The internationally-respected researcher and environmentalist would give a public lecture during a one-day visit, University of Otago zoology lecturer Dr Phil Bishop said yesterday.
The lecture was her only public engagement in New Zealand.
It was frogs which brought Dr Bishop and Dame Jane together and led to her accepting his invitation to visit Dunedin.
Frogs are known as "environmental sentinels" - their health and abundance indicating the health of the environment. During 2008, declared by scientists the Year of the Frog, both Dr Bishop and Dame Jane, who turns 77 tomorrow, were frog ambassadors.
They "hit it off" after meeting and became friends, Dr Bishop said. During a meal at her home in Bournemouth, England, about 18 months ago, she accepted his invitation to speak in Dunedin, but the visit had taken time to organise because of her busy travel schedule.
She will visit New Zealand after an engagement in Australia.
The visit was "tremendous for New Zealand and for Otago", Dr Bishop said.
"I am delighted she is coming. I am sure her lecture will be very popular."
The date of her visit and the lecture venue had yet to be confirmed, he said.
Dame Jane Goodall
• Born London 1934.
• Studied chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, for more than 25 years from 1960.
• Obtained PhD from Cambridge University in 1965.
• Founded environment action group in 1977.
• Was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003.
• Spends up to 300 days a year travelling the world speaking about her research and environmental issues.
