Public policy professional | award-winning author | environmental history researcher
Dr Catherine Knight is an award‑winning environmental historian and author of several acclaimed books including New Zealand’s Rivers: An environmental history, Beyond Manapouri: 50 years of environmental politics in New Zealand and Ravaged Beauty: An environmental history of the Manawatu.
Catherine has extensive experience in legislative, strategic and operational policy at central, regional and local government levels. She has a strong interest in post-growth and wellbeing economy and writes on these topics on Newsroom, The Spinoff and on Substack.
Catherine is an Honorary Research Associate at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University. She earned her first degree at Tezukayama Gakuin University, Japan, and went on to gain a Masters and Doctorate at the University of Canterbury.
Catherine has published five books, contributed chapters to a number of others, and has an extensive list of publications to academic journals (see Publications). Her books are:
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An Uncommon Land: From an ancestral past of enclosure towards a regenerative future (Totara Press, 2025)
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Nature and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: Exploring the connection (Totara Press, 2020)
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Beyond Manapouri: 50 years of environmental politics in New Zealand (Canterbury University Press, 2018), a finalist in the New Zealand Heritage Book Awards.
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New Zealand’s Rivers: An environmental history (Canterbury University Press, 2016), long-listed for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, short-listed for the New Zealand Heritage Book Awards and selected as one of The Listener’s Best Books for 2016.
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Ravaged Beauty: An environmental history of the Manawatu (Dunmore Press), which was the winner of the J.M. Sherrard Award for Regional and Local History.
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Wildbore: A photographic legacy (Totara Press, 2018), awarded best book about the Manawatu by Palmerston North Heritage Trust.