Plant and Food Research scientist, Dr Philip Elmer won the University of Waikato Lifetime Achievement award at last week's prestigious Kudos Awards.
A highly respected and passionate Waikato-based scientist, Dr Elmer leads a plant research team with more patents and biological product success than any other in New Zealand.
He began his science career in the 1980s wanting to make a difference and find solutions to problems. While most were focused on finding new pesticides, Phil saw the tide was starting to flow toward organics and consumer demand for food without pesticide residue.
He honed his skills and in 1997 they were put to the test dealing with a crisis in our wine industry. Fungicides used to control grape rot were failing and leaving detectable residues in wine. Phil led the development of innovative biological controls, which were later patented and have become a wildly successful global export as well as being critical to sustainable practice in our own wine industry.
Dr Elmer’s team achieved similar success delivering integrated pest management practices and tools to the New Zealand Summerfruit industry.
Since 2010, Phil’s experience has been critical in response to the devastating vine-killing, bacterial disease Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae (Psa), helping to fast-track the planting of new kiwifruit lines and restore an industry facing decimation.
Phil’s Ruakura Plant Pathology team also won the Kudos Science Trust Agricultural Science Award. This comes after receiving the Prime Minister’s Science Prize for the same work in 2017.
“Being a recipient of the Waikato University Lifetime achievement award is a huge honour for me and also for The New Zealand Institute of Plant & Food Research. No one achieves an award like this without the love and support of family, friends and work colleagues and the hard work, dedication and friendship of the close-knit team I have the honour of leading at Ruakura,” Phil said.
A great communicator, Dr Elmer was equally at home writing a patent or a peer-reviewed article, wine industry leader, Dr John Forrest said.
“Phil has that rare gift of being an academic scientist who is able to communicate with everyone, plus he’s a great team leader,” Dr John said.
His pioneering work has put New Zealand at the forefront of sustainable fruit and vegetable production.
Eight categories of science excellence were awarded at the Kudos Awards on Thursday night, including, medical, engineering, environmental and agricultural science plus recognition of science educators, lab technicians and emerging scientists.
The Kudos Awards are run by the Kudos Science Trust, an indépendant advocate for science and innovation in the region. The Trust recognises the importance of supporting this sector, not only through shining a light on their work, but also the value of investing in our schools and education system through collaborative projects to support the science industry into the future.