Events

Inaugural Professorial Lecture – Professor Jean Hay-Smith

Please join us for this Inaugural Professorial Lecture by Professor Jean Hay-Smith, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Wellington.

About Jean’s research

Professor Jean Hay-Smith’s research is with, for, and about women and is focused on their wellbeing. In particular, she has undertaken projects about the rehabilitation of pelvic floor muscle for women who experience incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Jean has past and current research collaborations in multiple countries including New Zealand, England, Scotland, Australia, Canada, Brazil, The Netherlands, Estonia and Norway.

Jean is currently the academic lead of The Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit | Te Whare Whakamatūtū, in the Department of Medicine. She is a foundation editor of Cochrane Incontinence, and was a committee member and chair in four International Consultations on Incontinence. Jean has co-convened Women in Leadership Otago, and served on the committee of New Zealand Women in Leadership.

Livestream

We would love you to join us in person for this celebratory event, but for those unable to be there, it will be livestreamed.

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The joint winners of the 2020 Rowheath Trust Award and Carl Smith Research Medal Lecture Dr Louise Bicknell and Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson will present their talks at 5:30pm on Tuesday 3 November in Burns 1 Lecture Theatre.

Dr Bicknell, from the Department of Pathology, will present her talk “The genetics of how we grow”

Our genetic code contains the key instructions on how our bodies and brain grow – yet we still don’t fully understand what mechanisms are involved. Dr Bicknell harnesses the power of rare genetic disorders, where people have restricted body or brain growth, to gain insight into these essential instructions. She will present her laboratory’s research efforts to understand the genetic control of growth and to help people affected by such disorders.

She will be followed by Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai) who is co-Director of Te Koronga based in the Division of Sciences, School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences. Her research focuses on mauri ora (flourishing wellbeing).

He kairangahau Māori o te rōpū rangahau o Te Koronga i roto i te Rohe a Ahikāroa, Te Kura Parawhakawai a Ahorangi Tuarua Anne-Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai). Ko mauri ora te kaupapa o tōna mahi rangahau.

Associate Professor Jackson’s talk is titled ”Tēnei tātou Te Koronga: Indigenising the academy since mai rā anō”

The phrase Te Koronga is borrowed from the opening line of an ancient Māori chant that refers to a yearning for excellence. This is the research kaupapa she co-leads. In this kōrero, she will describe the dual parts of her role as a kaupapa Māori researcher. Firstly, she will outline her research expertise in Māori physical education and health which is the study and application of te ao Māori (Māori worldview), Te Tiriti (Treaty of Waitangi) and Kaupapa Māori for mauri ora (flourishing wellness). Secondly, she will discuss how through this disciplinary platform, as servants to our communities, we engage in transforming and indigenising the academy to ensure we as Māori are the critics and conscience of our society.

Nō te rerenga kōrero tuatahi o tētahi karakia tāwhito te rerenga kupu o te koronga. Ko te hiahia mō te hiranga te whakamārama o taua rerenga kupu. Nā Anne-Marie Jackson tētahi o ngā kaihautū o taua kaupapa rangahau. I roto i tēnei kōrero, ka kōrero a Anne-Marie ki ngā mea e rua e pā ana ki ōna mahi o te kairangahau kaupapa Māori. Tuatahi, ka whakarāpopoto ia i ōna mahi rangahau o te whakatinanahia o te hauora Māori, arā, ko te whakaritenga o te ao Māori, Te Tiriti me te Kaupapa Māori mō te mauri ora. Tuarua, ka kōrero ia e pā ana ki te mahi o te rangahau, mā te rangahau ngā hapori e hāpai, mā te rangahau anō mātou e panoni, e whakamāori hoki ngā whare wānanga kia ū ki te kaupapa matua, he kaiwhakamana mātou mō tō mātou ao whānui.

The Carl Smith Research medal is one of the University's highest research honours, and awarded annually to recognise the outstanding research performance of early career staff.

This is a free public lecture and all are welcome to attend and learn.

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Megan Potiki is the Coordinator of the Master of Indigenous Studies (MIndS) programme and Lecturer in reo, tikanga and Ngāi Tahu papers for Te Tumu, School of Māori Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the University of Otago.

Dr Anaru Eketone is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Otago with a background in youth work, community development, social work and health promotion.

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Photography has become a ubiquitous part of our day-to-day activities. Cameras let us capture events and objects for later reminiscing and our photos help cue our recollections of the past. In recent years, our increasingly close relationship with photography has led some critics to warn of the dangers in trusting photos as a memory aid. Snap-happy photographers are warned that ‘taking photos can ruin their memory,’ whereas social media users are often cautioned about how photos might be manipulated or doctored to depict events that never happened.

In three experimental studies we explored the relation between photography and memory by examining the effect of taking photos on memory for discrete objects and unfolding events. We also examined the extent to which poorly-doctored photos might shape people’s memories for news events that didn’t happen. Across these studies, we found that the effects of photo-taking on memory are small and depend on how people are taking photos and of what. Additionally, although people can easily reject an event presented in a poorly-doctored photo, one week later they consider the event more likely to have happened and indicate having some memory of it; these effects appear to persist even 10 weeks after debriefing. Together, our findings underscore the need for people to be more wary of how photos can, under some conditions, change how we remember our experiences.

The Department of Psychology regularly hosts seminars on research within psychology. These seminars are open to Otago University staff, students and members of the public.

Seminars are free and there is no need to book.

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Wilful ignorance: Why do people ignore expert consensus on scientific issues? by Professor Marc Wilson

If scientists believe, argue, and overwhelming take the position that anthropogenic climate change is a reality, humans evolved from simpler organisms, and Covid is rather more dangerous than the common flu, why don't lay people just throw up their hands and do as science tells us? Is it really 'just' about communicating this expert consensus? In this talk, Marc will discuss the role of political attitudes, and trust in science and scientists, in understanding people's beliefs about things like climate change, evolution, and Covid-19.

Marc Wilson is a Professor of Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington. While much of his current research focuses on adolescent mental health, he has a long-standing interest in political psychology. Much of this research draws on individual difference explanations (e.g., authoritarianism and social dominance) for differences in voting preference and attitudes to specific political and social issues. In recent times, this has meant a series of studies driven by his students around the subjects of public understandings of climate change and other scientific issues.

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How do you study the population dynamics of marine species when they are evasive, elusive, or endangered? How do you follow migrating whales offshore to undescribed foraging grounds, in order to better understand habitat use, recovery and implement conservation measures, from the comfort of your office?

Here Dr Emma Carroll describes how small skin biopsy samples from marine mammals can be used to generate genetic profiles that provide insight into population parameters such as population abundance and growth rate. Genomic data can also provide insight into long-term population sizes using genetic theory and Markov chain models. The small skin samples can further be used to generate insights into the previously uncharacterized foraging grounds of whales, through microchemical markers called stable isotopes, and satellite tracking of whales using tags. By understanding both where and on what whales are feeding and their population recovery rates, we can begin to understand how climatic drivers will shape their comeback from whaling in an era of climate change.

Emma Carroll is a University of Auckland graduate who uses genomics, isotopes and other technology to study natural populations. Graduating with a PhD in 2012, Emma moved to the University of St Andrews in 2013 on first a Newton and then a Marie Curie fellowship to lead a global collaboration understanding how behaviour influences connectivity in southern right whales - tohorā. Her expertise led her to work closely with the British Antarctic Survey on the recovery of whales around South Georgia. Now a Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the University of Auckland, Emma's work focuses on using new technology and statistical methods to assess the recovery and foraging ecology of tohorā nō Aotearoa - New Zealand southern right whales – and how the changing oceans might impact their recovery from whaling.

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The annual Otago Global Health Institute (OGHI) conference brings together the latest research on a diverse range of topics relevant to global health in under-resourced countries. 

The 13th annual OGHI conference will be held 11–12 November 2020 in Dunedin, with the theme "Shared Humanity and Global Health".

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What is the future of museums post COVID?

Rethinking models, mission, and value

In 2020 museums and galleries around the world have been closed due to COVID 19, some for good, and many are faced with financial pressures and many other serious challenges including the climate emergency and a reckoning on race. But despite much apprehension, we now have the opportunity to pause and reflect on the purpose of these institutions. What are museums good for, after all? Aside from the intrinsic value of preserving treasures from the past, how do they help us live in the present and face the future? What value do they add to the societies they are part of? How can we justify the expense of maintaining buildings, ever-growing collections, staff and expensive exhibitions when governments have to spend more on health and welfare? Can we recentre the museum as a forum where everyone can come together to talk, a much-needed middle ground in these polarised times, not necessarily in monumental buildings in national capitals, but as a dispersed community process? In that sense, how can museums actively contribute to well being? In this conversation, two leading museum thinkers consider how to make and remake museums, models, methods and systems. In short, the question that has to be addressed is: What is the future of museums in a world that will be radically altered by the pandemic?

Presenters:

Ken Gorbey is a veteran museologist who has led ground-breaking building and exhibition projects at the Waikato Museum, Te Papa and Jewish Museum Berlin. He recently published his memoirs From Te Papa to Berlin: The Making of Two Museums (2020).

Elaine Heumann Gurian is an internationally recognized senior museum consultant, teacher and speaker. She was deputy director of the National Museum of the American Indian and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and served as a consultant to Te Papa and the Jewish Museum Berlin during their opening days. Ken and Elaine are friends and collaborative colleagues.

This free public event, presented in partnership between the Museum and Heritage Studies programme and National Services Te Paerangi, takes the form of a live online conversation between these two major thinkers in the museum world. It marks the legacy of the late Dr Michael Volkerling, founding director of the Museum and Heritage Studies programme at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, who made a huge contribution to the cultural heritage sector over 30 years

Venue:  Soundings Theatre, Te Papa Tongarewa, Cable Street, Wellington

Date: Wednesday 11 November 2020

Time: 12.00pm noon

Digital technology is ubiquitous – tracking our movements, recording our consumer purchases, and utilised extensively in our classrooms.

What is the future for education in the time of Facebook? How does the phenomenon of social media deepen or diminish the concept of education for citizenship? What are the new possibilities and pitfalls posed to democracy in this brave new world? To what extent can digital technologies be utilised for the benefit of those marginalised within our society?

Panellists from within the Christian tradition will explore these concepts of technology, education, and citizenship, and reflect on how we might live well in an age of “surveillance capitalism.”

• Dr Bronwyn Wood – Senior Lecturer, School of Education, VUW.
• Adi Leason – Waihopai saboteur
• Matthew Bartlett – Executive Director of Citizen AI

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The annual Otago Global Health Institute (OGHI) conference brings together the latest research on a diverse range of topics relevant to global health in under-resourced countries. 

The 13th annual OGHI conference will be held 11–12 November 2020 in Dunedin, with the theme "Shared Humanity and Global Health".

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In 2020, the Alliance Française “Café Scientifique” becomes “Café des Idées – Science in Conversation” jointly organised with FAST!* and the Embassy of France to offer a convivial meeting platform for the exchange of ideas, information and discussion for all those who are interested in French-related science and its broader implications for society and the natural environment.

Join the conversation with Anne Escalle and Hervé Quénol about the Adaptation of vineyards to climate change .

You can either go to Alliance Française Wellington or connect with Zoom from the comfort of your own home.

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Richard is a plant biologist whose research aims to understand how genes control various agriculturally important traits in plants. He has published widely in this area and has held numerous research grants from Marsden and MBIE. Richard completed his undergraduate and PhD studies in the Biochemistry Department at Otago. He then worked as a Postdoctoral researcher at the John Innes Centre, an international centre of excellence in plant science in the UK, before returning to Otago to establish his research group.

Much of Richard’s research has focused on discovering the genes that enable plants to flower in response to seasonal cues, such as winter cold and the increasing day length of spring. When a plant flowers determines when it produces its fruit or grain, therefore understanding the genetic basis of this trait can aid the breeding of crops better suited to local environmental conditions. To achieve this, Richard and his colleagues work closely with researchers from the Crown Research Institutes and plant breeding companies.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee & juice.

This even will also be live-streamed.

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Tinnitus is the perception of ringing or buzzing in the ears in the absence of an external cause. A team at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute has developed a digital therapeutic platform for the treatment of tinnitus. The platform comprises an app, cloud-based software, and headphones. The platform offers relief and relaxation from tinnitus, neural rehabilitation, and counselling in the form of a 12-week treatment platform. It enables a clinician to create a patient profile and customise the functionality of the platform for the patient. Aspects of tinnitus can be predicted by personality, stress and hearing loss; a future goal is that objective measures of physiological activity, such as EEG and skin conductance, along with AI will be incorporated with the treatment system to enable an adaptive real-time precision approach to tinnitus therapy.

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Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and the International Indigenous Research Conference 2020 (IIRC20) Committee is proud to announce that we will be hosting a 3-day online international conference:

Wednesday 18th November - Friday 20th November (NZ Time)

These three days will be devoted entirely to an online "Gathering of Indigenous Minds" and the IIRC20 online environment will enable us to reach nationally and internationally and to continue to share and engage during these times of global restrictions.

The 2020 conference will enable Indigenous researchers and scholars to share their research via pre-recorded presentations, but with the added feature of ‘live’ interactive online parallel discussion sessions. Come prepared, be engaged and be ready to gather online with other Indigenous minds. 

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Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and the International Indigenous Research Conference 2020 (IIRC20) Committee is proud to announce that we will be hosting a 3-day online international conference:

Wednesday 18th November - Friday 20th November (NZ Time)

These three days will be devoted entirely to an online "Gathering of Indigenous Minds" and the IIRC20 online environment will enable us to reach nationally and internationally and to continue to share and engage during these times of global restrictions.

The 2020 conference will enable Indigenous researchers and scholars to share their research via pre-recorded presentations, but with the added feature of ‘live’ interactive online parallel discussion sessions. Come prepared, be engaged and be ready to gather online with other Indigenous minds. 

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The theme for this year's event is 'Living with dementia: Taking action for a better future, Te noho rangatira me te mate wareware: Te kōkiri kaupapa mō ngā rā e tū mai nei'. Hear all about the inspiring actions that are being taken to improve the lives of people with dementia and their whānau and families in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Join the conversation with this dynamic and interactive programme. Come and share your research, experience, knowledge, ideas and insights to help make this the most action-focused and inclusive conference yet.

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 Dr Amanda Williamson, lecturer in innovation and strategy at the University of Waikato's Management School, discusses her research project, 'Measuring public sentiments using artificial intelligence: A five-country analysis of public perceptions of entrepreneurship'.

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Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and the International Indigenous Research Conference 2020 (IIRC20) Committee is proud to announce that we will be hosting a 3-day online international conference:

Wednesday 18th November - Friday 20th November (NZ Time)

These three days will be devoted entirely to an online "Gathering of Indigenous Minds" and the IIRC20 online environment will enable us to reach nationally and internationally and to continue to share and engage during these times of global restrictions.

The 2020 conference will enable Indigenous researchers and scholars to share their research via pre-recorded presentations, but with the added feature of ‘live’ interactive online parallel discussion sessions. Come prepared, be engaged and be ready to gather online with other Indigenous minds. 

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The theme for this year's event is 'Living with dementia: Taking action for a better future, Te noho rangatira me te mate wareware: Te kōkiri kaupapa mō ngā rā e tū mai nei'. Hear all about the inspiring actions that are being taken to improve the lives of people with dementia and their whānau and families in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Join the conversation with this dynamic and interactive programme. Come and share your research, experience, knowledge, ideas and insights to help make this the most action-focused and inclusive conference yet.

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Sessions will also showcase the most recent research on the active tectonics of New Zealand, the climate record, New Zealand’s marine environment today and in the past, and the glaciology of Antarctica and New Zealand, and bring together scientists, policy makers and practitioners to discuss how to improve risk and hazard outcomes for New Zealand society.

The conference will be held on campus at the University of Canterbury and will include oral and poster sessions, an evening public lecture or panel discussion, and field trips.  

Online presentations will be possible for presenters overseas, and in case of heightened restrictions at the time of the conference we will be able to switch to a virtual format.

Sessions will also showcase the most recent research on the active tectonics of New Zealand, the climate record, New Zealand’s marine environment today and in the past, and the glaciology of Antarctica and New Zealand, and bring together scientists, policy makers and practitioners to discuss how to improve risk and hazard outcomes for New Zealand society.

The conference will be held on campus at the University of Canterbury and will include oral and poster sessions, an evening public lecture or panel discussion, and field trips.  

Online presentations will be possible for presenters overseas, and in case of heightened restrictions at the time of the conference we will be able to switch to a virtual format.

Bruce researches conservation genetics and wildlife management. He has contributed to the conservation of some of New Zealand’s most endangered iconic species. From using evolutionary theory to manipulate male-biased sex ratios in kākāpō to mitigating marine mammal bycatch in New Zealand commercial fisheries and defining eradication units in predator control, his research focus addresses a range of pressing wildlife management issues.

He is currently leading a Marsden-funded project exploring the genomic architecture of hatching failure in endangered birds (kākāpō and Hawaiian crow), continuing his long-term involvement with the genetic management of kākāpō. For more than 20 years, he has provided advice and research expertise to species recovery groups (kākāpō, kea, kōkako, black robin, New Zealand sea lion), governmental advisory groups and non-governmental conservation organisations. He has supervised more than 30 postgraduates to completion, including 19 PhD students and has more than 100 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee and juice.

This event will also be live-streamed.

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Sessions will also showcase the most recent research on the active tectonics of New Zealand, the climate record, New Zealand’s marine environment today and in the past, and the glaciology of Antarctica and New Zealand, and bring together scientists, policy makers and practitioners to discuss how to improve risk and hazard outcomes for New Zealand society.

The conference will be held on campus at the University of Canterbury and will include oral and poster sessions, an evening public lecture or panel discussion, and field trips.  

Online presentations will be possible for presenters overseas, and in case of heightened restrictions at the time of the conference we will be able to switch to a virtual format.

A series of online hui and wānanga focused on how best to tell stories about scientific topics including (but not limited to) COVID-19.

Join SCANZ (Science Communicators Association of New Zealand) in exploring what worked or didn’t work in Aotearoa's COVID-19 communications. We also have plenty for those who want to hone their science storytelling knowledge and skills without thinking too much about the pandemic!

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A research journey in sex work

In this talk, Professor Abel will give a brief overview of her personal journey before coming to work at the University of Otago, when she began my career in public health. Professor Abel's research in public health has primarily focused on how policy affects the lives of sex workers. She will take the audience on a journey through the sex work research she has done over the last 23 years, highlighting key public health messages she has taken from each one.

The studies presented in this talk cover:

• How criminalisation of sex work (prior to 2003) created conditions for an exploitative and coercive sex industry
• How decriminalisation enhanced sex workers’ human rights
• How poverty is a driver for sex work
• Why more work needs to be done to address the relationship between social workers and young people involved in street-based sex work
• How the internet is changing the face of sex work
• How policy has unintended consequences for migrant sex workers
• How community engagement, and not regulation, has been able to address tensions between street-based sex workers and the community

Registration

To register for this event please follow the link:
https://events.otago.ac.nz/2020-ipl-gillian-abel/241120

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This talk is divided into segments that pertain to particular stages of Karen’s research life. While taking us through the early years of functional magnetic resonance imaging, molecular genetics, and National longitudinal studies, she attempts to answer some of the big questions in the area of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Are dyslexia and ADHD real? How do children with dyslexia turn out years later? Do behavioural problems persist? Is there a migraine personality? How do genes and environments interact? What is neuroplasticity? Does learning a second language change the brain?

Karen’s research focuses on the neural, environmental and genetic bases of neurodevelopmental disorders, problem behaviour and depression.

Karen was born in BC, Canada, and received her BSc at the University of Victoria. She received her MSc and PhD at the University of Calgary where she met her Kiwi husband. They moved to NZ and Karen worked with the world famous Dunedin Study before joining the University of Auckland School of Psychology and the Centre for Brain Research. She was at the forefront of emerging neuroimaging techniques in Australasia in the early 2000s, and combines these with neuropsychological testing to better understand language, dyslexia, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.

Karen also became involved in two local longitudinal studies: the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative and Growing Up in New Zealand. Karen is now passionate about how the intrauterine environment affects development and how genes interact with events to influence child outcomes.

Refreshments will be served in the Psychology reception foyer on level 2 in Building 302 (302-248) from 5:00pm, prior to the lecture.

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Sessions will also showcase the most recent research on the active tectonics of New Zealand, the climate record, New Zealand’s marine environment today and in the past, and the glaciology of Antarctica and New Zealand, and bring together scientists, policy makers and practitioners to discuss how to improve risk and hazard outcomes for New Zealand society.

The conference will be held on campus at the University of Canterbury and will include oral and poster sessions, an evening public lecture or panel discussion, and field trips.  

Online presentations will be possible for presenters overseas, and in case of heightened restrictions at the time of the conference we will be able to switch to a virtual format.

A series of online hui and wānanga focused on how best to tell stories about scientific topics including (but not limited to) COVID-19.

Join SCANZ (Science Communicators Association of New Zealand) in exploring what worked or didn’t work in Aotearoa's COVID-19 communications. We also have plenty for those who want to hone their science storytelling knowledge and skills without thinking too much about the pandemic!

More information

A series of online hui and wānanga focused on how best to tell stories about scientific topics including (but not limited to) COVID-19.

Join SCANZ (Science Communicators Association of New Zealand) in exploring what worked or didn’t work in Aotearoa's COVID-19 communications. We also have plenty for those who want to hone their science storytelling knowledge and skills without thinking too much about the pandemic!

More information

A series of online hui and wānanga focused on how best to tell stories about scientific topics including (but not limited to) COVID-19.

Join SCANZ (Science Communicators Association of New Zealand) in exploring what worked or didn’t work in Aotearoa's COVID-19 communications. We also have plenty for those who want to hone their science storytelling knowledge and skills without thinking too much about the pandemic!

More information

The Auckland History Initiative (AHI) is pleased to announce its second annual symposium to be held at the Waipapa Marae, the University of Auckland on 24 April 2020, followed by an evening lecture and function.

The symposium will include a keynote address by Professor Anne O’Brien (University of New South Wales), a series of panel discussions showcasing recent scholarship on the history of Auckland and a presentation by Margaret Tennant, Honorary Research Professor at Massey University exploring the writing of local history. The panels will feature the work of scholars from the School of Architecture, Summer Research Scholars at the University of Auckland, and the perspectives of professional historians engaged with researching and writing Auckland history.

The second AHI Annual Public Lecture, to be presented by Professor Emeritus Manying Ip CNZM, FRSNZ, will follow the Symposium. Register to attend this lecture here – AHI 2020 Annual Public Lecture.

About this Event

The Data Science Research Showcase event will recognise and celebrate the academic and industry research efforts of our Data Science Masters’ students and our industry partners.

The event will consist of a series of formal presentations as well as an exhibition space consisting of students presenting their research posters and our industry partners presenting their current and up and coming research via exhibition stalls.

Presentations and industry guest speakers include Spark, Watercare, EROAD, Amazon Web Services, Auckland Rugby and more!

Light refreshments, beverages and afternoon tea will be served along with opportunities for networking and mingling.

All attendees must register and purchase a complimentary ticket. Spaces are limited so to confirm your space please secure your ticket today.

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