About the George Mason Centre
The George Mason Centre for the Natural Environment (GMCNE) is a nexus of research for and about the natural environment.
The natural environment defines New Zealand. From our mountains to the sea, we have a unique natural heritage. We benefit from our natural environment in many ways, but we also degrade it. The pressures of environmental change need leadership to provide local answers to what are, international problems. Contributing positive solutions to support conservation, restoration and sustainability, requires interdisciplinary research and collaboration in research partnerships with governance and society.
Major challenges for the George Mason Centre for the Natural Environment include:
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- Restoring species, habitats and ecosystems
- Defining ways to support conservation in the face of environmental change
- Identifying and testing new technologies to support sustainability
- Revealing the connections within and between nature and society to inform actions and policy
The George Mason Charitable Trust has supported 26 students since 2000. With Dr George Mason’s transformative gift of $5 million, the George Mason Centre for the Natural Environment will continue to support many more students in the years to come.
The Centre covers a diverse selection of research areas, such as marine science, green chemistry, environmental change, biodiversity, biosecurity, sustainability, biophysics, computational biology and social-ecology.
See Dr George Mason talk about the huge challenge of restoring New Zealand’s natural environment and his motivation for offering such generous support.
Partnerships
Foundation North
Our collaboration with Foundation North aims to draw on the respective strengths of both organisations to foster capacity building and support positive change in our natural environment.
Both parties recognise their mutual interest in the natural environment and education sectors and, in particular, initiatives that foster good governance and the conservation of natural capital.
The University of California, Davis Link Programme
This partnership supports academic exchanges in the natural sciences (including Biological Sciences, Marine Science, Chemical Sciences and more) between the University of Auckland and the University of California, Davis.
Support Us
Email us to find out how you can support the George Mason fund and help us create a legacy of solutions-focused research and applications.