Palmerston North professors Nigel French and Ralph Sims attend investiture ceremony at Government House

Distinguished Professor Nigel French with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro. Photo / Doug Mountain

Two Palmerston North professors have received their Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit badges at a ceremony in Wellington.

Distinguished Professor Nigel French was made a CNZM for services to epidemiology.

He pioneered the use of genomic sequencing to trace the source of outbreaks of food and water-borne bacteria, and community infections, and the control of Mycoplasma bovis in livestock. His research pinpointed sources of food-borne Campylobacter infections, helping halve infection rates.

French helped contain the 2016 waterborne disease outbreak in Havelock North.

He founded the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory and Infectious Disease Research Centre at Massey University.

Professor Ralph Sims with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro. Photo / Doug Mountain

Professor Ralph Sims was made a CNZM for services to sustainable energy research. He is Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Energy and Climate Mitigation at Massey.

He gained prominence for his work in making and testing biodiesel from animal fats, now part of New Zealand’s renewable fuel mix. He played a key role, with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, in establishing New Zealand’s first energy efficiency and renewable strategy.

Sims led the writing of chapters in three assessment reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, one of which won the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was seconded to the International Energy Agency and served on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility.

The investitures took place at Government House on September 19.