Events

Bullying isn’t just something we grow out of—Victoria University of Wellington Professor Vanessa Green argues that bullying spans a lifetime, and occurs in many different contexts. In her presentation, Vanessa will outline what makes bullying a community issue and what needs to be done to address New Zealand’s very high levels of bullying. The recognized definition of bullying is: it is a harmful act towards another, there is a power imbalance and it is repeated. This last point is particularly relevant because regardless of whether bullying is repeatedly targeted at one person, or is one person targeting a number of others, it is damaging yet another generation of New Zealanders and it is helping to fuel our appalling statistics for youth suicide, domestic violence and child abuse. She suggests that there is a need for a socio-ecological approach to bullying to be able to understand its complexity and appreciate that it’s a community issue that needs a community response. “As humans, we tend to stand back and let things happen. There is evidence that shows the larger the group of bystanders is, the less likely someone is to step in and help. When adults are asked about their school experiences of bullying, one of the most consistent themes is victims felt angry that, although there were often many witnesses, no one helped – not even the teachers. Why do we stand by? Why don’t we step in to help another person in trouble? Perhaps it is because we have never been taught how.” Vanessa will reference the New Zealand KiVa anti-bullying programme, including its principle that it takes a bystander in a bullying situation to help to defend someone from others. Vanessa will argue that despite people growing and adapting, our core values do not change over time, so to address bullying behaviour it requires both adults and children being educated on how to stop it, and how to intervene. Vanessa is a graduate of Waikato University and Queensland University of Technology. Her academic appointments have included the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Tasmania before joining VUW in 2008. She has been a registered psychologist for nineteen years, and has spent her academic career focusing on children’s social development, developmental disabilities, and gender role development. More information.

Charles Fleming Lecture - Prof. Bruce Clarkson For a long time in our urban centres, nature has been fighting a losing battle. Perhaps those living in residential areas had been comforted by the fact that the Department of Conservation and its predecessors have been doing their best to save our native birds from extinction on offshore islands, or more recently, mainland eco-sanctuaries. But, these endeavours on their own, are not enough to reverse the ongoing decline in native biodiversity. What if cities were seen as a solution to the problem and what needs to happen? Professor Bruce Clarkson will make the case for both community and local council endeavours to bring indigenous nature back into cities and towns where 87% of New Zealand’s population live. Bruce explains how the new transdisciplinary approach of Urban Ecology is working on reconnecting our neighbourhoods with nature to provide multiple benefits to urban dwellers. Professor Bruce Clarkson received the 2016 Charles Fleming Award from Royal Society Te Apārangi for working tirelessly to advance and communicate understanding of native plant ecology and vegetation pattern and process, inform conservation efforts in terrestrial, freshwater and urban environments, and support effective on-the-ground restoration practice. PLEASE NOTE there are limited tickets available. To guarantee a seat please register. Rata Cafe will be open prior to the seminar. More information and register.

Studying evolution and domestication at the population level using ancient DNA Professor Tom Gilbert, Natural History Museum of Denmark In Darwin's day, tracking the process of biological evolution was limited to studying changes and differences in the physical forms of fossils and living species. For nearly 40 years now, these studies have been supplemented, increasingly powerfully, by DNA analyses. From comparisons of just a few key DNA sequences, DNA technology itself has evolved to now allow evolutionary biologists to compare the entire genomes (all of an organism’s DNA) of species. In recent years, researchers have begun to integrate DNA from historic and even ancient specimens into such genomic analyses, following the realization that while analyzing modern samples can tell us about the end point of evolutionary processes, inclusion of samples from the past can literally provide insight into the changes as they happened. We are now seeing the dawn of an era in which population level genomic analyses of ancient and present day populations are possible. I will explore the power of such approaches in this talk using human, dog and maize evolution as examples. About Professor Tom Gilbert Tom is visiting New Zealand as a guest of Allan Wilson at Otago, with the support of the Genetics Society of Australasia and Genetics Otago. He is an ancient DNA expert who has focused on a broad range of evolutionary questions including humans and domesticated plants and animals. He has also studied the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1850s, and which is related to Kauri dieback disease. More information and register.