Angela Brandt

My Story

I was fortunate to be introduced to field biology and environmental management during my high school and university years with a series of internships and short-term employment contracts with a federal land management agency, a non-profit conservation research consultancy, and a private timber company (all in the western USA). I then studied plant invasions of California grasslands for my PhD at Oregon State University and completed a post-doc in plant invasion ecology at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. When a post-doc position was advertised at Manaaki Whenua, I jumped at the chance to live overseas while gaining additional research experience in community ecology. I moved to Dunedin in late 2013 for (what I expected to be) a 3-year position. But I remained keen to link research to environmental management in my career, so finding myself at a CRI where our work spans the spectrum from basic to applied science, to supporting implementation of new knowledge into policy and practice with our stakeholder partners, was just the right fit. With heaps of support from mentors and colleagues, I was able to participate in additional projects and secure new funding once my post-doc finished. Amongst the stimulating challenges of working on a variety of research projects and taking on internal leadership roles within Manaaki Whenua, I also had the opportunity to take on a secondment to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s office for approximately a year to help produce his 2021 report ‘Space invaders: A review of how New Zealand manages weeds that threaten native ecosystems’.

Extra Curricular

I’m an avid knitter and cat mum, and enjoy travelling and getting outdoors for walks.

Favourite Book

Hard to pick only one. I read mostly fantasy/sci fi, mysteries, memoirs, popular science, and educational social justice.

Favourite Movie

Cult classics (like Labyrinth) to epic fantasy (Lord of the Rings) to quirky comedy (Captain Fantastic, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) to animation (Encanto).