[1] After a master's degree at the University of Otago, Black completed a PhD titled Bioavailability of cadmium, copper, nickel and zinc in soils treated with biosolids and metal salts at Lincoln University in 2010.

Her work was supervised by Ron McLaren, Suzie Reichman, Tom Speir and Leo Condron.

[1] Black received a Māori Television Matariki Award, the Te Tupu-ā-Rangi for Health and Science in 2019.

[4] She also received the Ministry for Primary Industries Biosecurity Award for an Emerging Leader in 2018.

[1] In 2021 Black was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship for the project Genomes to giants: restoring resilient soil ecosystems in kauri forests.