Two young Tauranga women are among a handful of people to win a coveted Blake Trust Ambassador award, and will spend the summer with Department of Conservation rangers and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientists.

Fenna Beets is an oceans ambassador with NIWA and is expected to be taking a voyage on the research vessel Tangaroa from December 3-23, surveying New Zealand fisheries, biodiversity and seabed geology.

Fenna Beets has been handed an outstanding opportunity this summer. Photo: Supplied.

Emily McCarthy will be working in Kahurangi National Park on the Flora Stream Restoration Project, which includes the large stoat control operation to protect native species such as whio and great spotted kiwi.

Her work will also include snail monitoring, stoat trapping, kiwi telemetry and monitoring of footprint tracking tunnels alongside the local DOC ranger and volunteers.

NIWA has awarded Sir Peter Blake Trust ambassador awards to five students who will spend part of summer working on marine, freshwater, climate and atmosphere projects with leading scientists.

'These smart, passionate young people are our nation's future, and we at NIWA are delighted to give them the opportunity to work in a wide range of the nationally and globally important environmental research NIWA is engaged in,” says NIWA Chief Executive John Morgan.

'This year we have increased our commitment by offering five ambassadorships, partly because of the immense success of last year's programme, where two NIWA Blake Ambassadors joined a Tangaroa Antarctic research voyage studying whales and toothfish.

'We believe these experiences offer young people an invaluable insight into the exciting and varied opportunities and rewards offered by a career in science.”

The other NIWA Ambassadors are: Mitchell Chandler Nelson), Carl Meyer (Wellington), Joshua Brian (Wellington) and Harriet Love (Dunedin).