Alison Joy Downard is a New Zealand academic, and has been a full professor at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

since 2009. Her work focuses on surface chemistry, electrochemistry and nanoscale grafted layers. She was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society Te Apārangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand) is a not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. These fundings (i.e., Marsden grants and research fe ...

, has received the R. H. Stokes Medal, and was awarded an honorary degree from the

University of Rennes 1 The University of Rennes 1 was a public university located in Rennes, France. It was founded in 1970, after splitting of the historic University of Rennes into two universities. On January 1, 2023, the University of Rennes 1 merged with five gra ...

Education

Downard attended Te Puke High School. She went to Otago University to study

home science Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

but ended up graduating with a

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 ...

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between Electric potential, electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve Electron, electrons moving via an electronic ...

in 1979 instead.

Academic career

After a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

titled ''Electron transfer reactions of organometallic clusters'' at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, Downard moved to the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

, followed by a two-year postdoctoral associate position at

UNC Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795 ...

from 1986. In 1988, she moved to the University of Canterbury, rising to full professor in 2009. In 2017, Downard was featured as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's

150 women in 150 words The "150 women in 150 words" project was undertaken by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and published during their 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017. The aim of the project was "celebrating women's contributions to expanding knowledge in New Z ...

. Downard works as part of the

MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (often simply called the MacDiarmid Institute) is a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence (New Zealand), Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) specialising in materials science ...

. Downard's research on chemical modifications to surfaces at the nanoscale has enabled new electrodes to be discovered. Her findings have implications for energy storage. She collaborates with the Condensed Matter and Electroactive Systems (''Matière condensée et systèmes électroactifs'' MaCSE) team at the

and frequently travels to

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

for this research.

Awards

In 2014, Downard was awarded the R. H. Stokes medal by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. The same year she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, and received an honorary doctorate from the

Selected works

* * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Downard, Alison Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Otago alumni Academic staff of the University of Canterbury New Zealand women academics New Zealand chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand New Zealand women scientists