Helen Hughes (scientist)

Helen Hannah Rigg Hughes CBE (née Rigg; born 1929) is a New Zealand botanist. She served as New Zealand's first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment from 1987 to 1996.

Helen Hughes

CBE
Hughes in 2007
1st Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
In office
1987–1996
Succeeded byMorgan Williams
Personal details
Born
Helen Hannah Rigg

1929 (age 91–92)
Nelson, New Zealand
Spouse(s)David Crowther Hughes
RelationsTheodore Rigg (father)
Kathleen Curtis (stepmother)
Alma materCanterbury University College

Early life and family

Hughes was born Helen Hannah Rigg in Nelson in 1929, the daughter of agricultural scientist Theodore Rigg, who became director of the Cawthron Institute in 1933, and Esther Rigg (née White).[1][2] She grew up in the suburb of Tahunanui, and was educated at Nelson College for Girls, where she discovered her passion for botany.[1][3] Rigg went on to complete a Master of Science degree with first-class honours in botany at Canterbury University College, graduating in 1952.[4][5] Her thesis was titled An ecological survey of the pakihi lands of the Westport District, Nelson.[6] She was awarded a Fulbright grant to travel to the United States, and studied at Vassar College.[1][5]

Rigg married David Crowther Hughes, and the couple had three children.[1]

Career

After returning to New Zealand from the United States, Helen Hughes taught at secondary schools in Christchurch and later Wellington.[3] In 2017, she recalled that jobs for women in science at the time were hard to come by and there was "a bit of an old boys network operating".[3]

Hughes' first science job was in Fiji for three years, working for the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. She then worked as assistant commissioner for the Commission for the Environment, before becoming the first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in 1987, following the creation of that role by the Environment Act 1986.[3]

During her tenure, she wrote numerous reports and submissions on a variety of environmental issues,[7] including flood mitigations following Cyclone Bola,[8] controlling marine oil pollution,[9] the environmental management of coal mining,[10] and possum management.[11]

From 1997 to 2002, Hughes was a member of the board of the Environmental Risk Management Authority.[12] She also spent 13 years as a member of the Cawthron Institute's trust board.[3]

Hughes has written a biography of her father, A Quaker Scientist. published in 2005.[12]

Honours and awards

In 1993, Hughes was one of the first two people to be awarded honorary doctorates by the newly independent Lincoln University, being conferred with an honorary DSc.[5][13] Later that year, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours.[14]

Hughes is a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.[12]

References
  1. "Interview with Helen Hughes". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  2. Hanron, Nancy. "Hudson, James". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  3. Meij, Sara (8 March 2017). "Science in the genes for celebrated botanist". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  4. "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Q–R". Shadows of time. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  5. "New Zealand leading world in conservation laws says honorary doctorate recipient". Lincoln University. 3 February 1993. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  6. Rigg, H. H. (1951). An ecological survey of the pakihi lands of the Westport District, Nelson (MSc). Canterbury University College. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  7. "PCE Archive". Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  8. "Inquiry into Flood Mitigation Measures Following Cyclone Bola". Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. December 1988. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  9. "The Control of Marine Oil Pollution in NZ – A Review of the System". Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. April 1991. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  10. "Environmental Management of Coal Mining". Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. December 1992. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  11. "Possum Management in New Zealand". Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. May 1994. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  12. "List of Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  13. "Former honorary doctorate recipients". Lincoln University. 2018. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  14. "No. 53334". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1993. p. 37.
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