Mike Joy is a New Zealand freshwater ecologist and science communicator. He is currently employed at Victoria University of Wellington.
Dr Joy is publicly outspoken about the decline in freshwater quality and ecosystems, especially the impact of nutrient pollution from intensive dairying on New Zealand's "100% Pure", clean, green image. This has led to awards from scientific organisations, as well as criticism from the dairy industry and former Prime Minister John Key.
Joy left school at 17. He worked various jobs including dairying, labouring, truck and taxi driving, building and sheep farming as well as for the NZ Secret Service, before enrolling at Massey University in 1993 at the age of 33.
His Master's thesis, entitled Freshwater Fish ComMike Joy is a New Zealand freshwater ecologist and science communicator. He is currently employed at Victoria University of Wellington.
Dr Joy is publicly outspoken about the decline in freshwater quality and ecosystems, especially the impact of nutrient pollution from intensive dairying on New Zealand's "100% Pure", clean, green image. This has led to awards from scientific organisations, as well as criticism from the dairy industry and former Prime Minister John Key.
Joy left school at 17. He worked various jobs including dairying, labouring, truck and taxi driving, building and sheep farming as well as for the NZ Secret Service, before enrolling at Massey University in 1993 at the age of 33.
His Master's thesis, entitled Freshwater Fish Community Structure in Taranaki: dams, diadromy or habitat quality? was completed in 1999 and received first class honours. This led to his PhD thesis, The development of predictive models to enhance biological assessment of riverine systems in New Zealand, submitted in 2003 and supervised by freshwater ecologist Russell Death, Robert McDowall and Brian Springett.
He was a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at Massey University in Palmerston North until May 2018. From 2018 to May 2023, when the university disestablished his position, he was employed at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. In June 2023 it was announced he would take up a five year fellowship as the Morgan Foundation Senior Research Fellow in Freshwater Ecology at Victoria, funded by the Morgan Foundation.[
He regularly gives talks around the country to environmental, farming, community and school groups.
Abridged from Wikipedia, with extra info from The Post