{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-entry-tsx","path":"/en-nz/article/plant-and-food-research-scientist-recognised-with-nga-ahurei-a-te-aparangi/","result":{"data":{"contentful":{"article":{"sys":{"id":"75SrN2yRAuxr21m69NfJNK","publishedVersion":26},"headSnippet":null,"title":"Plant & Food Research scientist recognised with Ngā Ahurei a Te Apārangi Fellowship","urlSlug":"plant-and-food-research-scientist-recognised-with-nga-ahurei-a-te-aparangi","metaDescription":"Plant & Food Research scientist Dr Kevin Davies has been elected as a Fellow to the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in recognition his impactful 35 year research career. ","byline":null,"heroBlurb":"Dr Kevin Davies has been elected as a Ngā Ahurei Fellow to the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in recognition of more than 35 years researching the function and genetic regulation of plant specialised metabolism, an area for which he is an internationally recognised expert.","eventDate":null,"contentType":{"sys":{"id":"2Yk6Wyoqw82pkTocc7E5pn","publishedVersion":4},"name":"News","singularName":"News"},"podcast":null,"cardImage":{"sys":{"id":"3o2htabMbquxPZQTmQYb88","publishedVersion":10},"url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/y9no91j9bwnp/3o2htabMbquxPZQTmQYb88/8b6ac737a96ca325cab49f146c25359e/news-2020-james-cook-research-fellowship-recipient-dr-kevin-davies-to-decipher-evolution-of-stress-tolerance-of-land.jpg","title":"Kevin Davies","height":4912,"width":7360,"contentType":"image/jpeg"},"shareImage":{"url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/y9no91j9bwnp/3o2htabMbquxPZQTmQYb88/8b6ac737a96ca325cab49f146c25359e/news-2020-james-cook-research-fellowship-recipient-dr-kevin-davies-to-decipher-evolution-of-stress-tolerance-of-land.jpg"},"publishDate":"2024-04-05T00:00:00.000+13:00","content":{"json":{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Dr Davies is a Principal Scientist at Plant & Food Research, and his research looks at how plants control the production of specialised metabolites to provide colour to flowers and fruit and to withstand environmental challenges such as UV-B light, and how this knowledge can be applied to breed new cultivars for the horticultural sector.\n\r\nA key focus of his research is flavonoid metabolites. Flavonoids provide the red colours we see in plants, screen UV-B light and are important human-health dietary components. Dr Davies helped establish fundamental concepts of flavonoid biology that now underpin our collective understanding of plant pigmentation and stress tolerance mechanisms.\n\r\nIn recent studies, he explained how the environmental stress tolerance properties of flavonoids may have facilitated land colonization by plants. This includes demonstrating that UV-B tolerance mechanisms are conserved across land plants and the discovery of a new class of red plant pigments, auronidins.  Auronidins are the first major group of plant pigments discovered for many decades, and rewrite theories on the evolution of plant pigmentation.\n\r\nBeing elected as a Ngā Ahurei Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi recognises an individual’s distinction in research and advancement of science, technology or the humanities.\n\r\n“It is truly an honour to have my research and career in plant science recognised by the Royal Society Te Apārangi,” says Dr Davies.\n\r\n\"I consider myself immensely fortunate to have had the opportunity to focus my career to one area for an extended period and so make a real impact on the field. I am deeply grateful for the support and collaborative efforts of my colleagues that made it both possible and very enjoyable.\" says Davies. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"\rDr Davies received his PhD in plant molecular biology in 1989 at the University of Nottingham before moving to Aotearoa New Zealand.  He has worked at Plant & Food Research, and its predecessor Crop and Food Research, since 1989. \n\r\nDr Davies’ distinction in research is also reflected in his 120 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as Cell, PNAS, Nature Genetics, Nature Plants, Plant Cell and Current Biology. He has received important peer-recognition, including the 2018 Groupe Polyphénols Prize and a 2021 James Cook Research Fellowship.\r\n","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"document"},"links":{"entries":{"inline":[],"block":[]}}},"contactBlock":null,"creditsCollection":{"items":[]},"marketingTeamCredit":true,"researchAreasCollection":{"items":[{"sys":{"id":"2elEJMjMZwmj6jW6hkZC3N","publishedVersion":11},"label":"Future plants, fish and foods"}]},"̽����ѡCollection":{"items":[]}}}},"pageContext":{"id":"75SrN2yRAuxr21m69NfJNK","preview":false,"language":"en-nz","intl":{"language":"en-nz","languages":["en-nz"],"messages":{"usefulLinksHeading":"Useful Links","footerNewsletterSubscribeHeading":"Subscribe to our newsletter","footerNewsletterSubscribeSuccess":"Thanks for subscribing!","formValidation.unexpectedError":"An unexpected error has occurred. 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