About

We’re excited to open 2026 with the first Excellence Series event of the year, proudly featured as part of Return to Campus Week — a week-long celebration marking the start of the academic year at Lincoln University.

Return to Campus Week is about reconnecting with colleagues and students, sharing ideas, and celebrating the innovation and achievement that define our university community. Across the week, the campus will come alive with poster displays in the Forbes foyer, opportunities to engage with new research, and a series of talks showcasing the breadth of talent and expertise at Lincoln University.

The Excellence Series sits at the heart of this celebration, highlighting the people and projects driving research excellence across our disciplines. Each event provides a platform to share insights, spark collaboration, and inspire new thinking — both within the University and beyond.

Against this backdrop, this event turns its focus to the growing challenges facing lakes across Aotearoa. Nutrient and sediment runoff, invasive species, fluctuating water levels, and the accelerating impacts of climate change are placing unprecedented pressure on lake ecosystems. Many lakes no longer meet ecological, cultural, or community needs, while communities, iwi, and lake managers often lack the tools needed to assess lake health holistically, identify key stressors, or plan effective restoration in a rapidly changing climate.

In this talk, Professor Susie Wood introduces Our Lakes, Our Future, a groundbreaking five-year programme hosted at Lincoln University and delivered by more than 70 researchers from across Aotearoa and international partner institutions. By integrating biophysical science, te ao Māori, and social science, the programme is developing a globally distinctive approach to understanding, monitoring, and managing lakes. Professor Wood will share examples of how the team is advancing holistic lake health assessment, improving predictions of lake vulnerability, and working alongside communities to revitalise the lakes they value.

This event offers an opportunity to learn more about the state of our lakes and the research underway to better understand, protect, and restore these precious environments, highlighting the power of collaborative science and community partnership to safeguard our lakes for generations to come.

Timings

About Our Speaker

Professor Susie Wood

Professor Wood’s research is multidisciplinary and integrative, with an overarching focus on advancing knowledge of freshwater ecosystems. Her work spans three broad areas: toxic cyanobacteria dynamics in freshwater systems (both planktonic communities in lakes and benthic forms in rivers); the development and application of molecular techniques to monitor and better understand aquatic environments; and the integration of cutting-edge methods with traditional paleolimnological approaches to inform future lake management and restoration.

Close collaboration with iwi, hapū, community groups, and local and central government agencies is central to her research. She is internationally recognised as a world expert on toxic cyanobacteria and has played a key role in developing both recreational and drinking water guidelines for cyanobacteria in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Professor Wood co-led the largest study of the current and historical health of lakes in Aotearoa New Zealand, Our lakes’ health: past, present and future. She currently co-leads an MBIE-funded Endeavour programme, Our lakes, Our future, which aims to develop holistic approaches to assessing lake health and innovative pathways for lake revitalisation.

In recognition of her contributions to freshwater science, Professor Wood received the Kilham Lecture Award from the International Limnology Society in 2022 for her international impact, and the New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society Medal in 2019 for her contributions to freshwater science in Aotearoa New Zealand.