HeadSup

Kia ora koutou

It’s Graduation Week! Congratulations to all our Graduands. We are looking forward to our School of Environment Celebration afternoon tea on Wednesday, where we will see all our Science graduates and Arts graduates in their finery. Sadly the processions have been cancelled but do make the most of wearing your academic gowns to our afternoon tea. In total, we are awarding 31 BA, 4 BA(Hons), 126 BSc, 16 BSc(Hons) and 11 MSc degrees, and 31 PG Diplomas in Science.  We are proud of you all! Special congratulations to our Science Senior Scholars, Linore Brav-Cubitt (Envsci/Geog), Hanna Ettles (Geog/Stats), Danielle Newton (Envsci/Geog) and Emma O’Brien (Earthsci/Stats), whose GPAs place them amongst the Faculty of Science’s top 30 graduating students in the BSc. With something of the order of 1000 students completing this is an exceptional achievement! Also congratulations to our Arts PG Scholars, Holly Meese, Caitlin Neuwelt-Kearns and Salene Schloffel-Armstrong – exceptional results! We have four new Doctors graduating this week: Dr Evert Duran Quintero in Geology, Di Jianan Wang in Geography, and Dr Xiaoqing Li and Dr Dorothy McCoubrey in Environmental Science – our hearty congratulations.

I am delighted to announce that Sonia Fonua has accepted the PTF position we recently advertised and will be starting with us on 17th June. Sonia is a specialist in Pacific pedagogy and will be working to advance the School’s development in this space. Sonia’s teaching will be within the Environmental Science programme.

Next week we will host our two short-listed candidates for the Lecturer/Senior Lecturer position in Earth Sciences. James Muirhead and Andy Howell will be giving seminars on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. I would appreciate a good turn-out of staff and PG students. Please get in touch with Paul Augustinus or Samantha Huang if you would like an opportunity to meet the candidates individually.

A small note of caution: sometimes in the race to meet a deadline it’s tempting to pull an all-nighter. Once it was almost a badge of honour and occasionally it saved on rent. These days you will get turfed out on the street if you are here past midnight, a situation I would rather avoid. I’m told that Security will be paying a closer look so please do go home before the witching hour.

Ngā mihi – JR

For Your Diary 

Deadlines
Research and Study Leave applications – to JR	30 Apr
Sponsorship Acknowledgement Form – see details below	3 May
CLeaR Fellowship applications	31 May
Learning enhancement grants 2019	7 June
Seminars
PhD Research Proposal: Yan Shi “Ecology-based simulation of grassland above ground biomass in the Qinghai-Tibetal Plateau”	30 Apr, 12:00-1:00pm, 301-411
Earth Sciences L/SL candidate Dr James Muirhead: “Exploring the mobile upper crust”, research to date and future interests.	6 May, 11:00-12:00, in 302-G20
Earth Sciences L/SL candidate Dr Andy Howell: “Exploring the mobile upper crust”, research to date and future interests.	7 May, 1:00-2:00 pm, in 302-G20.
Dr George Slim MBIE Research Programme/Smart Idea – what is MBIE looking for?	7 May, 1:30-3:00 pm in 303-B05
PhD Research Proposal: Shreya Kanakiya “Geophysical signatures of hydrothermal alteration for evaluating flank instability”	15 May, 12:00-1:00pm, 302-G20
Data to Insight | An introduction to data analysis and visualisation	8 April – 3 June
Other Events
Science Graduation Celebration Breakfast – note change in time	1 May, 8:30am in Pavilion, OGH
ENV Graduation Afternoon Tea	1 May, 4pm, Level 6 Breakout Space, 302
Dr George Slim MBIE Endeavour 1:1 discussions, requires RSVP	14 May OR 20 May, 10:00-4:00pm in 302-603
NZ Geographical Society: Monthly Geography Dialogues with Wine – Joe Fagan “Five lessons I learnt while sitting down for a year”	21 May, 4:15-5:30pm, Ontology Lab, 302-551.
Workshop: The Writing Habits of Successful Academics	18 Jun, 1pm in 302-140
ENV Research Forum – more to come on this event	21 May, 12-2pm, lunch included, Old Government House
ENV Staff Retreat	12 June, 8.30-5pm, Old Government House

 

Whakawhanaungatanga – communities

Postgraduate wine and nibbles night

This free event is hosted by SciSA PG (Science Students’ Association Postgraduate): Tuesday 7 May 17:30-19:30, Old Government House. For registration details see this link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/906562753015058/

Geological Video Contest

A joint initiative of the Italian Geological Society, the Italian Society of Mineralogy and Petrology, and the Italian Paleontological Society. On The Rocks is the first video contest entirely dedicated to tell Geology in 180 seconds. This year there is a new category “Rocks and Food” and the new “Bloopers” prize!
Get in the game with On the Rocks!  Find out how on the website: https://en.sgi-ontherocks.it/
Follow us on Instagram: @ontherocksvideo, https://www.instagram.com/ontherocksvideo/

New Zealand Geographical Society

The next ‘Geography Dialogues with Wine’ features Joe Fagan who will report on his ‘Five lessons learnt while sitting on his behind for a year’. Joe rode a bicycle 20,000 km through 16 countries – the photos are certain to be exceptional. Read the May Newsletter here

Rangahau – Research

Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology Research Group (VGP)

The VGP research group meets every other week during the semester. Our next meeting will be on 9 May from 11 to 12 in 302-140. Jie and Danielle will be giving talks. For more information, please see our website: vgp.blogs.auckland.ac.nz  Hope to see you there!

Poster printing

Poster printing can now be done through the Architecture print centre

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/creative/current-students/studios-workshops-equipment/print-centre.html

Binding will be done through the UoA Bindery

https://bindery.auckland.ac.nz

Writing Workshop: The Writing Habits of Successful Academics

This is a great opportunity for staff and postgraduate students. Please register here asap, there is only room for 50 people.

About the speaker: Professor Helen Sword is a scholar, poet and award-winning teacher whose recent books include Stylish Academic Writing (Harvard 2012), The Writer’s Diet (Chicago 2016) and Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write (Harvard 2017).

Date and time: Tuesday 18 June. 1-4pm. Venue: Room 302-140 Click here to read more details.

Research highlights

New research from the Physics of Rocks Lab

Great to see top notch publications coming out of the PoroLab – well done to James Clarke, Mila Adam and co-authors.

https://poro.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/2019/04/24/james-published-his-research-in-geology-congrats/

Top paper just published from the Coastal Processes team

Well done Emma and co-authors, fantastic to see the student work making an impact.

• Ryan, EJ., Hanmer, K., and Kench, PS, 2019. Massive corals maintain a positive carbonate budget of a Maldivian upper reef platform despite major bleaching event. Scientific Reports, 9, Article number: 6515.

Also just published

• Xu, T, Gao, J, and Coco, G. (2019) Simulation of Urban Expansion via Integrating Artificial Neural Network with Markov Chain – Cellular Automata. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, doi: 10.1080/13658816.2019.1600701

For staff

Updates from the local research support team

MBIE Funding

• Please let us know if you are an AI on a MBIE Smart Ideas invited to send a full proposal. It is important for us to know the School involvement in other projects and we can also help with costing, budgets, MOUs and any other support you may need.
• Please let us know if you are interested in applying for the next year MBIE funding, so we can keep you updated with all the opportunities and support available from the faculty and university, including VM, peer-review, etc.
• There are a few slots available for the 1:1 with George Slim (14 and 20/05) on MBIE Research Programmes and Smart Ideas. It is a great opportunity to enhance your proposal.

General

• The government end of financial year is fast approaching and with this the invoicing deadline. If you have any work with regional councils/government please let us know, so we can organize the contract and invoice before that.

For all above, please send an email to our RPC Vanessa: v.castro@auckland.ac.nz

MBIE Research Programme or Smart Idea

The Faculty Research Support team is organising a series of events for staff interested in applying for an MBIE Research Programme or Smart Idea over the next 1-3 years. These sessions are to help you find out more about MBIE and if your research idea is a good fit for MBIE funding.

If you are interested in attending the following sessions please RSVP by the 3^rd May.

• MBIE & the NZ Science funding system – Dr George Slim: What are MBIE looking for – does my research “fit” with MBIE? Tuesday 7 May 1.30-3:00 pm, 303-B05

• 1:1 Discussion with Dr George Slim: Is my research idea a Smart Idea or a Research Programme? How could I develop it further? Tuesday 14 May 10:00-4:00 pm, 302-603 OR Monday 20 May 10:00-4:00 pm (book for a 30 min session),  302-603

Dr George Slim has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Otago and undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge.  He has previously worked at Industrial Research Limited and one of MBIE’s precursors – the former Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.  He now works with life science companies to develop and commercialise their research and intellectual property, and the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor in connecting research and policy.

Further events and support, including an Ideas workshop and pitch sessions, Vision Mātauranga advice and other support will be held throughout the year.  Please register your interest.

Ako – Teaching and Learning

2019 School of Environment Māori Masters Thesis Scholarship

Congratulations to Georgia McLellan (Ngāi Te Rangi, Whakatōhea), who has been awarded the School of Environment Māori Masters Thesis Scholarship for 2019. Georgia’s MSc (Geography) thesis research utilises a Kaupapa Māori approach to investigate Māori food sovereignty, through a focus on Whakatōhea mussel farms near Opotiki and the relationships there between customary food gathering and commercial production. Georgia’s thesis supervisors are Karen Fisher and Nick Lewis.

CLeaR Fellowship Applications 2020

Calling all teachers and learning support specialists Is there an outstanding teacher or learning support specialist in your department or faculty with the potential to lead scholarly teaching and learning, or, does this resonate with you?

Applications are invited for 2020 CLeaR Fellowships CLeaR Fellows form a multi-disciplinary community of practice dedicated to researching and disseminating effective teaching strategies focussed on a key university learning and teaching priority. The theme for 2020 is Designing for Learning.

For more information see this flyer.

To find further details of the programme, previous participants and how to apply visit the CLeaR Website www.clear.auckland.ac.nz/app/clear-fellows

Applications close 5pm Friday 31 May 2019 and Fellows will be selected in June.

Note that attendance at three initial planning meetings in July, August and October 2019 is required, with regular meetings beginning in January 2020.

Learning Enhancement Grants, 2019

Applications are called for the 2019 round of Learning Enhancement Grants (LEGs). The closing date for applications is Friday 7 June 2019.

LEGs provide contestable funding for innovative projects that align with the strategic goals of the University and its Learning and Teaching Plan. These grants are for projects that lie outside the normal scope of department and faculty budgets and have potential transferability to other parts of the University.

PLEASE NOTE: LEGs applications follow a two-phase process. The first phase is submission of an Expression of Interest (EOI). The LEGs Subcommittee will invite submitters of successful EOIs to complete a project plan, with a strong likelihood that a grant will be made subject to the plan’s acceptance.

Applicants must be full or part-time members (with teaching responsibilities of a minimum of 0.2 FTE) of the teaching staff of The University of Auckland. A maximum of $20,000 will be awarded to any one project. In addition, there will be provision for one grant annually of up to $50,000 to be made to a faculty, to support a faculty-wide project.

Here is a link to for the 2019 grant round. Expression of interest, project plan and reporting forms can be found on the Learning Enhancement Grants page of the Learning and Teaching website.

If you have any queries, please contact Susan McDowell-Watts, LEGs Subcommittee Secretary, s.mcdowell-watts@auckland.ac.nz extension 87317.