{"id":2711,"date":"2026-08-18T09:32:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/?page_id=2711"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:54:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T21:54:55","slug":"accelerate-gemma-potak","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/?page_id=2711","title":{"rendered":"Accelerate! – Gemma Potaka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shared DNA, Shared Success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Kiwi sisters conquered the Physics World Cup: the elder became the first female to represent New Zealand at the tournament, paving the way for her younger sister whose team brought the bronze three years later. Together, they are the first-ever siblings to represent Aotearoa on the international physics stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ga=emma<\/a>
Gemma Potaka, the first female to represent New Zealand at the International Young Physicists\u2019 Tournament, has built a career in emergency management across Aotearoa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Gemma Potaka joined the New Zealand contingent at the 2009 International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) in China, she wasn’t just competing, she was making history – as the first female on the NZ team to compete internationally. The Kiwi team also brought home a silver medal* that year, making New Zealand the only country at that time to secure silver in three consecutive tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years later, the Kiwis clocked another first at the Physics World Cup in Germany. The team included Gemma\u2019s younger sister Kaylie, and the team brought home the bronze. This made the Potaka sisters the first-ever siblings to represent Aotearoa at the IYPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the feat extraordinary is that the search for the New Zealand team is across the country. \u201cPart of the sibling bit is exposure,” said Gemma. “She got to see what was involved watching me do it and clearly, it looked more like fun than pain, so she got involved too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like her older sister, Kaylie was also a student at Onslow College, and Gemma remembers providing support to her and her teammates. \u201cThe Onslow crews were quite well connected,\u201d said Gemma, who also provided support for the team that competed a year after the NZ win in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Response and resilienc<\/strong>e<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following their IYPT win, the Onslow team shared their victory differently. \u201cCompeting in China wasn’t the end of that journey for us,\u201dsaid Gemma. \u201cOn our return, the Onslow crew went visiting primary schools in the region sharing fun physics lessons. The following year we came back to help support the Onslow team in their preparations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/a>
Upon returning from China, Gemma and the other Onslow students who competed at IYPT visited primary schools to share fun physics experiments<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gemma then completed a BSc Physics and Geophysics at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). Her experience at IYPT greatly influenced her choice, and added depth to her studies. \u201cIt really opened my eyes into the world of investigation and problem solving in science which I found even more interesting than learning the core school material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIYPT was the main reason I ended up studying Physics at university with the flow on effect of me ending up in emergency management,\u201d said Gemma, who has worked at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on the review of a National Response Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continues to use the core skills she honed at IYPT and in her physics classes regularly, as she continues to work in a range of government agencies, sports groups and civil society organisations both as staff member and volunteer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gemma is on a career break from her roles in emergency management, and over the past year or so, has been cycling through South America and Europe. When back at home in Wellington, she volunteers with Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR), helping find and bring home lost, missing and injured people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gemma<\/a>
Gemma and Kaylie Potaka – the first siblings to represent Aotearoa NZ at the International Young Physicists’ Tournament – bikepacked the Peru Great Divide together at over 5,000 meters above sea level <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gemma has also worked for the National Geohazard Monitoring Centre as a Geohazard Analyst. \u201cI made use of my geophysics degree to monitor earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and tsunami to inform emergency management responses,\u201d said Gemma, who was involved in the response to the Whakaari\/White Island Volcanic Eruption in 2019, in which 22 people died, and 25 others were injured at the popular tourist destination in the Bay of Plenty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had a stint at the Emergency Management Bay of Plenty, as a Capability Development Advisor. She was responsible for ensuring all councils in the region had the training to set up and manage an Emergency Operations Centre during an emergency. She was also involved in the response to the Covid 19 pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, which had severely impacted parts of North Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lessons from IYPT \u2018battles\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gemma enjoyed science subjects in high school, and picked up physics because \u201cmy preference was for learning processes and understanding how things worked\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalled how IYPT helped her in other areas at work.The competition requires teams to explain and defend their approach to the problem. \u201cThe ability to communicate complex technical information to people who don’t have the same depth of specific subject knowledge is essential in life and doing this in a respectful manner was a core element of the IYPT battles,” said Gemma who finds this approach useful when teaching emergency management courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Gemma, problem solving is the key skill that she finds extremely useful across genres. \u201cWorking on the physics problems was a great opportunity to hone problem<\/p>\n\n\n\n

solving skills. In particular looking at things from many different angles, zooming in to look at details and zooming out to look at the whole picture. Also bouncing ideas off the rest of your team because everyone’s brains work slightly differently and those different approaches will open up new avenues to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teamwork is an integral skill that she applied at IYPT and in her subsequent roles. \u201cIt was interesting working with the international team as we all came from quite different backgrounds and school cultures. It was a good insight into other approaches and I think we all learnt a lot and the projects benefited from having a variety of thoughts and approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, she valued the experience of thinking in high pressure situations. \u201cThe debates involved plenty of thinking on your feet under pressure. This skill has been essential in my work in emergency responses where everything happens quickly, there is high pressure on decisions and actions and clear communication is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked to pick a physics concept to teach to everyone, she chose conservation of energy. \u201cEnergy is such an important topic at this time and the idea that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another is really important to understanding that all our energy use has to come from somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalled spending hours and hours in the classroom outside school hours in the days leading to the New Zealand Young Physicists\u2019 Tournaments whose winners joined the IYPT team. \u201cWe were watching paper dry and sloshing water fueled by dates, mandarins and roasted almonds,\u201d she describes some of their experiments. \u201cWe came up with last minute ideas that resulted in late nights revising presentations just before competing and lots of USBs with backups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At IYPT, Gemma chose to tackle the fluid mechanics problems. \u201cIt\u2019s no surprise, given my love of water in all forms,\u201d said Gemma, who recently joined the Packrafting Association of New Zealand committee to help build the packrafting community and promote safe paddling. Gemma has also competed in three World Canoe Polo competitions in the NZ team (2012 U21 World Championships, 2017 World Games, 2018 World Championships).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gemma<\/a>
Gemma helps promote safe paddling as a member of the Packrafting Association of New Zealand committee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She has straight advice for those wishing to build a career in the sciences and adjacent fields. \u201cTake opportunities that excite you when they show up. Think about how you can work alongside AI and how AI might be able to assist in your work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As told to Divina Paredes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Gemma missed out on a gold by only one calendar year. From 2010 onwards, all IYPT finalists were awarded gold medals. Our honours board<\/a> makes this change to acknowledge our finalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shared DNA, Shared Success Two Kiwi sisters conquered the Physics World Cup: the elder became the first female to represent New Zealand at the tournament, paving the way for her younger sister whose team brought the bronze three years later. Together, they are the first-ever siblings to represent Aotearoa on the international physics stage. When […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3097,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2711","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2711"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2760,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2711\/revisions\/2760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}