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Eric Foskett Award 2024 - Awarded to Tanya Morrisony
CITATION TO THE 2024 WINNER OF THE ERIC FOSKETT AWARD –
TANYA MORRISON
Tanya Morrison is an Environmental Health Officer and Alcohol licensing Inspector who has worked at Dunedin City Council for 14 years. Key areas of interest within Environmental Health include the tattooing industry, swimming pool water quality and food labelling. Tanya is in her fifth year as National President of The New Zealand Institute of Environmental Health having previously been the National Vice-President.
A knowledgeable and professional individual who works hard, selflessly, for the betterment of the Environmental Health profession, something which is very close to her heart. Always going above and beyond with her passion and dedication to the profession, Tanya epitomises many of the IFEH objectives. One example of this is how Tanya regularly takes the opportunity to promote the importance of qualified environmental health professionals in accordance with the IFEH motto ‘Caring for the environment in the interest of world health'
Tanya is regarded highly by her international peers and has represented NZIEH at several conferences and webinars for EHA, MAEH, NEHA and IFEH presenting on a variety of Environmental Health topics.
Tanya has successfully built connections between the professional institutes of Australia (EHA) and New Zealand (NZIEH) including the Trans-Tasman collaboration of ‘EHANZ’ to provide more accessible networking between members of the two countries and offer free online training webinars throughout the year for both EHA and NZIEH members. Tanya represents NZIEH with regular attendance at IFEH meetings and is the contributing link between IFEH and NZIEH.
On a national and international level, Tanya is a fierce advocate for those in the profession and for promoting the profession as a career. Acknowledging the shortage of qualified Environmental Health Officers, Tanya instigated and led a project to produce a promotional video to highlight who the environmental health profession are and what they do. This strong and passionate work ethic drives her as a provider of development opportunities for both her executive team and the institute members with countless hours of her own time spent creating training material for NZIEH resources, organising and hosting online training webinars, hosting and presenting at virtual and face to face professional development conferences and writing and presenting lectures for Massey University, the leading provider of Environmental Health qualifications in New Zealand.
Tanya is also very instrumental in providing opportunities for NZIEH members to satisfy their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) requirements.
A respected leader and someone who actively promotes awareness of current and emerging Environmental Health issues. Some of her achievements and awards include:
- Elected National President, National Vice-President and Southern region Branch representative roles of NZIEH
- ‘Exemplary Service to Environmental Health Award 2023’ - NZIEH
- ‘Outstanding achievement award recipient 2023’ - Dunedin City Council
- Lead author on the article 'Unfolding Outbreak Scenarios Can Be a Bite-Size Treat and Other Lessons From New Zealand’s First Online Environmental Health Conference' published in the June 2023 NEHA Journal of Environmental Health.
- Guest speaker for EHA, MAEH, NEHA and IFEH conferences and webinars.
- Guest speaker at 2023 WasteMINZ conference, residential lead workshop with her presentation - ‘The role of EHO’s and environmental health education’.
- Regular guest lecturer at Massey University, Wellington as part of the
- Environmental Health Programme.
- Successful rebranding of NZIEH logo and website providing a fresh modern image and most importantly better accessibility to information and resources for our members and the public.
- Implementation of NZIEH ‘VOICE’ values ensuring the institute is open and transparent and to be ‘New Zealand’s VOICE of
- Environmental Health’. Tanya represents NZIEH ‘VOICE’ values on all levels of visibility, outcomes, breaking boundaries, working together to achieve our goals and supporting individual, professional growth and inclusivity.
- Led the institute to increase membership to reach a record level of members through increased training opportunities and an improved marketing plan reaching a wider audience via the website and social media.
- Collaborated with EHA to form the ‘EHANZ’ Trans-Tasman partnership. Breaking boundaries through the Covid-19 pandemic by leading the way in delivering online training to members in the form of webinars and virtual conferences that had never been done before in NZIEH.
- Facilitated the demand for professional development training with record levels of members attending webinars, virtual and face to face conferences.
- Produced a submission to the Royal Commission Covid enquiry on behalf of NZIEH members regarding the EHO role and utilisation of skills in both national and international disasters in the name of public health.
- Introduced an ‘International member’ tier of NZIEH membership to make online training more accessible to EH professionals worldwide.
- Completed a nearly 3-year research project in May 2024 into ‘The current regulatory state of the appearance industries’, examining the lack of national legislation for the Beauty Therapy, Tattooing and Skin piercing industries within New Zealand. This report was presented to the New Zealand Health Minister, New Zealand Ministry of Health staff, and made available to NZIEH members as well as territorial authorities within New Zealand.
Amidst a backdrop of professional uncertainty in New Zealand, Tanya exemplifies unwavering dedication, unparalleled commitment, a strong work ethic, exemplary decorum, astuteness, brilliance, and absolute fairness of mind. Through her steadfast leadership, she continues to steer the Institute with a clear vision and a resolute voice, elevating the prominence of Environmental Health from a marginalised discipline to one of paramount significance. Her efforts resonate not only nationally but also globally, as she champions the cause of environmental health for the betterment of both national and international public health.
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