Rena Misra from Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in Tamaki Makaurau has won the Prime Minister’s Te Puiaki Kaipūtaiao Ānamata Future Scientist Prize for  2024, awarded in 2025.

Rena won the prize for her research testing a system to remove pollutants from stormwater, using fungi to enhance the efficiency of filtration by plants.

Read media release about Rena’s prize.

Rena investigated a sustainable, low-cost solution for reducing copper contamination in stormwater runoff. Her project focused on phytoremediation, by which plants filter and remove contaminants in the environment. Because the rate at which plant roots absorb pollutants from water can be limited, she introduced fungi which form a symbiotic relationship with plants and effectively increase the surface area of their root systems.

Rena demonstrated that salad plants inoculated with fungi grew more and absorbed more copper than non-inoculated plants. She concluded that this could be used as a low-cost, sustainable option for treating polluted water, such as in retention ponds for urban stormwater. She demonstrated initiative, energy, and resourcefulness in researching options, developing methods and skills to test them, and presenting her results in a balanced and thoughtful way.