Wendy Alison Nelson is a New Zealand scientist and marine life expert. She is one of the main algae authorities in New Zealand.

Wendy Nelson is particularly interested in the biosystematics of seaweeds (macro-algae) in New Zealand, with research on plants, evolution and phylogeny, as well as ecology, and life history studies of marine algae.

She worked on the systematic and biology of red algae including coralline algae, distribution and diversity of seaweeds in harbours and soft sediment habitats, and seaweeds of the Ross Sea and Balleny Islands.

In 2008 Wendy was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the marine environment.

She was a member of the New Zealand Conservation Authority for 8 years. In 2015 she led the Royal Society of New Zealand report on the "National Taxonomic Collections of New Zealand."

In 2016, Nelson won the Hutton Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, which is awarded for outstanding work done by a researcher in New Zealand in the sciences of Earth, plants and animals. She has also fought against algae pesticides and advanced knowledge of the ecological importance of seaweed and its vulnerability to climate change.

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