Helen Hughes (scientist)
Helen Hannah Rigg Hughes was New Zealand's first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. She was appointed in 1987, following the creation of the role by the Environment Act 1986.
Hughes discovered her passion for botany while a student at Nelson College for Girls, and studied toward a master's degree before obtaining a Fulbright grant to travel to the United States. Upon her return to New Zealand, she taught at Christchurch Girls' High School before undertaking a PhD at Lincoln University.
She said jobs for women in science at the time were hard to come by and there was "a bit of an old boys network operating".
Hughes worked in Fiji for three years, for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Back in New Zealand, she worked as assistant commissioner for the Commission for the Environment, before becoming the first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in 1987 in the newly-formed office.
During her tenure, she wrote numerous reports and submissions on a variety of environmental issues, including flood mitigations following Cyclone Bola, controlling marine oil pollution, the environmental management of coal mining, and possum management.
Hughes was the daughter of Sir Theodore Rigg, former director of Cawthron Institute. She also spent 13 years on Cawthron Institute's board. Her stepmother was Kathleen Curtis, Lady Rigg, a notable mycologist.
Hughes was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours. She is a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
