Anna has always felt an intrinsic connection to the environment and spends much of her spare time in nature—the most recent hike in her calendar was a trip to the Tararuas. “The environment is part of my sense of identity and place. I want to help protect it.” The Antarctica New Zealand scholarship, sponsored by New Zealand Post, gives Anna the opportunity to visit one of the most unique environments in the world, and through her research, to meaningfully contribute to environmental science.

At first, Anna wasn’t sure if she would apply for the scholarship. The deadline was only one month into starting her Master of Environmental Science—not much time to settle on a research question. Plus, she would be up against PhD students applying for the same funding. But ever since her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Auckland, she had wanted to do Antarctic research—in fact, Te Herenga Waka’s world-leading Antarctic Research Centre is what brought her to do postgraduate study. So, with the support of her supervisor, she decided, “why not just give it a try?”

Her research is more important than simply finding out what’s down there: “our work will establish baseline data, which is crucial for long-term monitoring”. And because polar ecosystems are very climate sensitive, says Anna, this will be especially valuable for understanding how climate change is affecting ecosystems in Antarctica over time.

Anna hopes this is just the first of many trips to Antarctica. Whether she continues her current focus on methane seeps, or moves into a different area of environmental science, Anna intends to find plenty more reasons to explore the most remote continent on Earth.

Please enquire after the research possibilites at this university through the affiliated school page by clicking on the link below.