Professor Jemma Geoghegan and Dr Olivia Harrison have had their work recognised with Prime Minister’s Science Prizes. Jemma received Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao the Prime Minister’s Science Communicator prize and Olivia Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea, the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize at an event tonight.
Two Otago academics have had their work on managing anxiety and managing viruses recognised with Prime Minister’s Science Prizes.
Professor Jemma Geoghegan, of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, has received Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao the Prime Minister’s Science Communicator prize.
The award is made to a scientist who can demonstrate an interest, passion, and aptitude for science communication and public engagement.
Jemma has been recognised for the crucial role she has played in enhancing public understanding of infectious diseases and advising policymakers on pandemic threats in New Zealand.
Dr Olivia Harrison, of the Department of Psychology, has received Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea, the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize.
The award is made to an outstanding emerging scientist.
Olivia has been recognised for developing a multidisciplinary approach to understanding and managing anxiety.
They are among five Prime Minister’s Science Prizes recipients this year.
Professor Jemma Geoghegan – Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao the Prime Minister’s Science Communicator
Professor Jemma Geoghegan, of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, has received Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao the Prime Minister’s Science Communicator prize. She is known for her work advising policymakers and enhancing public understanding about infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and bird flu.
Jemma is relied upon as a trusted expert by the public, policy makers and community groups – skilfully explaining complicated and often rapidly changing information about infectious disease.
Although her research is focused on virus evolution and how viruses jump to new host species, she is widely recognised for her work communicating about COVID-19 during the pandemic. More recently, she has provided insights on the emergence and spread of bird flu.
COVID-19
In 2021, Jemma was awarded the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize for her work on virus spread and evolution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, she is being recognised for science communication that bridges the gap between scientists and the public, helping people understand viruses and reduce fear.
Jemma’s emergence as a science communicator wasn’t planned. She moved back to Aotearoa in early 2020 as COVID-19 began emerging in China and rapidly spreading across the globe.
“During that time, I was trying to use my expertise in virus geonomics and virus evolution to reassure people about what the next variant meant, and what that meant for the progression of the virus.”
Beyond public communication through news media, Jemma has worked closely with public health decision-makers to use data from genome sequencing of COVID-19 to inform policies and responses to the pandemic.
Through projects like a collaboration with Māori-founded Maui Studios to create an animated short film, she has made complex scientific concepts — such as genomic sequencing of viruses — accessible to children. The project’s aim was to explain viruses and how genomic sequencing was used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Jemma Geoghegan's work spans health, agriculture, and wildlife management. She says that although COVID-19 is still causing a lot of infections in New Zealand and abroad, there are dozens more viral threats to human, animal, and plant health that the public should be aware of. She believes effective science communication can help people to feel less afraid by deepening their understanding of these threats.
Communicating about viruses in wildlife
The work of Jemma and her research group spans health, agriculture, and wildlife management.
She says that although COVID-19 is still causing a lot of infections in New Zealand and abroad, there are dozens more viral threats to human, animal, and plant health that the public should be aware of.
No matter who she is communicating with, Jemma says that the key to effective science communication is to be engaging.
“I always ask myself, why should people care? Why do people need to listen to what I've got to say?”
Recently, Jemma has been working with officials on an infectious disease in hoiho – yellow-eyed penguins – which is one of the main reasons the birds’ population is declining.
“This awful disease has emerged in the last few years called respiratory distress syndrome. And my research has found a new virus that is likely responsible for this.
“There are lots of interested people, and communicating with [them] requires knowing when to communicate different aspects of that research at different times.”
Jemma says, however, that one of the biggest viral threats facing Aotearoa and the wider world is avian influenza virus (commonly known as bird flu). This is where much of her communication work has been focused in recent years.
“Most endemic species in Aotearoa are bird species”, Jemma explains, adding that more than 80 per cent of them are “threatened with the possibility of extinction”.
She says the introduction of bird flu, would likely “be catastrophic” to our native bird population.
Jemma says a wide range of people – from those who live near migratory birds to those who work in conservation – will be dramatically affected when bird flu arrives in Aotearoa.
Advocacy and challenge
Jemma has been advocating for better systems for virus detection and surveillance, especially for bird flu.
She says that as bird flu has emerged, there have been people that have disagreed with her advice, but she welcomes their challenge.
“It's part of science, I think, that people are going to disagree with you. And I welcome that because we can present our ideas and be challenged on them.”
Jemma says that science communication can help people to feel less afraid by deepening their understanding.
“I see my responsibility as a science communicator is to try to alleviate some of those anxieties that people might have. Because if you know more about it, then potentially you won’t be as scared.”
Dr Olivia Harrison - Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea, the Prime Minister's MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize
Dr Olivia Harrison, of the Department of Psychology, has received Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Maea, the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize. Her research focuses on anxiety and mental health, with a particular focus on how this links to breathing.
Olivia is a Rutherford Discovery Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer with a background in neuroscience and exercise physiology.
Her research focuses on anxiety and mental health. She says there’s an increase in the prevalence of anxiety reported globally and New Zealand has the fourth-highest prevalence worldwide. Māori communities experience particularly high rates of anxiety.
Link between breathing and anxiety
Olivia started studying the link between breathing and anxiety when she was living in Switzerland.
This area of research is called interoception – the mental perception of internal sensations, such as heart rate, hunger, temperature, pain, and emotions.
Dysregulation of interoception can contribute to anxiety disorders, if the brain misinterprets signals from the body, or vice versa. For example, a person may feel intense emotions, such as fear or dread, that seem out of proportion to the perceived threat. Alternatively, a person may feel their heartbeat is racing, and this can trigger anxious emotions.
Olivia knew that breathing could be a valuable window into studying this.
“We can use breathing to change symptoms in our body and measure what happens in our brain, or in our behaviour.”
They developed breathing tests that can be carried out in the lab or the MRI scanner to pinpoint where the communication between the brain and the body may have broken down.
“Breathing and anxiety are tightly intertwined and that’s something we probably all know. When you get anxious, you can either breathe too fast or you can hold your breath, but people often don’t know which they do.”
Olivia says not only is breathing is a “phenomenal tool” to understand anxiety, it’s also a great tool for treatment.
“It’s a way we can change what’s happening on the inside. If we’re really tense – our heart is beating fast, our stomach is churning and we’re breathing differently –
we can use breathing to change those other automatic processes that we don’t have access to.
“Different cultures have, of course, known about and used breathing in this way for centuries,” Olivia said.
Dr Olivia Harrison has established an interdisciplinary lab combining neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, physiology, pharmacology and computational modelling. The team is running longitudinal intervention studies on two of the currently prescribed treatments for anxiety: exercise and antidepressant medication (SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).
Multidisciplinary studies
Receiving a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship allowed Olivia to return to New Zealand and set up an interdisciplinary lab combining neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, physiology, pharmacology and computational modelling.
Her team is running longitudinal intervention studies on two of the currently prescribed treatments for anxiety: exercise and antidepressant medication (SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).
Olivia says that exercise works well for people to help manage their anxiety and make sure it doesn’t worsen.
They are studying how different types of exercise – aerobic and stretching – can help reconnect someone with their body and ease anxiety.
“Aerobic exercise allows you to experience symptoms such as a fast heart rate and increased breathing in a safe context, whereas stretching exercises can be calming, and allow you to spend time with your body and away from life’s stresses,” Olivia says.
“Both of these types of exercise can really help, and we want to know how and why and who they work for.”
Olivia’s team is aiming to better understand how anxiety might change our perceptions so that people can understand why they are behaving and feeling a certain way, but also identify biomarkers to narrow down which treatment will be most likely to work for each individual.
“We want to make a difference faster.”
Community engagement
Working with communities is extremely important to Olivia.
“It’s about the connection with people. We need to make sure that the treatments we’re developing fit into the structures of the health system, but also we need to be hearing from the community about what problems they have and what will likely work. The best treatment is what people will actually do.”
Anxiety is disproportionately high in New Zealand, particularly for Māori. Olivia’s team has been working closely with Puketeraki Marae in Karitāne, and the team’s Kaiāwhina Nikki Crossan advises the group on te ao Māori perspectives and appropriate tikanga so they can develop the cultural competency they need to work well with Māori communities.
Nikki says Olivia’s warmth and genuineness was evident from their first meeting and she is very happy to work alongside Olivia and contribute to her mahi.
“Mental health is so important, not just for our people, but for our country.”
Holistic focus
Thomas Cawood is a PhD student in Olivia’s lab. He’s studying early-stage biomarkers for psychosis disorders, such as schizophrenia. He says that Oliva has so much energy and knowledge she is “like three people in one”.
He’s excited by the emerging field of research linking mental health with the physiology of the body.
“There’s a growing recognition that not only does the brain affect the body, but the body affects the brain.
“The key question is how can we expand the horizons of current research beyond just medications or therapy but integrate the whole body into the system?” Thomas says.
Olivia agrees a more holistic view is needed. “It’s about seeing the anxiety symptoms and the person experiencing anxiety as a whole being.”
Reason for high rates of anxiety
In terms of treating anxiety, Olivia says it’s not about stamping it out.
“Anxiety about real threats in our environment has kept us alive.”
She thinks the surge in the numbers of people reporting anxiety is because we haven’t yet adapted to our new technological environment.
“We’re exposing ourselves to different types of information and threat that maybe we’re not prepared for.”
Children likely don’t have the resources to deal with the barrage of bad news available on social media, and as adults, we have to learn when to switch off from the constant stream of bad news stories to not trigger anxiety in ourselves, she explained.
On winning the prize
Olivia says winning the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize is an incredible honour and will help support her lab to continue with their research.
“What I want to do with all of this is to make a positive difference for people who are suffering from anxiety.”
She also hopes it will create more exposure for the issue.
“We’ve made huge strides in talking about mental health and anxiety, but, especially in New Zealand, I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
For her, science is both “incredibly creative” and fulfilling.
“You have this problem to solve and you can come at it in 50 million different ways. You can work together as a team, and you can do something that will hopefully help someone.”