Hume Fellowship

Recipient of Hume Fellowships in 2007

Rebecca Nicholson

Rebecca Nicholson, Technical Manager, Surveillance, at Damwatch Services has been awarded the 2007 Hume Fellowship for study at the London School of Economics.  Rebecca who graduated BE Civil with 1st Class Honours from the University of Auckland in 1997, was a founding member of Damwatch in 1999 when ECNZ was broken up.  She was Head Girl and won a University Entrance Scholarship from Pakuranga College in 1992 along with the Manukau City Council Youth Award and an ASB Scholarship.  She was awarded a Senior Prize in Civil and Resource Engineering at Auckland University in 1996 and attended short courses on various aspects of dam design and safety in Australia and USA.  She also spent almost two years in 2003 and 2004 working as a volunteer for Manos de Amor, a not-for-profit aid organisation providing community development and income generation for remote rural villages in Guatemala, Central America.

Rebecca’s study at London School of Economics will be for an MSc in Development Studies. She sees the course as being important in her future career in New Zealand where community understanding of developments in the energy and water resource sectors will be critical to the promotion of future sustainable development using renewable energy sources.   Rebecca sees social, environmental, economic and political factors as key drivers in developments where all stakeholders need to be satisfied.  Rebecca’s employer, Damwatch, an independent dam and water resource engineering consultancy with a renewables focus, and its parent Meridian Energy Ltd, are both delighted with her award and anticipate her study will make a significant contribution to the future directions of Damwatch.  Rebecca will leave to commence her study in September 2007.