2012 Realise the Dream Awards Ceremony
Kia ora tātou – nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare Kāwana. Greetings everyone and welcome to Government House.
I specifically acknowledge: Dr Di McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand; Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Education; Your Worship Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor of Wellington; Your Excellency David Huebner, United States Ambassador to New Zealand; Your Excellency Vicki Treadwell, British High Commissioner to New Zealand; Dr Andrew Matthews, Commissioner of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO; Dean Schmidt, General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Genesis Energy; Dr Eric Hillerton, Chief Scientist at Dairy New Zealand; Dr Andrew Cleland, Chief Executive of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.
It is a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you to Government House for the 2012 Realise the Dream National School Science and Technology Awards. Hosting events like this one, which celebrate things that New Zealanders are excelling in, are important highlights in our calendar.
As a nation of just 4.4 million people, we have proved time and again that our collective talent belies our comparatively small population. New Zealanders are leaders in many fields of international endeavour. In the fields of science and technology, some of the New Zealanders who have changed and enhanced our understanding of the world and made ground-breaking discoveries include: Sir Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics; Sir Archibald McIndoe, the pioneering plastic surgeon who provided treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned Royal Air Force aircrew during World War II; Beatrice Tinsley, the astronomer and cosmologist whose research made fundamental contributions to the understanding of how galaxies evolve with time; William Pickering, the rocket scientist and pioneer of NASA space exploration; Alan MacDiarmid who discovered that plastics could conduct electricity; and Joan Wiffen the amateur palaeontologist who discovered the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand. These New Zealanders and many more have set a firm foundation, and paved the way for internationally respected scientific and technological research and discovery.
Today we are going to recognise and celebrate excellence in the scientific and technological realms. We have with us some of New Zealand’s best and brightest young minds. And I acknowledge the 20 young New Zealanders who have the intellect, the determination, the passion and the work ethic to emulate the eminent New Zealanders I just mentioned. Having spent the last week together, I am sure that you have forged new and lasting friendships through the common bond of scientific curiosity, a penchant for problem-solving, and a passion for doing good and making the world a better place. Reading through your individual projects and achievements it seems to me that all of you have the potential to go on to forge brilliant careers –in scientific research and or technological innovation.
In New Zealand, we are fortunate to have internationally-renown universities, with world-class research facilities, which allow young New Zealanders to move into tertiary science, technology and engineering study and research. I am aware that you have engaged with some of those institutions during the past week. I’m informed that one of them was the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.
The Founding Director of the MacDiarmid Institute was the late Sir Paul Callaghan, New Zealander of the Year in 2011 and a physicist who was no stranger to the Royal Society in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Sir Paul Callaghan had a vision for our nation; that we are a country that respects the natural environment that cares for its most vulnerable people and offers exciting opportunities that will retain, or attract home, talented young New Zealanders. He pictured a prosperous economy based on high-earning, low impact, creative, knowledge-based industries, particularly in science, engineering and technology, as the key to achieving his vision.
In the last interview he gave before he died in March this year Sir Paul spoke of opportunity and the ability to make significant contributions to our country, in our country. He said:
“What greater sense of fulfilment can there be but to make a difference to the community in which you live? It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come back home and make my life here, as I say to our diaspora, that’s the real opportunity New Zealand offers. It’s hard to make a difference in New York. Here everything you contribute makes a visible difference.”
And what an exciting prospect that is – to make a visible difference in your community, your city, your country, and our world. That is the challenge set before you now. It’s not that you should only do your study and work here in New Zealand. However, consolidate and broaden the work you have done with Realise the Dream. Do it at a New Zealand university, go off if you must to gain distinction overseas, but remember where you started and make your efforts count for New Zealand.
We have awards to be presented, and I am certain that you will all be eager to move into that phase of the evening! Before I hand over to Dr Di McCarthy, I would like to acknowledge some others who have demonstrated tremendous resolve – the parents, schools and mentors of the finalists. You must be very proud of your children, your students, these exceptional young New Zealanders.
So to conclude I congratulate each student selected to participate in the 2012 Realise the Dream event. You have demonstrated commitment, dedication and distinction and can take great pride in your achievements so far! But realising the dream – your dream or Paul Callaghan’s dream, suggests that your journey has only just begun!
You students, congratulations on being selected to be here. Your achievements are amazing, your example is inspirational; and I wish you all the best in your future lives and careers. Realise the Dream has provided you a huge opportunity, but only if you choose to take it.
I now invite Dr Di McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand, to speak.