07 March 2025 Increasing postgraduate capability in freshwater research at Lincoln University

Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University’s freshwater postgraduate research and educational programmes are being strengthened by the appointment of Professor of Waterways Management Susie Wood.

In her new role, Professor Wood is Co-Director of the Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management, a joint programme between Lincoln University and University of Canterbury. She says she looks forward to contributing to the freshwater management by supporting and training the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

A freshwater scientist and molecular ecologist, Professor Wood’s research focuses on revitalising lakes in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is joining Lincoln University after a long-held position at the Cawthron Institute.

Professor Wood co-leads the MBIE-funded Endeavour research programme Our Lakes, Our Future along with Dr Marcus Vandergoes from GNS Science. The programme is developing globally unique approaches to monitoring and managing lakes and is highly collaborative involving over 50 researchers. It includes four iwi partners – Manawhenua Ki Mohua, Rangītikei iwi, Te Arawa Lakes Trust and Ngāti Pāhauwera – 13 national and international research institutes including GNS Science, Cawthron, University of Waikato, Victoria University of Wellington and University of Otago, and 15 stakeholders including regional councils and central government.

Many of the 14 subcomponents to the programme are underway, including research into extreme climate events - a joint project with GNS Science, and Victoria and Otago Universities, exploring the impact of extreme storms such as Cyclone Gabrielle. Another project with the Cawthron Institute is investigating the use of environmental DNA to assess biodiversity in lakes.

From 1 March, Lincoln University will host the programme alongside partners Cawthorn Institute and GNS Science. The most comprehensive research on lakes being conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand currently, Our Lakes, Our Future works closely with iwi acknowledging the cultural significance of lakes to Māori and their involvement in many restoration programmes around the country.

“Our lakes have high cultural, environmental and social values,” says Professor Wood. “Under increasing pressure from multiple stressors including land use change, urbanisation and introduced species, around 45% of our lakes have poor water quality. With 5,000 lakes here, that means over 2,000 lakes are in poor condition.

“Hosting the Our Lakes, Our Future programme offers Lincoln University an amazing opportunity to continue to build its postgraduate capability in freshwater management with several scholarships available for students.”

Two PhD students have already been recruited to commence research at Lincoln showing it won’t take long to build momentum in this space. One of the soon-to-be onboard PhD students will investigate how to sample a lake using DNA techniques to gain an understanding of the lake's biodiversity as a whole. The second PhD student will commence mid-year and will use sediment cores to explore how changes in the catchment over the past 1,000 years have impacted lake health.

“Lake sediment acts like a sink capturing and storing nutrients, sediment and contaminants. Sediment cores - tubes of mud collected from the bottom of the lake - can be divided into layers, with each likened to a page of a history book. We can explore each layer, gaining an understanding of how a lake and the surrounding areas have changed, including biodiversity loss at a catchment scale. This is particularly important as each lake is unique, so in the future, we will be able to tailor individual plans for them.”

As Co-Director of the Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management, Professor Wood will contribute to running the centre, which is focused on interdisciplinary training of freshwater scientists, equipping them with an understanding of policy and governance as well as water ecology, hydrology and water quality.

“We currently have 18 enrolled in our joint Lincoln and Canterbury University Master’s programme. It is an attractive offering for postgraduate students who will graduate with a qualification and having completed a research project. This combination gives them a diverse range of skills.”

Professor Wood sees Lincoln as an ideal educational institution to promote freshwater training and research.

“Many of the issues in the freshwater space are centred around land use and agriculture. Here at Lincoln, we can closely collaborate with researchers working in this space and conduct multi-disciplinary research with colleagues extending into other areas such as social policy and governance.”

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