Veronica Meduna

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Veronika Meduna (born January 2, 1965 in Děčín ) is a German biologist , radio journalist and writer of Czech origin who has permanent residency in New Zealand .

Life

Veronika Meduna studied at the University of Konstanz . In 1987 she passed the preliminary examination in biology and in 1991 the diploma in biotechnology . She then moved to the University of Otago in Dunedin (New Zealand), where she graduated in 1994 with a Master of Science degree in microbiology . In the same year she received the Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch . Meduna is fluent in Czech , German and English , but can also communicate in Māori , Mandarin , Russian , Italian , Spanish and French .

Scientific work

Between 1988 and 1990 she was a research assistant in the “Microbial Ecology Working Group” at the University of Konstanz and then until 1992 employed as a scientist at Bio System GmbH, which is also based in Konstanz. There she dealt with soil microbiology , examined among other things the potential of soil microbes to clean up contaminated soil and developed a technology for biological pollutant removal. In 1992, Meduna held two positions as a research assistant: On the one hand, she worked at the (now so-called) Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technologies at the University of Bremen with the extraction and refinement of algae toxins and also worked on a study that carried out the The onset of algal bloom should capture responsible environmental factors. In addition, she participated in a comprehensive observation of New Zealand fur seals on the Otago Peninsula for the Department of Zoology, Wildlife Management at the University of Otago . Finally, in 1993, she worked as a research assistant at the University's Waste Technology Research Center , where she again concentrated on soil cleaning by soil microbes.

Journalistic work

She has been writing scientific articles for the media since her first semester. In 2001, Meduna traveled to Scott Base in Antarctica to document the work of an ice core research team. In 2002 she spent three months as David Low Chevening Fellow at Green College of the University of Oxford in England and did research there over the role of the media in scientific risk and crisis communication. In 2004, a grant from the Asia New Zealand Foundation enabled her to accompany a group of several archaeologists on excavations in Cambodia . In autumn 2006 she was co- curator of the exhibition “Butterflies, Boffins & Black Smokers: two centuries of science in New Zealand” at the National Library of New Zealand, which ran from September 5 to November 26 .

Meduna worked for The Press and is a regular contributor to the New Zealand Listener , the leading weekly magazine on current affairs. She is also involved in Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand , an online project of the Ministry for Culture & Heritage . However, she is best known to the general public for the weekly science program Our Changing World , which she produces and presents on the public broadcaster Radio New Zealand .

Awards

Publications

  • Changes of microbial populations in agricultural soil after the introduction of organic waste . Otago University Press, Dunedin 1994
  • (in cooperation with Choon Tan) Teach Your Children Well . Canterbury University Press, Christchurch 1996, ISBN 978-0-908812-51-6
  • (together with Mavis Airey) AA Spiral Guide: New Zealand . AA Press, Basingstoke 2002, ISBN 978-0-7495-3344-1

Individual evidence

  1. Susan Bartel: What the heck's a 'black smoker'? . Press release from the National Library of New Zealand on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Butterflies, Boffins & Black Smokers: two centuries of science in New Zealand". Found on natlib.govt.nz on November 2, 2011
  2. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/documentaries/poletopole Information from Radio New Zealand about the international science journalistic cooperation project “Pole to Pole”, to which Meduna contributed one of the three reports. Found on radionz.co.nz on November 2, 2011