Twin doctorates for French couple

Laureline Meynier knew nothing about New Zealand when she accepted a scholarship eight years ago, but now she and partner Mikael Boulic are not only New Zealand residents, but also PhD graduates.

The French couple, which met 15 years ago in their first year at the University of Brest in Brittany, both graduated with PhDs at the Massey University capping ceremony in Palmerston North today.

Dr Meynier met her Massey supervisor at a conference in Spain and shifted to Palmerston North when she was given a scholarship. Dr Boulic followed her three months later with no real plans.

“It was very hard because I had a good job in France,” he says. “Coming to New Zealand without speaking English and with my backpack I though – what will I do?”

Dr Boulic spent six months learning English at the Ethnic Centre in Palmerston North. “It was great because I not only learned about New Zealand but also many other nations as there were other migrants from places like India, Africa and Palestine so it was nice.”

Then he read in Massey News about a scholarship being offered for a project looking at how heating systems affected asthmatic children. After an interview he joined Ms Meynier as a Massey doctoral student.

Dr Meynier investigated the diet of the New Zealand sea lion. “The main prey of New Zealand sea lions at the Auckland Islands are deep sea species living at the edges of the Auckland Islands shelf, an area impacted by the largest New Zealand fishery targeting arrow squid,” she says.

“I found that management of the New Zealand sea lion must not only consider the direct interactions with the arrow squid fishery, but also the likelihood of food resource competition between fisheries and New Zealand sea lions.”

She is now doing post-doctoral research, again based at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health, on the impact commercial fishing is having on the New Zealand fur seal population.

Dr Boulic’s PhD looked at heating systems in New Zealand homes. “Many New Zealand homes are unhealthily cold and damp during winter due to inadequate heater capacity and usage, and inadequate insulation,” he says.

He measured the relationship between heaters and temperature, dampness, pollutants and mould levels in insulated homes. The indoor environment was intensively monitored in households using their existing un-flued gas heater or portable electric heater during the first monitored winter.

“The study showed that households using an un-flued gas heater had nitrogen dioxide levels in excess of the World Health Organisation values, where as households with a replacement heater had less polluted, warmer, dryer and less mouldy air. Using an unflued gas heater can cause unhealthy conditions, of particular concern for people with respiratory disease.”

He is now continuing that line of research, this time looking at the air quality in school classrooms.