Infrequently Asked Questions

Professor Andy Cockburn One of the mysteries of the modern age is why, when there are lots of ways to improve efficiency and productivity with computer-based systems, people don’t use the tools available. Sophisticated file search utilities, shortcut keys, and powerful commands are seldom used. Canterbury University’s Professor Andy Cockburn explains why most people trap themselves in ‘beginner mode’, … Read More

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Dr Michael PlankThrow the small fish back, so they can grow and reproduce. So goes conventional scientific wisdom, as well as most of the world’s fishing regulations. But research – including Marsden-funded mathematical models by the University of Canterbury’s Michael Plank – is now showing that we should be catching more small fry, and letting the big fish go … Read More

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Dr Peng Du at the clinic in KentuckyAfter no solid food for 16 months, an elderly man in Louisville, Kentucky, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. A temporary pacemaker device fitted to his stomach had resuscitated the bioelectrical waves that govern digestion. Auckland University’s Dr Peng Du tells us from Kentucky how his Fast-Start Marsden grant can help … Read More

Dr Brendon Bradley Since the Canterbury earthquakes, most of us are familiar with the effects of liquefaction – sand volcanoes, sunken buildings, and vast, vast quantities of mud. But scientists still don’t fully understand the interactions between the deep soft soils of the Canterbury basin and the shaking seen on the ground. Canterbury University’s Dr Brendon Bradley explains how … Read More

Dr Michael Stevens at the Bluff signpost to the world. In 1807 Napoleon closed Russian ports to British traders, starving the Royal Navy of crucial hemp and spar supplies. By 1813, attempts to find alternative sources had reached New Zealand – New South Wales merchants sent a ship to investigate flax growing in and near Bluff, and Māori methods … Read More

Dr Priscilla Wehi As a zoologist living within a Māori community, Dr Priscilla Wehi became interested in the ecological information contained in Māori oral tradition. When she discovered a potentially new approach to exploring ecology by dating ancestral sayings, or whakataukī, she and Hēmi Whaanga at the University of Waikato developed a group. Their work on whakataukī has created … Read More

PhD candidate Katherine Donovan, who is using mass spectrometry to look at whether the evolved protein is changing its dynamics Making a bet at a conference led to a Marsden Fund research grant for Canterbury University’s Dr Ren Dobson. His team are now looking into how nature – in, to our eyes, an apparently haphazard way – manages … Read More

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A child chooses icons to ‘speak’ with Professor Jeff Sigafoos When Victoria University’s Professor Jeff Sigafoos offered autistic children the chance to communicate in three ways, it perhaps wasn’t surprising that the kids did best with the system they liked the most. It was also unsurprising, maybe, that most of them liked the computer-based system the best. But what … Read More

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Professor Elaine Reese How much of their early life will your children remember? How coherent a life story can they tell? The University of Otago’s Professor Elaine Reese tells us how successive Marsden grants are helping her unravel the links between parent conversations and the way teenagers handle life – their wellbeing, their level of trust, and whether they … Read More

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Spot the Clitarchus hookeri After the end of the last Ice Age, as forest replaced the tundra covering much of the South Island, a clone army of female-only stick insects advanced slowly across the land. Thousands of years later, they are still holding ground against the more efficient sexual population of the same species living in the north. Associate … Read More