in astronomy and has championed museums as centres of science communication, spoke from Mt John observatory where he was supervising students.

The companionship was a "bit of a shock and a real honour'', he said.

"I'm very honoured by the fact that someone's rewarded me,'' he said.

Senior teaching fellow from the University of Otago microbiology and immunology department Judith Bateup said she was nominated because of her involvement in 20 years of community outreach, primarily supporting secondary schools in their teaching of science, particularly microbiology.

Dr Bateup had developed and implemented an outreach programme used to help in the teaching of NCEA Level 1 achievement standards.

 

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