Senior Materials Scientist
Dr Catherine Nicholson researches how building materials perform when it matters most.
Catherine is a senior materials scientist specialising in the chemical and mechanical characterisation of materials. Her diverse research experience, spanning concrete, geopolymers, and equine bone, is now being brought to bear on one of the construction industry’s most complex challenges: building not just for durability, but for resilience.
New Zealand's building code includes a durability clause requiring materials to perform for defined periods, provisions not found in other countries. Catherine's work has increased our understanding of how building materials meet these requirements in practice. But in recent years, her focus has shifted from durability to resilience: how buildings and materials withstand climate change and extreme events.
For Catherine, the two problems are inseparable: "It is one thing to use materials that are more durable in a flood but, ideally, we wouldn't be building in flood-prone areas in the first place." Resilience goes beyond better materials to include smarter decisions about where and how we build, and practical measures for existing homes in vulnerable areas. Because these challenges cross disciplinary boundaries, Catherine's research connects workstreams across BRANZ, from behavioural science to structural engineering.
She currently co-leads RESCUE, a multi-year climate resilience research project examining how risks from natural hazards and climate change can be reduced, and how buildings can be repaired or adapted after extreme events.
Before joining BRANZ, Catherine worked at Industrial Research Limited (later Callaghan Innovation), specialising in cement and concrete, and at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR) as Research Coordinator. Her earlier research at Massey University examined the response of equine bone to exercise. Catherine has also completed a postgraduate certificate in science communication and mentored students from undergraduate to PhD level.
"My work on materials resilience is about raising awareness, reducing risk, and recovering faster."
Dr Catherine Nicholson
Senior Materials Scientist
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Certificate in Science Communication, Creative Nonfiction Science Writing, University of Otago
- MPhil in Equine Science, Massey University - Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa
- PhD in Inorganic Chemistry, University of Aberdeen
- BSc in Chemistry with Environmental Chemistry, University of Aberdeen
Industry participation
- Climate Resilience – Building Back Better ($2.1 m research project, April 2024–March 2026), Co‑lead
- RESCUE: Resilience via Evaluation, Science, Climate Understanding & Engineering ($3.4 m research programme, April 2026–October 2030), Co‑lead
- International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), Working Group W080 – Prediction of Service Life of Building Materials and Components, Member
- International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), Working Group W120 – Disasters and the Built Environment, Member
- TR3 Alkali‑Silica Reaction (3rd edition, 2021), Concrete NZ, Working party member
- Durability of Building Materials and Components 2026 (DBMC 2026), International Scientific Committee member
- Science Communicators Association of New Zealand (SCANZ), Member
- Resilience research projects led by Earth Sciences New Zealand and the University of Auckland, Advisory Group member
- Chemistry in New Zealand, Editor
