Dame Alison as worthy as anyone
Dame Alison admitted she felt undeserving over King's Birthday weekend until her partner told her she was just as worthy a recipient as any of the select group of talented women to hold the same honour.
"You look at all of these amazing people who have been given this honour and think what on earth am I doing in the same space as them? I suppose sports people look at other people like politicians and scientists and think the same. You always tend to think people excelling in a certain area must be better than you. I've just decided to accept that everybody's really good, otherwise you end up with a serious inferiority complex and don't enjoy the honour."
Emeritus Distinguished Professor Stewart was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to plant science and the arable sector in the King's Birthday Honours.
In terms of damehoods, this is just a tier below a select group of women, including former prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who have been made a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Dame Alison is stepping down from her role of the past seven years as chief executive of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).
She has been inundated with calls from wellwishers and plant science industry people from around the world.
"If you have been in the system for 40 years you end up reconnecting with people you've worked with 20 to 30 years ago just to say hello and congratulations. It's like a trip down memory lane. Plant science rarely gets recognised at that kind of level and so there are all these plant scientists out there around the world who just think this is wonderful and it's like that too for the arable sector."
She was happy to accept the honour as it raised the profile of both sectors and honoured the people inside them.
"It has to be like that because in the type of job and the career I've had I've never worked in isolation and I've always been working fortunately with really good people, whether it was a university environment, a commercial company or FAR. You can't look at it in isolation because my success has been their success."
Dame Alison only wished her late mother and father were alive to see her honoured.
Born just outside of Glasgow, her parents were always in the garden propagating plants and trimming rose bushes, exposing her to a love of plants.
Her father was a fine instrument engineer repairing mechanical microscopes which got her interested in micro-biology, while her initially stay-at-home mother was a creative woman into flower arrangement, calligraphy and gardening.
"My brother was the chartered accountant who's retired back in Scotland so both of us had professional careers. My parents both left school when they were 14 and they basically sacrificed a huge amount to allow my brother and I an opportunity to get a higher education. It's just a shame my parents are no longer alive because they would absolutely love that I have been recognised in this way."
At school she was inspired by a biology teacher to choose plant science and when she went to university lecturers instilled this interest in her further.
After earning a PhD in plant pathology at the University of Stirling, just north of Glasgow and Edinburgh, in the early 1980s, she became the first female professor at Lincoln University in 1998.
She said it was nice to have students later come up to her to say they were inspired by her lectures, just as she had been inspired earlier by her teachers.
Other accolades were earning excellence in research awards and becoming the founding director of the Bio-Protection Research Centre at the university from 2003 to 2011 and a distinguished professor of plant pathology.
She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of services to biology in 2009.
The transition to becoming an executive in applied research after being in a university environment for so long was to find a new challenge, she said.
On leaving the university world, she was head of the R&D unit at Marrone Bio Innovations in California in 2013, then became the general manager of forest science at Scion before accepting the chief executive role at FAR in 2018.
She said going to a commercial company in the United States had been rewarding and encouraged her to deliver meaningful research to an industry in innovative ways to "time-poor" growers.
She plans to spend a semi-retirement in science advisory or governance roles as well as building a new house in Governor's Bay and probably pursuing photography and landscape gardening hobbies.
"That's what I've enjoyed about my career — I've been in academia, the commercial environment, in industry, linked in with government agencies and worked in all of the plant sector starting off in vegetables, then horticulture, forestry and a bit of pastoral work and now arable so it's been very broad-ranging. I've always liked governance and you get better with age because as much as you can go to governance workshops a lot of it is based on experience and having been around the block and learned from mistakes I feel that's how I can contribute now."
Apart from the odd formal occasion, she would prefer to be called by her first name.
"I don't think you will ever be hearing me introducing myself as Dame Alison. I've always just been Alison and don't tend to defer to people based on their title and don't expect people to do that with me."
tim.cronshaw@alliedpress.co.nz
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
5 days ago
- Scoop
Denise Messiter Puts Community Connection At The Heart Of Her Mayoral Campaign
Press Release – Nin for Mayor Campaign Her service to the community has been recognised nationally and internationally. Denise is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to the community, and a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Mayoral candidate Denise Messiter says Thames–Coromandel deserves leadership that listens to every part of the community, not just the loudest voices in the room. At the recent Whitianga meet-the-candidates event, more than half the audience were older women. Many came with important questions about local issues, yet there was limited time for everyone to be heard. For Denise, it highlighted the need for more inclusive and welcoming formats that give space to all voices. 'I want to create spaces where people feel welcome to share their views and know they will be listened to. Smaller, more focused gatherings can give everyone the chance to speak. Older women, our rainbow and takatāpui whānau, tangata whaikaha, and others whose voices are sometimes missing from public debates will be at the centre of these conversations,' says Denise. Alongside her Aunty Betty Williams and other whānau who were proactive in the Coromandel Watchdog movement, Denise stood against mining on the peninsula for decades. That commitment to protecting the whenua and supporting local communities continues to influence her vision for the district today. Denise's campaign focuses on delivering practical, fair outcomes in the areas that matter most to people. She is committed to: Fair infrastructure and storm recovery that prioritises rural and flood-affected communities, with transparent project updates and climate resilience built into every decision. Housing affordability and community-led development that supports local housing trusts, Māori-led builds, papakāinga, and multi-generational housing. Te Tiriti partnership and Māori representation through a genuine co-design approach with mana whenua on all major projects. Rates and funding reform to ensure fairness for permanent residents and Māori landowners, with greater transparency about where rates are spent. Youth, digital and transport access including youth forums, public Wi-Fi expansion, and better transport links between towns. Community voice and democratic accountability so council decisions are explained in plain language and councillors are regularly present in every town. Denise has spent decades in leadership and advocacy roles, always focused on the issues at the forefront for Hauraki and Thames–Coromandel communities. She co-founded Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki, leads Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki, and has built partnerships that create local jobs, improve housing, and strengthen resilience. Her service to the community has been recognised nationally and internationally. Denise is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to the community, and a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International for significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world. She is standing for mayor to build a council that is present, transparent and grounded in the needs of its people. 'Everyone deserves to be heard, and everyone should see their priorities reflected in the work of council. That is the kind of leadership I will bring.' The Nin for Mayor campaign is inviting anyone interested in helping or hosting a community conversation to get in touch. Denise will be announcing a series of smaller meet-and-greet events across the district in the coming weeks.
Scoop
15-07-2025
- Scoop
David Robie: New Zealand Must Do More For Pacific And Confront Nuclear Powers
The New Zealand government needs to do more for its Pacific Island neighbours and stand up to nuclear powers, a distinguished journalist, media educator and author says. Professor David Robie, a recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), released the latest edition of his book Eyes of Fire: The last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior, which highlights the nuclear legacies of the United States and France. Robie, who has worked in Pacific journalism and academia for 50 years, recounts his experiences aboard the Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior in 1985, before it was bombed in Auckland Harbour. At the time, New Zealand stood up to nuclear powers, he said. "It was pretty callous [of] the US and French authorities to think they can just carry on nuclear tests in the Pacific, far away from the metropolitan countries, out of the range of most media, and just do what they like," Robie told RNZ Pacific. "It is shocking, really." Speaking to Pacific Waves, Robie said that Aotearoa had forgotten how to stand up for the region. "The real issue in the Pacific is about climate crisis and climate justice. And we're being pushed this way and that by the US [and] by the French. The French want to make a stake in their Indo-Pacific policies as well," he said. "We need to stand up for smaller Pacific countries." Robie believes that New Zealand is failing with its diplomacy in the region. He accused the coalition government of being "too timid" and "afraid of offending President Donald Trump" to make a stand on the nuclear issue. However, a spokesperson for New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Pacific that New Zealand's "overarching to work with Pacific partners to achieve a secure, stable, and prosperous region that preserves Pacific sovereignty and agency". The spokesperson said that through its foreign policy reset, New Zealand was committed to "comprehensive relationships" with Pacific Island countries. "New Zealand's identity, prosperity and security are intertwined with the Pacific through deep cultural, people, historical, security, and economic linkages." The New Zealand government commits almost 60 percent of its development funding to the region. The spokesperson said that the Pacific was becoming increasingly contested and complex. "New Zealand has been clear with all of our partners that it is important that engagement in the Pacific takes place in a manner which advances Pacific priorities, is consistent with established regional practices, and supportive of Pacific regional institutions." They added that New Zealand's main focus remains on the Pacific, "where we will be working with partners including the United States, Australia, Japan and in Europe to more intensively leverage greater support for the region. "We will maintain the high tempo of political engagement across the Pacific to ensure alignment between our programme and New Zealand and partner priorities. And we will work more strategically with Pacific Governments to strengthen their systems, so they can better deliver the services their people need," the spokesperson said. But former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, writing in the preface of Robie's book, said: "New Zealand needs to re-emphasise the principles and values which drove its nuclear-free legislation and its advocacy for a nuclear-free South Pacific and global nuclear disarmament." Robie added that looking back 40 years to the 1980s, there was a strong sense of pride in being from Aotearoa, the small country which set an example around the world. "We took nuclear powers," Robie said. "And the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was symbolic of that struggle, in a way, but it was a struggle that most New Zealanders felt a part of, and we were very proud of that [anti-nuclear] role that we took. Over the years, it has sort of been forgotten". 'Look at history' France conducted 193 nuclear tests over three decades until 1996 in French Polynesia. Until 2009, France claimed that its tests were clean and caused no harm, but in 2010, under the stewardship of Defence Minister Herve Morin, a compensation law was passed. From 1946 to 1962, 67 nuclear bombs were detonated in the Marshall Islands by the US. In 2024, then-US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell, while responding to a question from RNZ Pacific about America's nuclear legacy, said: "Washington has attempted to address it constructively with massive resources and a sustained commitment." However, Robie said that was not good enough and labelled the destruction left behind by the US, and France, as "outrageous". "It is political speak; politicians trying to cover their backs and so on. If you look at history, [the response] is nowhere near good enough, both by the US and the French.
Scoop
01-07-2025
- Scoop
A Voice At The Table: Refugee Panel Completes Successful First Term
Press Release – University of Auckland Recently named in the Kings Birthday Honours, human rights lawyer Rez Gardi MNZM, the project director for the NZRAP Secretariat and the co-director of the Universitys Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, says its a privilege to welcome the newly … Giving people from refugee backgrounds an official voice on issues that affect them has been the focus of the inaugural New Zealand Refugee Advisory Panel, now into its second term. Resettlement and integration, cultural and social inclusion, mental health support, youth education, legal and immigration processes, community safety and developing leadership in refugee communities are just some of the areas the New Zealand Refugee Advisory Panel (NZRAP) has been involved with since forming in 2022. And now six new members from around New Zealand will be joining the panel for its second term. Recently named in the King's Birthday Honours, human rights lawyer Rez Gardi MNZM, the project director for the NZRAP Secretariat and the co-director of the University's Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, says it's a privilege to welcome the newly appointed members. 'Their appointments reflect the calibre, depth, and diversity of leadership within refugee-background communities across Aotearoa.' Gardi says the panel plays a vital role in ensuring the perspectives and expertise of those with lived experience of forced displacement are not only heard but embedded in government policy and practice. 'We look forward to supporting the panel as it builds on the foundations laid by its inaugural cohort.' Highlights of the panel's first term include: developing a working definition of 'meaningful refugee participation', now adopted by the NZ government; playing a leading role in the National Refugee Resettlement Forum, alongside Immigration New Zealand; and co-drafting pledges made by the government at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, where panel members attended international conferences. Retiring panel member Somali-born Ayan Said says serving on the panel is about ensuring refugee participation is not just symbolic but changes the system for the better. 'The NZRAP is where experience meets expertise. Meaningful refugee participation is not a favour it's a fundamental right that strengthens policies and empowers communities. True participation means moving beyond tokenism to build trust, share power, and co-create change.' A former refugee from Syria, Rabia Talal Almbaid, another member now stepping down, says it's been an incredible honour to serve on the panel and a 'defining highlight' of his career, but the panel is in good hands. 'The newly appointed members bring remarkable talent, experiences, and insight into the space. We are excited to see them carry the work forward, as there is more work to do.' The acting national manager of Refugee and Migrant Support, Sarah Ward, says the panel's second term will build on the strong foundations laid by its inaugural members. 'We're proud to support the NZRAP as part of our ongoing commitment to meaningful refugee participation and to New Zealand's world-class refugee resettlement programme,' she says. 'We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the outgoing panel members for their leadership and dedication and warmly welcome the new members and look forward to the important mahi ahead.' The six new members were selected through an open nationwide process that attracted applications from across the country. Newly appointed members 1 July 2025: Sara Ahmad – Hamilton Nimo Ahmed – Whangārei Liaquat Ali Changezi – Hamilton Nada Haroura – Dunedin Beth Ketema – Auckland Abrar Saleh – Auckland Continuing members (since March 2024): Jane Smith – Christchurch Jose Tombe – Wellington The New Zealand Refugee Advisory Panel is a collaboration between Immigration New Zealand and the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, supported by refugee-led organisations, academics, and civil society.
