As I approach the end of 2024 and my third year as the Director of Bioprotection Aotearoa, I feel tired, relieved and optimistic. I also find myself acutely aware of how far we’ve come. Especially as the research journey we have been on predates Bioprotection Aotearoa, I think it’s important to look back on how the research landscape has changed during that time and use this hindsight to measure progress and redefine how we think about bioprotection going forward.
Before I do that, I want to acknowledge the people who have made this journey possible. The short three and a half years since Bioprotection Aotearoa was funded as a National Centre of Research Excellence, transforming it from its predecessor the Bio-Protection Research Centre (BPRC) to what it is today, has been challenging. I think it is important to acknowledge in my journey as Director that there have been some tough times, but I have been lucky to have the support of a few key people. So, I’ll take this opportunity to thank the operations team, the deputy directors and senior researchers, and the many emerging researchers who have come up through Bioprotection Aotearoa and BPRC. They represent the substance behind the whakataukī:
Ki te Kotahi te kākaho, ka whati; ki te kāpuia, e kore e whati. If a reed stands alone, it can be broken; if it is in a group, it cannot.
The journey Bioprotection Aotearoa has been on is separate from but linked to mine. Bioprotection Aotearoa was officially funded in 2021, but its previous iteration, BPRC, was first established in 2003 with a primary goal to strengthen the value of New Zealand’s pastoral, horticultural and forestry industries through research into next generation bioprotection (biosecurity and biocontrol) solutions. Originally, there were four projects: World-leading biosecurity; Sustainable bio-protection; Plant bio-protection systems biology; and Māori bio-protection.
Melanie Mark-Shadbolt (left) and Amanda Black (right). (Photo supplied)
My first introduction to BPRC began in 2011 as a newly graduated PhD having just been awarded an MBIE post-doctoral fellowship. I was hosted by BPRC across sustainable bio-protection and Māori bio-protection working with Melanie Mark-Shadbolt. In 2015, the number of BPRC projects grew from four to seven, and I eventually led a project (Do fragmented kauri ecosystems facilitate pathogen spread?) along with Nick Waipara. The topic of this project was highly political, and we gained much media attention which propelled me and this project into an intense period of public exposure and engagement. It was this experience that brought to the forefront the importance of negotiating multiple viewpoints into a cohesive strategic plan. It also came at a time of a shifting political landscape, one that was embracing more of Māori heritage. Thus, it made sense that to be successful and forward-looking, the next iteration of BPRC would need to reflect this shift.
From 2021, Bioprotection Aotearoa has been underpinned by a Te Ao Māori framework, Te Taiao-a-rangi, which aims to: unite the Centre of Research Excellence as a community, give direction to operations, and guide research to eventually weave science and innovation with Indigenous Knowledge. This was a transformational shift from BPRC and a much-needed refresh to bring people together, direct research where it would be more likely to have impact and make Bioprotection Aotearoa a place that attracts the next generation of researchers and leaders.
Queenstown Research Week (2023) exploring how to tackle i4: integration, interdisciplinarity, implementation & impact
As our research centre has shifted from BPRC to Bioprotection Aotearoa, so too has the meaning of bioprotection. Ever since 2003, the term bioprotection has been ambiguous to people outside of plant protection research. I remember conversations with people at various conferences and events struggling to land on the concept of bioprotection. What is ‘bio’ – plants or animals or people, native or non-native, species or systems? And what then does ‘protection’ entail?
To me, trying to answer these questions will only lead us into circular technical discussions. Bioprotection instead needs to be defined by the issues we are aiming to address, the problems we are looking to provide answers to while we are training the next generation. The issues are many and varied, but two currently stand out that undeniably influence our whenua and its ability to sustain us and the taonga species that exist nowhere else but in Aotearoa New Zealand and Moana nui-a-kiwa: invasive and unwanted plants, insects and microorganisms (disease causing); and climate change, specifically the increase of extreme weather events. Our research encompasses these and emerging topics including what a bioprotection focused governance structure may look like.
For us, the definition of bioprotection is framed by values rather than the clinical definitions of nouns and verbs and technical explanations. This reframing has helped reach Māori, Pasifika, communities and non-researchers—a values-based approach resonates across sections of society because it is key to what drives decision-making.
I still end up having conversations with people who continue to struggle with terminology around bioprotection. Because of this, and especially as 2025 marks the beginning of our second tranche of funding, I want to be very clear about the definition we are carrying with us towards the future. So, for current and future generations of researchers, allies and end users, let me offer this as a definition for bioprotection:
Bioprotection is an approach that seeks to ensure the survival of our whenua against the threat of pathogens, pests, and weeds in a warming climate. This approach brings together different knowledge systems and disciplines, the union of which would have been unheard of for reasons of incompatibility when BPRC first emerged 20 years ago. This approach is what defines Bioprotection Aotearoa and ensures we are delivering research that will benefit future generations.
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