Dame Carolyn Waugh Burns DNZM CBE (born 3 February 1942) is a New Zealand ecologist specialising in lakes.

[2] She was educated at Christchurch Girls' High School, before studying zoology at the University of Canterbury, from where she graduated Bachelor of Science with first-class honours in 1962.

[2][3] She completed a PhD at the University of Toronto in 1966, with her thesis titled The feeding behaviour of Daphnia under natural conditions.

[6] In the 1984 Queen's Birthday Honours, Burns was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to conservation.

[3] In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, Burns was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to ecological research.