Tara G McAllister | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Canterbury |
Awards | Zonta Science Award (2022) Royal Society Te Apārangi Te Kōpūnui Māori Research Award (2022) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Freshwater ecology, mātauranga Māori |
Institutions | University of Auckland |
Thesis | |
Academic advisors | Susie Wood, Ian Hawes |
Tara G McAllister is a New Zealand freshwater ecology academic and is associated with Te Pūnaha Matatini at the University of Auckland.[1] She is a Māori of Te Aitanga ā Māhaki, Ngāti Porou, and European descent.
McAllister's 2018 freshwater ecology[2] PhD titled 'Phormidium accrual cycles in Canterbury rivers: the effects of nutrients and flow' at the University of Canterbury, looked at the cyanobacteria Phormidium in predominantly braided rivers in South Canterbury.[3] She then moved to the University of Auckland.[1] In 2021 McAllister received a MBIE Science Whitinga Fellowship.[4]
McAllister's specialties include cyanobacteria in freshwater, mātauranga Māori and co-development of research with iwi,[5][1] and has been used as an expert in media discussion on water toxicity[6][7] and water shortage issues.[8]
With Sereana Naepi and others, she has published a series of papers on biases in New Zealand universities, particularly racial and gender biases, which have received wide attention.[9][10][11][12][13]
When a group of seven professors at the University of Auckland published a letter stating that mātauranga Māori (the traditional knowledge of the Maori people) was not science,[14] McAllister said "we did not navigate to Aotearoa on myths and legends. We did not live successfully in balance with the environment without science. Māori were the first scientists in Aotearoa."[15] The Tertiary Education Union,[16] Royal Society Te Apārangi[17] and New Zealand Association of Scientists[18] and their own vice-chancellor[19][20] were also critical of the letter. However, some prominent New Zealand and overseas scientists publicly supported the letter.[21][22]
In 2022, McAllister was awarded the 17th Biennial Zonta Science Award.[23] In November of the same year McAllister was awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi Te Kōpūnui Māori Research Award "for research into the underrepresentation and undervaluing of Māori academics".[24]