Megan Balks

Megan Ruby Balks (born 1960) is a New Zealand Antarctic soil scientist and former lecturer at the University of Waikato.

Early life and education Born in 1960, Balks was raised on a sheep farm in the Wairarapa, giving her an appreciation of the environment, and she wanted to become a geologist.

Career Balks lectured at the University of Waikato from 1988 until she left in 2018, and mentored 10 Antarctic soil research graduate students.

In 1990, Balks, along with other soil scientists, started researching Antarctica's permafrosts and its human environmental impact. From 2000 to 2023, she was a member of the Crysol Working Group of the International Union of Soil Sciences, and was co-chair for two years. From 2008 to 2022, Balks represented New Zealand on the council of the International Permafrost Association, where in 2019, she created its first Southern Hemisphere regional permafrost conference. Her other roles include being a founding member and secretary of the ANTPAS (Antarctic Permafrost and Soils), a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand's Committee on Antarctic Research, a member of the New Zealand Geographic Board Committee of Place Naming in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica, and president of the New Zealand Society of Soil Science from 2018 to 2020.

In the 2024 New Year Honours, Balks was awarded the New Zealand Antarctic Medal, for services to Antarctic soil science.

Personal life Balks has a husband named Errol. Around the 1980s the two moved to Dunedin due to Balks' work in Central Otago, and so that Errol could study land surveying. They now live in Waikato and have their own nature reserve, where they have a breed of sheep that produces a fibre that Balks uses in a craft hobby.