Alison Patricia Ballance is a New Zealand zoologist, author, film-maker and radio producer. Ballance has written more than thirty books, filmed wildlife documentaries, and produced and presented radio and podcasts on a wide range of subjects relating to science and the natural world. In 2017, Ballance was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

for services to natural history, filmmaking and broadcasting.

Career

Ballance graduated from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

in 1980, where she earned her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in 1982. Ballance completed a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

in 1986. Her thesis was titled ''Aspects of the biology of Campbell Island feral sheep (Ovis aries L.)''. Ballance has written more than 30 non-fiction books and children's books on topics such as

kākāpō The kākāpō (; : ; ''Strigops habroptilus''), sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand. Kākāpō can be u ...

takahē The South Island takahē (''Porphyrio hochstetteri'') is a Flightless bird, flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the Rail (bird), rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, whic ...

, rare wildlife, mountains and nature, and a biography of conservationist

Don Merton Donald Vincent Merton (22 February 193910 April 2011) was a New Zealand conservation movement, conservationist best known for saving the black robin from extinction. He also discovered the Lek (mating arena), lek breeding system of the kākāp� ...

. She was a finalist at both the New Zealand Post’s Book Awards and the

Montana New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wa ...

, and won a Storylines Notable Book Award. Ballance worked as a film-maker for many years and made more than 16 documentaries for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

and the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

about animals as diverse as tigers,

Przewalski's horse Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered wild horse originally native to the steppes of Central Asia. It is named after t ...

, the

wētā Wētā (also spelled weta in English) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemism, endemic to New Zealand. They are giant wingless insect, flightless cricket (insect ...

, spectacled bears and marine iguanas in countries such as Mongolia, Russia, India and Ecuador. She swam with 17 species of shark and wrote a book about the

Great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

. From October 1990 to October 2008 Ballance was producer of natural history documentaries for Natural History New Zealand in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. She then produced and hosted ''Our Changing World'', the weekly science and environmental radio programme of

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

. She retired from Radio New Zealand in 2021. Ballance produced a number of podcasts, including ''Voice of the Iceberg'', ''Voices from Antarctica ,The Science Of...'' podcast series, the ''Kākāpō Files'' and ''Voice of the Kākāpō'' podcast series, and the International Year of the Periodic Table chemistry podcast ''Elemental''. In 2013 Ballance was part of an expedition to

Three Kings Islands 3 (three) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cul ...

with a team from

NIWA The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA (), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental sciences. It also maintai ...

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

museum, and the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

. Ballance reported on the expedition for Our Changing World, and also wrote the expedition blog. She had earlier been a diver and science communicator on the 2011

Kermadec Kermadec or de Kermadec may refer to: Geography * Kermadec Islands, a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand * Kermadec Plate, a long narrow tectonic plate located west of the Kermadec Trench * Kermadec Trench, ...

Biodiscovery expedition.

Honours and awards

In the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Ballance was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to natural history, filmmaking and broadcasting. Other awards Ballance has won include: * Nonfiction Shortlist for ''Hoki'' at the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 1998 * Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize 2011 for ''Kakapo: Rescued from the brink of extinction'' * Certificate of Commendation for Science Communication at the Whitley Awards of the

Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (RZSNSW) was formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1879 as the New South Wales Zoological Society. A Royal Charter was granted in September, 1908, leading to a change to the current name ...

, 2017 for the book ''New Zealand’s Great White Shark: How Science is Revealing Their Secrets'' * Storylines Notable Book 2018 for ''New Zealand’s Great White Shark: How Science is Revealing Their Secrets''

Selected works

* * * *

References

External links

Kākāpō Files podcast
presented by Alison Ballance, via Radio New Zealand New Zealand zoologists New Zealand radio presenters New Zealand podcasters New Zealand women writers University of Auckland alumni Massey University alumni Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand documentary filmmakers New Zealand women podcasters {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballance, Alison