Getting “personal” with Tim during his IPL references his main basic science and translational research goals to orchestrate tissue development (specific to each patient’s needs, anatomy, disease type) for personalised medicine and regenerative medicine.

The IPL will focus on key research achievements of Tim’s PhD in cartilage tissue engineering and pioneering of 3D Printing and 3D Bioprinting technologies as a tool to orchestrate (stem) cell function and tissue development using biomaterials.

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The University of Canterbury Child Well-being Research Institute is excited to present the 2021 Child Well-being Research Symposium.

This symposium brings together world-renown researchers across fields of education, children's language development, psychology, Pasifika, nutrition, quality sleep, pre-term baby support, public health, and speech-language therapy, to highlight the exciting interdisciplinary developments in facilitating young children’s success and well-being. We are delighted to welcome Hon. Judge Andrew Becroft, Children’s Commissioner, to present the keynote address on Day 1 of the symposium.

We have an exciting line-up of speakers for this year’s symposium, covering a range of topics related to children’s health, learning, and well-being. Our programme of events features two expert panel sessions – one on interventions for children with dyslexia, and the other on Pacific bilingual education, plus an interactive poster session. 

• Child Well-Being Research Symposium Programme (PDF, 636KB)

Hosted by the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, College of Education, Health and Human Development | Te Rāngai Ako me te Hauora, this two-day symposium is focused on latest research findings and their practical implications. The symposium will be of strong interest to all practitioners working to support the success and well-being of children and their whānau.

NOTE: If you wish to attend this event, but the cost or teacher release is an issue, please get in touch with the organising committee who may be able to support you.

More info

The University of Canterbury Child Well-being Research Institute is excited to present the 2021 Child Well-being Research Symposium.

This symposium brings together world-renown researchers across fields of education, children's language development, psychology, Pasifika, nutrition, quality sleep, pre-term baby support, public health, and speech-language therapy, to highlight the exciting interdisciplinary developments in facilitating young children’s success and well-being. We are delighted to welcome Hon. Judge Andrew Becroft, Children’s Commissioner, to present the keynote address on Day 1 of the symposium.

We have an exciting line-up of speakers for this year’s symposium, covering a range of topics related to children’s health, learning, and well-being. Our programme of events features two expert panel sessions – one on interventions for children with dyslexia, and the other on Pacific bilingual education, plus an interactive poster session. 

• Child Well-Being Research Symposium Programme (PDF, 636KB)

Hosted by the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, College of Education, Health and Human Development | Te Rāngai Ako me te Hauora, this two-day symposium is focused on latest research findings and their practical implications. The symposium will be of strong interest to all practitioners working to support the success and well-being of children and their whānau.

NOTE: If you wish to attend this event, but the cost or teacher release is an issue, please get in touch with the organising committee who may be able to support you.

More info

Ten years ago anti-vaxxers were on the fringe. They were protesting governments’ initiatives to suppress early childhood communicable diseases, such as measles. Fast forward to 2021, and the Anti-Vaccination Movement (AVM) is likely to have a whole new lease of life as governments and multinational pharmaceutical companies roll out Covid-19 vaccines.

Marketing expert Dr Michael Lee has kept a ten-year watching brief of the AVM, monitoring blogs and news articles on the internet, as well as medical and social science journals.

In this riveting talk Michael will outline the key reasons behind the anti-consumption of vaccines and how this could affect the world’s Covid-19 vaccination response.

Bio

Dr Michael Lee is an Associate Professor of Marketing. He has a background in marketing and industrial and organisational psychology. He has specific expertise in brand avoidance, consumer resistance, activism, and anti-consumption, and is the Director of The International Centre of Anti-Consumption Research. He is currently supervising PhD students working on projects such as religiously-motivated boycotting and anti-consumption in emerging economies.

6:30 PM @Little Easy, Ponsonby, 198 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, AKL 1011

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Scott Optican.

Most of us only know how good our eyesight is when an optometrist measures how far down the eyechart we can read.

However, a University of Auckland laboratory is combining artificial intelligence with consumer-devices to use eReaders to diagnose eye disease, 3D videogames to replace eyepatches, and eyetrackers to diagnose a range of brain conditions.

Eventually, with this technology, every time we use a digital device – say to watch a Netflix movie or to read this blurb – our health-record will be updated with a detailed assessment of our vision. No test required!

This rich store of information, updated daily throughout our lives, will enable physicians to pick up the subtle early stages of a whole host of heath conditions, leading to earlier and more equitable treatment and ultimately better vision for all of us.

Bio

Professor Steven Dakin is Head of the School of Optometry and Vision Science and chairs Eye Health Aotearoa. His background is in neuroscience and understanding how our brains make sense of the visual world. He is currently researching how various technologies – virtual reality, gaming, psychophysics (measuring the limits of vision) and eye-tracking – can be used to understand and treat vision loss.

6:30pm @Everybody's, 7 Fort Lane, Auckland Central, AKL 1010

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Nabeel Zuberi.

Smoking is still responsible for one in ten deaths worldwide. In the wake of this statistic, electronic-cigarettes or vapes have become popular as a tool to help people stop smoking. If the trends continue, vapes will exceed cigarette sales by about 2023.

But is vaping safe? Using computational modelling, medical imaging and experimental measurements, researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) are developing new methods to measure and understand lung function.

This informative talk will describe research underway to get to the bottom of the long term impacts of vaping on our lungs and our bodies as a whole.

Bio

Dr Kelly Burrowes is a Senior Researcher in Bioengineering. Her work focuses on developing new methods for measuring, predicting and understanding lung function, including computational modelling and the use of various imaging tools. She then brings these measurements together to understand the lungs and changes that occur due to disease, treatments, and exposure to e-cigarettes.

After completing her PhD, Kelly spent ten years at the University of Oxford with the Computational Biology Group before returning to the University of Auckland.

6:30 PM @Revelry, 106 Ponsonby Road, Grey Lynn, AKL 1011

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Anthony Hoete.

Survivor: Planet Earth 2021

As climate change and disaster events have more and more impact on the world’s populations, what can we do?

How can we face and respond to unknown, unpredictable risk? How can we deal with rapid change? And how can we live with irreversible changes in our atmospheric, meteorological and geologic conditions?

This talk will break down the disaster and climate change threats we are facing, and explore how we can learn to live with risks and uncertainty.

Dr Sandeeka Mannakkara will show us that resilience and adaptability are key.
A set of cross-cutting principles to support our communities to be prepared, respond, build back better, and adapt in a holistic manner will be introduced.

Bio

Dr Sandeeka Mannakkara is a Lecturer in Climate Engineering. Her research focuses on climate change adaptation, resilience, and post-disaster recovery and pre-disaster planning using the concept of Building Back Better. She takes a special interest in developing holistic, cross-sectoral solutions as well as the adoption of indigenous knowledge.

6:30pm @Little Easy Fort Street, 63 Fort Street, Auckland Central, AKL 1010

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Jemaima Tiatia-Seath.

Did you know that the anaesthetic gases released by just one hospital annually in New Zealand has the same carbon footprint as 500 return flights between Auckland and London?

Anaesthetic gases are just one aspect of pharmaceutical waste currently entering our ecosystems, insufficiently treated and unmonitored.

This unseen waste stream contains highly toxic chemicals that must be properly treated before disposal.

So far, environmentally and economically sound solutions in New Zealand are minimal. It seems ironic that life-saving medical cures come at such a high cost to the environment – until now.

Join us for this eye-opening talk where you will learn about new technology being developed to literally bust waste with hot water and revolutionise how we dispose of pharmaceutical waste.

Bio

Associate Professor Dr Saeid Baroutian is a Chemical Engineer and leads the University’s Waste and Resource Recovery Research Group. His expertise centres on the development and design of novel intensified processes for resource recovery and waste minimisation with the use of separation and reaction engineering concepts.

Dr Rob Burrell is an Anaesthetist and chair of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Sustainability Group and was part of a team at Middlemore Hospital that reduced the hospital’s carbon footprint by more than 21 percent over five years, and that of volatile anaesthesia by 80 percent.

6:30 PM @Dice & Fork, 210 Victoria Street West, Freemans Bay, Auckland 1010

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Alys Longley.

Sustainability has become a buzzword. Everyone uses it but how many of us know what’s sustainable and what isn’t?

Contrary to most business rhetoric, climate change and our rapidly depleting ecosystem means we can’t consume our way out of the problem. It has been said that if the seven billion people on the planet all consumed at the same rate as the average American citizen, then we would need four planets to live sustainably.

This talk sorts fact from fiction by looking at the issues from a marketing and consumption perspective: what are consumers, businesses and governments currently doing to help fight (or hinder) climate change?
And when are we being greenwashed by businesses?

From Nike’s support of Black Lives Matter, to Ben & Jerry’s involvement in immigration rights, Joya will explore brands involved in socio-political issues, as well as how individuals can lead more sustainable lives.

Bio

Dr Joya Kemper is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing. Her research focuses on individual behaviour and systemic change for a sustainable, ethical, equitable and thoughtful world by focusing on consumption.

6:30pm @Shadows Bar, 8 Alfred Street, Auckland Central, AKL 1010

Also speaking at this location at 8:00pm is Joel Rindelaub.

Health issues currently dominate the global imagination. One might even argue that, along with climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, general health and wellbeing is the greatest concern of our time.

This talk considers why, despite the high social and political status of health, it is given so little attention in our schools.

Research suggests that young people urgently want to learn about mental health, relationships and sexuality. Some have even petitioned Parliament to demand this.

New Zealand actually has a robust policy framework for health education in schools but translation into practice is patchy, and health education occupies a lowly position when compared with other learning areas such as mathematics and literacy.

Dr Katie Fitzpatrick argues that there are both political and historical reasons for this imbalance and invites her audience to imagine how different things could be.

Bio

Associate Professor Katie Fitzpatrick’s research focuses on health education, physical education, sexuality education, critical pedagogy, and critical ethnographic methods. She has a background teaching in schools, and has led policy development for the Ministry of Education in the areas of relationships, sexuality education, and mental health education.

8:00pm @Sweet Affairs, 225 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland 1052

Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Linda Tyler.

Imagine a tiny premature baby born more than four months early and weighing about a pound.

The advanced technology of modern medicine can support this life outside the womb. But how does the tiny baby feed?

This is one of the biggest challenges facing neonatologists. The baby should be growing very rapidly – including huge growth and development of the brain – but the nutrition the baby gets suddenly has to support many additional functions, usually taken care of by the intrauterine environment.

The baby’s gut also has to handle food – and a gut microbiome – long before it was expecting to, and babies this preterm cannot coordinate sucking and swallowing, meaning they need feeding by tube, missing out on important sensory stimuli.

This talk will explore the challenges of feeding premature babies and look at the latest New Zealand research trying to answer some of the most pressing questions.

Bio

Professor Frank Bloomfield is a Neonatologist and Director of the Liggins Institute, a research institute focused on how the early life environment has life-long impact. He has practised as a neonatologist in New Zealand for more than 25 years and is passionate about nutrition and growth of the fetus and newborn baby.

8:00 PM @La Zeppa Kitchen & Bar, 33 Drake Street, Freemans Bay, AKL 1010

Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Darsel Keane.

From plastic particles to illicit drugs, you might be surprised by what you are actually breathing.

Air pollution is the number one environmental threat to human health worldwide. But here in New Zealand, it is often overlooked, thanks to our reputation as a clean, green paradise. Unfortunately, by certain metrics, some areas in New Zealand actually have worse air quality than comparable locations overseas.

This talk will examine the wildly complex nature of the earth’s atmosphere, focusing on the chemical composition of the air we breathe. It will dig into real life measurements of air quality in the Auckland area and explain how it impacts human health and well-being. Lesser-known chemical constituents will also be discussed, showing how humans have constant impact on the changing world around them.

Despite a feeling of impending doom, it’s not all bad. There are steps we as a society can take to provide a cleaner, healthier life for all New Zealanders.

Bio

Dr Joel Rindelaub is an analytical chemist who specialises in air quality and environmental research. He is a passionate science communicator, appearing regularly on media airwaves, YouTube channels, and in local news outlets, authoring pieces in Stuff, Newsroom, and The Spinoff.

8:00pm @Shadows Bar, 8 Alfred Street, Auckland Central, AKL 1010

Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Joya Kemper.

From localised incidents like the recent harbour bridge damage and the 2017 Auckland fuel crisis, to the coronavirus pandemic and the future impacts of climate change, we repeatedly fail to prepare for foreseeable but rare, high-impact events. Why is this?

Cognitive biases, imperfect rationality, and the complex interface between politics, policymaking, expert judgement and public sentiment mean that deciding how to prepare for events that may happen in the future is anything but straightforward.

This talk will discuss risk assessment and perception at multiple levels and explore the challenges and possibilities for improving our resilience to future inevitabilities in the face of uncertainty about not if, but when, bad things will happen.

Bio

Dr Anne Bardsley is the Deputy Director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, an independant and apolitical think-tank and research centre at the University.

Dr Bardsley’s expertise is in evidence synthesis and knowledge brokerage at the science-policy interface. She was previously a Senior Analyst in the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor. In 2019 she chaired the expert panel that developed the framework for Aotearoa’s first the National Climate Change Risk Assessment.

8:00 PM @The Oakroom, 17 Drake Street, Auckland Central, AKL 1010

Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Nicholas Rattenbury.