Katrina Macintosh

Katrina has more than 20 years’ experience as an environmental scientist, with a particular focus on freshwater quality, ecology, phosphorus, catchment science, nutrient management, and on-farm practice change for environmental outcomes.

Katrina joined DairyNZ as a senior scientist in 2019, after moving to New Zealand from Northern Ireland. 

Katrina is a proud of the part she is playing in conducting research to demonstrate the impact from on-farm practice change. This includes the Best Practice Dairy Catchments project, run in collaboration with AgResearch. In this project researchers analysed data collected over 20-years in five dairy-dominated catchments and showed that two-thirds of in-stream water quality trends had improved.

Katrina’s upbringing influenced her career choice. “My grandfather was a dairy farmer, and my father always had a keen interest in the natural environment. So for me, it highlighted from an early age the need for balance when aiming to deliver multiple outcomes in pastoral catchments.”

“Change takes time, which is why datasets collected over the long-term are so valuable,” says Katrina. “Researching how changing practices on dairy farms influence water quality is rewarding. We want to support farmers to be efficient and profitable, with as low an environmental footprint as possible.”

Katrina gained a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with first class honours and a Master of Research from Ulster University. After taking a short break, she returned to Ulster University to complete a PhD investigating naturally occurring iron deposits and how they influence freshwater aquatic ecology. After graduating, she completed several post-doctoral research projects at Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast.