Dr Amanda Black

Amanda’s research expertise is in environmental soil and water chemistry, focusing on major nutrient cycling, including the incorporation of molecular techniques to explore the relationship between functional gene expression and soil product activity.

She has recently focused her research on ecosystem resilience in soils from managed and natural ecosystems, with a particular focus on investigating disease resistant traits (i.e. evidence of PTA resistance in kauri forests). She is also part of a Māori Biosecurity Focus Group, seconded by the Ministry for Primary Industries, and is funded by MBIE to establish a Māori biosecurity network.

Amanda completed her BSc (Geology) and MSc (Environmental Science) at the University of Otago, before working at the Otago Regional Council and then CRL Energy as a consultant. She returned to academia with an ESR doctoral scholarship to study soil chemistry at Lincoln  University, and was awarded an MSI Postdoctoral Fellowship (TTP scheme) before being employed in 2013 as a lecturer within the Bio-Protection Research Centre.