27 July 2000 Lady Isaac endows new Lincoln Nature Conservation Scholarship

The helping hand of leading Canterbury conservationist Lady Isaac has again been extended to the cause of nature conservation in New Zealand, this time through the creation of a Lincoln University scholarship in nature conservation, funded by her and carrying her name.

The scholarship, valued at $6000 per year tenable over two years, is for study at Lincoln University towards a masters degree in applied conservation. Candidates will have to work on a research project which will benefit the conservation of nature and environmental protection and be a contribution towards the sustainable management of the environment.

The Lady Isaac Scholarship in Nature Conservation will be awarded on the basis of the academic worth of the project; the academic merit of the candidate; the likely benefit of the project to the conservation of nature and environmental protection; and the commitment of the candidate to working in conservation biology for the sustainable management of the environment.

Lincoln University is a national leader in the teaching and research of nature conservation. Its work in this area is headed by a Professor of Nature Conservation, Dr Ian Spellerberg, and the campus is home to the International Centre for Nature Conservation, managed by Associate Professor David Given with Lady Isaac as Honorary Chair.

Nature conservation has always been close to Lady Isaac's heart. She and her late husband, Sir Neil Isaac, transformed a former quarrying property at McLean's Island, on the outskirts of Christchurch, into an international award-winning wildlife park. Known as Peacock Springs, it is today a registered zoological garden renowned for its work with threatened and endangered species from rare plants to water creatures to birds.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand