Toy grew up on Auckland's North Shore and gained her Bachelor of Science then Master of Science (with honours) in geology from Auckland University. She then gained a Master of Philosophy in Earth Sciences from the Australian National University and a Doctor of Philosophy in geology from the University of Otago in 2008. Her PhD was on the (micro)structural geology of New Zealand's Alpine Fault.[1][7]
Career and impact
In 2016 Toy was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship by the Royal Society for her research entitled: 'Weaving the Earth's Weak Seams: Manifestations and mechanical consequences of rock fabric evolution in active faults and shear zones'.[8]
In 2017 Toy co-published in Nature that they had discovered "extreme" hydrothermal activity beneath Whataroa, a small township on the Alpine Fault, which "could be commercially very significant"[9][10] and possibly globally unique.[11]
Toy also worked on building stability during earthquakes in Ecuador, using computer modelling to determine the relationship between rock type and building damage.[12] She has been used numerous times by New Zealand media as a geological expert, on the Kaikōura earthquake,[13]tsunami risk,[14] predicting the next earthquake on the Alpine Fault[15] and the misreporting of science in the media.[16] She has also been used as a popular science presenter in the book Terrain: Travels Through a Deep Landscape[17] and TV show Beneath New Zealand.
