Issue 14- Monday 5th August 2019
Contents
HeadSup
Kia orana kōtou,
Great to see so many excellent activities going on in the School. We are trying to get a better system happening in p-cubed so you can click on a calendar entry for an event and get it into your e-calendar. Please bear with us this week while we are in transition – you will need to capture the things you want to do from the posts below.
Two events driven by our PG students are coming up – the Annual Ball, and a newbie, the Film Competition, which hopefully will become a regular event. There are some great prizes so take time to show your creative side and help us show the world what we do. Big ups to our PG geniuses for thinking of this one!
Also on the horizon – the Cumberland Lecture. Kennedy Warne, founding editor of NZ Geographic, will be speaking on a brilliant topic: Place as person, Landscape as identity. This one will be a highlight so don’t miss it.
The 3-year strategic plan is now in rough draft form – you can read it here. We still need to wordsmith it and catch a few omissions/updates. Thanks everyone who has contributed at short notice so far.
If you would like to comment on the draft strategic plan or make suggestions for changes, please send comments to me by email OR feel free to drop-in to the Level 6 common space for a conversation 12-1pm this Tuesday or 12.30-1.30 this Thursday. All feedback on this draft must be in by the end of this week.
Have a great couple of weeks.
Ngā mihi – JR
Whakawhanaungatanga – communities
Cook Islands Language Week
Click on this link to find out more about Cook Islands Language Week Sunday 4 August – Saturday 10 August 2019
Helpful Resources
We encourage you to speak, use, teach and learn Te Reo Māori Kuki Airani (Cook Islands Language), below are some helpful resources and links:
- 2019 Cook Islands Language Week poster
- 2019 Events Calendar
- Cook Islands Language fact sheet
- Cook Islands Language Educational Resource
- Pacific Language cards (includes all 7 Pacific Languages from our series)
Some more links:
https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/cook-islands-language-week/
https://www.mpp.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Cook-Islands.pdf
The School of Environment Film Competition
For further information please see here.
Engagement Expo
The science student engagement expo on Thursday 18 July was attended by AUGA, where new students starting this semester were invited to join various clubs. We [AUGA] took this opportunity to show off some of the highlights from the past year, and to tease a few of the exciting events we have planned over the coming semester!
Here is a picture of AUGA member Thomas who spent the time talking to the new students
The School of Environment Ball
Save the date – the School of Environment Ball will be held on Saturday 12th October. We have a team of students and staff working on planning this year’s ball. If you want to be involved please contact Joe on j.fagan@auckland.ac.nz
Cumberland Lecture
Place as person, landscape as identity: Traditional connection and modern legislation: 22 August, 5 pm, PLT2/303-G02
Kennedy Warne, founding editor of New Zealand Geographic, discusses the Whanganui River and Te Urewera legislation granting those geographical entities legal personhood, and reflects on his own evolving conversation with landscape. This will be a great seminar for everyone in the School – all welcome, bring a friend.
Safe Travel
We have been made aware of a recent legislative change which appears to raise the potential risk of working in Indonesia. The two links below highlight the issue. If you are aware of any researchers in your faculty who work in Indonesia, could you pass this information on to them. The provisions appear quite onerous and if we get this wrong quite punitive. It may be necessary to seek advice from our legal people before undertaking work there.
Space survey
This is to advise that Property Services’ Semester 2, 2019 room usage survey will be undertaken on 12-16 Aug for the City Campus. The following room types will be included in the survey:
- Flat-floored and tiered general teaching rooms,
- Meeting rooms of greater than 15 sq mtrs and other selected meeting rooms,
- Specialist teaching rooms with reasonable access,
- Student computer rooms,
- Drawing laboratories, music rooms and other studio spaces,
- Postgraduate offices and similar postgraduate facilities.
The method of surveying will remain the same as for previous years with surveyors visiting each room on their list each hour between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday.
As usual the surveyors will be provided with a name tag that they must wear at all times and will carry a letter confirming that they are undertaking the survey
New Hire – Senior Technician, Geochemistry
We are happy to announce that we have appointed a new Senior Technician to run our Electron Microprobe Facility.
David Adams will be migrating from Denver where he has been working with USGS; prior to that Macquarie University and the University of Western Australia. David has extensive experience with running an Electron Microprobe (EPMA) laboratory, LA-ICP-MS, XRF and XRD. His main role will be to oversee the installation of the new EPMA and to run the facility once established. He will also be the Schools contact point for iLab, and a backup operator for the ICP-MS.
He tells me that he is looking forward to working with researchers and students again.
David will be joining the Technical team in September.
If you have any questions send Blair an email.
The 2019 Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Showcase
The 2019 Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Showcase is coming up on 2-18 September 2019.
Students who are currently enrolled in postgraduate study are eligible to enter their academic posters into this competition. As in previous years, there are significant prizes up for grabs, and the 20 best posters from Science will be entered into the 2019 PGSA Exposure poster competition (7-11 October) where they will be eligible to win further prizes. The Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Showcase will use the same judging criteria for posters as Exposure.
The deadline for students to have registered online and submitted their posters to the Science Student Centre will be Thursday 29 August 4.00pm
In the coming week, we will send more information about how students can register and submit their posters, as well as providing details for workshops run by The Exposure Committee on creating engaging academic posters.
August Talatalanoa
We would like to invite you to attend the next Talatalanoa, held in the City Campus.
This session will present some of the amazing work that is going on in our facilities and an opportunity to Talanoa about key issues and concerns.
It is a great way to share and learn from each other – everyone is welcome!
Date: Thursday 8 August, 10am-11.30am
Room: Clock Tower 32 (105-032), Auckland Campus
For further information please see here.
Light refreshment will be provided . Please RSVP to Sonia at s.fonua@auckland.ac.nz
Travel Improvements Update – What you need to know?
As part of STC’s ongoing efforts to streamline the travel bookings and ensure efficiency, we are pleased to advise that the travel booking and approval process has been under review, with a view to improve the user experience. The aim is to reduce administrative re-work, delays and incurred costs when ticketing deadlines are missed, caused by late approvals. This review was triggered, following the ongoing negative feedback received from our customers.
SLT has agreed to rely on, and capture employee declarations that pre-approval has been confirmed before a purchase order is raised, thus allowing us to remove the secondary approval on Travel purchase orders and still be able to identify approvers of each travel requisition.
We have collaboratively worked with the Business Transformation Office on this improvement initiative and have engaged stakeholders across the organisation, creating awareness of the impending Travel improvements for the user’s experience of booking travel.
What you need to know and how will this impact you once we go live:
As part of the process improvements we have increased the PeopleSoft workflow approval limit to $15K. Proof of pre-approved travel will be captured when submitting a request for travel to STC on the new AEM form by capturing the traveller’s line manager or DFA. With no secondary approval required, we expect to see an immediate decrease in missed ticketing deadlines and administrative rework. However, any travel above $15K will still require PeopleSoft secondary approval by the Delegated Financial Authority (DFA).
Through our stakeholder engagement across Group Services teams within Faculties and the DFF/DFO Cop Groups, we have instructed staff to ensure they have their localised approval processes ready, emphasing the need to enter the correct cost centre/project code on the PO form. This will minimise the need for journal corrections.
All travellers/travel arrangers will notice the following process improvements for when they request a Travel PO to submit to STC:
- New digital PO Travel request form
- New Orbit email with improved messaging and a link straight to the new digital form located on the intranet portal page
- New Orbit Confirmation document replacing the preliminary itinerary which will be used to attach to the new Travel PO request form
- Increasing the PeopleSoft workflow secondary approval limit to $15K. Any travel above $15K will still require PeopleSoft secondary approval
- Orbit will change the way they work moving forward, streamlining the amount of manual data input required at their end
What we would like you to do:
- We would like you and your Finance teams to continue to review your financial reporting for spikes in ‘travel associated costs’. Transaction reports can be made available to support the investigation, including reports from our vendor – Orbit
- The compliance team will increase background checks and the reporting will be enhanced to provide improved detective controls
- Travellers booking travel will need to obtain approval from their line manager or DFA upfront and capture this within your localised processes as this will be required on the PO form. There will be no need for approval attachments
- Emphasise the need to enter correct cost centres within your local process to minimise the need for journal corrections
- The only attachment required to submit a travel request to STC will be the new order confirmation that will replace the preliminary itinerary.
What next?
We have an indicative date (end of August 19) of when the changes will be implemented there will be communications going out prior to going live through a number of different channels.For any questions, do not hesitate to call STC and please note this communication is only intended for the Finance and Accounting Community.
Rangahau – Research
New Research Programme Coordinator
Dr Kelly Kilpin will be starting as the new Research Programme Coordinator in the School of Environment on 5 August. Kelly has a PhD in chemistry and has held postdoc positions at Otago University and at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. She moved into research project management in 2014 managing large research grants at the University of Southampton. Since Kelly returned to New Zealand this year, she has been working as a technical assistant at Massey University’s Albany campus. Kelly is looking forward to joining the University of Auckland and assisting the School with its research support needs.
Researchers with queries in relation to National Science Challenge projects can continue to contact Amy Weir amy.weir@auckland.ac.nz.
Geology and Geophysics researchers, please contact Ivana Mlinac i.mlinac@auckland.ac.nz.
Research:
MBIE annual reports due in the MBIE Portal by 30 August
RSNZ Marsden rebuttals expected 14 – 28 August
Meetings, seminars and events
Are you having trouble finding the time or motivation to write?
Come and join us for some “Shut up and write” sessions at Te Tumu Herenga – Libraries and Learning services.
Our new “Shut up and write” workshops are scheduled fortnightly on a Tuesday morning in Kate Edger Information Commons, and provide a great opportunity to focus on those writing goals you need to get done, in the company of other folk doing the same thing.
Bring your keep cup for the tea/coffee breaks during the sessions.
The sessions are aimed at PhD students, but staff and other post-grad students are welcome as well.
You can book online at the workshops page.
(if the sessions look full, please do join the waitlist, as there tend to be spaces that open up closer to the dates)
A few days on Great Mercury Island- a recent research trip by Paul Augustinus
For further reading please see here.
Volcanology, Geochemistry, & Petrology Research Group
The volcanology, geochemistry, & petrology research group (VGP) meets every other week during the semester. Our next meeting will be on 8 August from 12 to 1 in 302-130. (Note the time and location change from last semester!) Phil will be giving a talk entitled “Mantle influence on magmatism at arc volcanoes: can we see it,” and Ian will be presenting after. For more information, please see our website: vgp.blogs.auckland.ac.nz See you soon!
Disaster Prevention and Management Seminar Series
The Disaster Prevention and Management Seminar Series would like to welcome your attendance on the 19th of August, 1 to 4 pm, in the Ontology Lab (302-551) of the University of Auckland city campus (map attached here).
Ksenia Chmutina (Loughborough University), Loïc Le Dé (Auckland University of Technology), Jake Rom Cadag (University of the Philippines Diliman), and Anthony Gampell (The University of Auckland) will be presenting alternative approaches to participatory mapping for disaster risk reduction. This seminar will include hands-on and playful activities for everyone to experience these creative ways of mapping disaster risk.
Details of the seminar can be found here.
Green Building Certification and the Sustainable City
Arnaud Besse-Ciller (PhD Proposal)
Date/time: Tuesday 6 August, 12:00pm
Location: B302-130
For further information please see here.
Speaker: Marie McEntee
Date/time: Tuesday 20th August, from 4.00pm to 5.30pm.
Location: Ontology (302-551)
For further reading please see the NZGS Auck_newsletter August 2019.
A quantitative analysis of the characteristics of the urban boundary layer in an area of complex coastal terrain: Implications for air pollution
Hannah Marley (PhD Proposal)
Date/time: Tuesday 6 August, 1:00pm
Location: Room 302-130
For further information please see here.
Funding Opportunities
RSNZ Catalyst Leaders and Catalyst Seeding
This Catalyst Leaders round is to support excellent PhD students and/or young researchers to attend the HOPE meetings with Nobel Laureates in Japan in 2020.
The Catalyst Seeding round funds new small and medium pre-research strategic partnerships that cannot be supported through other means under three programmes:
- Seeding General ($80,000 in total for up to two years);
- Dumont d’Urville NZ-France Science & Technology Support Programme ($80,000 in total for up to two years);
- NZ – Japan Joint Research Project ($ 30,000 per year for up to two years)
Application due to Research Programme Coordinator and Funds & Submissions by 5pm Tuesday 8 October 2019.
Information on Catalyst Funds and Leaders guidelines and Seeding guidelines here.
Whaitaketia o Rangahau ki te Ao Māori – Assessing research relevant to Māori
He whakatauki: “Mā te rongo, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau; mā te mātau, ka ora”
“Through resonance comes cognisance, through cognisance comes understanding, through understanding comes knowledge, through knowledge comes life and well-being”
The purpose of the WORK dens are to provide a ‘think tank’ opportunity for researchers. Please view this as a time to express where your research will be a feature. An opportunity to discuss your idea(s) with Vision Mātauranga advisors and work together to identify ways in how Vision Mātauranga can benefit from your idea(s).
The WORK dens will be held on Thursday 8th August 10am-12pm and Friday 9th August 1pm-3pm. Each session will last 30 minutes and will be an informal discussion. You are welcome to bring other members of your team to your session.
To ensure the time is useful for all involved, you will need to prepare a brief outline of your idea. Your outline should show (or say) how your idea will benefit or contribute to Māori. The outline should be at a minimum a paragraph long, with a maximum of half a page.
This is an opportunity for you to safely ‘test the waters’ with your understanding/knowledge of Vision Mātauranga. If you are interested click here to pick a day and time.
Any questions feel free to email us on vmresponsiveness.science@auckland.ac.nz
MBIE Unlocking Curious Minds
Unlocking Curious Minds is a contestable fund that supports innovative, quality projects which provide more New Zealanders with opportunities to learn about and engage with science and technology.
Registration due in the MBIE Portal by 12 noon Thursday 15 August 2019. If you do not register your project by this date, you cannot start or submit a proposal.
Application due to Research Programme Coordinator and Funds & Submissions by 5pm Tuesday 3 September 2019.
Information and guidelines: Unlocking Curious Minds
New publications
- Robin Kearns has recently published, with R Foley (Ireland), B Wheeler (England) and T Kistemann (Germany) Blue Space, Health and Wellbeing: Hydrophilia Unbounded (Routledge: London & New York)https://www.routledge.com/Blue-Space-Health-and-Wellbeing-Hydrophilia-Unbounded/Foley-Kearns-Kistemann-Wheeler/p/book/9780815359142
- Itrax μ‐XRF core scanning for rapid tephrostratigraphic analysis: a case study from the Auckland Volcanic Field maar lakes
Leonie Peti, Patricia S. Gadd, Jenni L. Hopkins, Paul C. Augustinus
Journal of Quaternary Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3133
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.3133 - Coote, A., Shane, P., Fu, B. 2019. Olivine phenocryst origins and mantle magma sources for monogenetic basalt volcanoes in northern New Zealand from textural, geochemical and d18O isotope data. Lithos 344-345, 232-246, doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2019.06.026
- Boswijk, G., Fowler, A. 2019. Dendroprovenancing: A preliminary assessment of potential to geo-locate kauri timbers in northern New Zealand. Dendrochronologia 57, 125611, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2019.125611.
- Bertin, D., Lindsay, J.M., Becerril, L., Cronin, S.J. & Bertin, L.J. MatHaz: a Matlab code to assist with probabilistic spatio-temporal volcanic hazard assessment in distributed volcanic fields. Journal of Applied Volcanology 8:4.https://rdcu.be/bKV2v
Ako – Teaching and Learning
Māori and Pacific – Future of Tech Event
Discover where your degree and your cultural perspective can take you in the STEM industry!
Date/time: Thursday 15 August, 5-8pm
Location: Unleash Space, Faculty of Engineering Building, Room 402-433
Book your place on the event page on MyCDES
Talofa lava, Bula Vinaka, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Fakatalofa atu, Kia orana, Mālō e lelei, Mālō nī, Kia orana and warm Pacific greetings to you all.
The CDES team would like to invite you all to our very first Māori and Pacific STEM event! This is a fantastic opportunity to hear about the range of career pathways across different organisations and understand the realities of work-life in the STEM industry! You will hear from a diverse panel of Māori and Pacific speakers who will share their career journey and the challenges they face in the STEM industry, followed by networking.
Come and hear from Air New Zealand, Microsoft, Xero, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Suncorp NZ, rhipe and Watercare!
If you have any questions about this event, please email Pepe Afeaki: p.afeaki@auckland.ac.nz
Ako Innovation Teaching & Learning Seminar:
Using LEGO to encourage collaboration in an educational environment
Date/time: Friday 23rd August · 11-12pm
Location: Building 302, Room 551 (Ontology Lab)
In this interactive talk, Dr Ksenia Chmutina will reflect on her experience of using LEGO for teaching disaster risk reduction to a group of UG architecture and civil engineering students. The ‘Disaster Risk Reduction is Child’s Play’ project aimed at enhancing collaboration among students who would not traditionally work together in an educational environment – but are highly likely to collaborate in industry. Using LEGO and other modular toys has helped to encourage the dialogue among the students and between the students and staff in a problem-based context, and provided solutions to the challenges that multi-disciplinary group work usually faces.
From the learning perspective, the use of LEGO helped the students to define design as the process of investigating a problem and proposing creative responses through the application of modular models and to apply engineering and architectural knowledge as well as creativity and intuition. We have however discovered that architecture students, who are used to hands-on work, are much more willing to engage with using LEGO; civil engineering students did not feel as comfortable and required more encouragement. This reflected the challenge of the multi-stakeholder collaboration and highlighted that LEGO can help building the bridges between discipline
| Dr Ksenia Chmutina
Senior Lecturer in Sustainable and Resilient Urbanism, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, UK |
 |
Enquiries: Mel Wall m.wall@auckland.ac.nz
Secondary School Unit Standards for Earth and Space Science
Martin has kindly placed a load of resources for high school Earth and space sciences here:
S:\env\Share\Secondary School Unit Standards Earth and Space Science
Included are exemplars of student work, unit standards, scholarship exam etc. This is a good place to look if you want to understand the educational context of this discipline.
Classifieds
Job vacancy: Research Assistant for natural hazard research projects (Jan Lindsay)
I am seeking a full-time Research Assistant to work with me on a number of major research projects. The position is for 1 year, starting ASAP, with the possibility of renewal. The successful candidate will become part of the project management teams of both the Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland (DEVORA) project and the Urban Theme of the Resilience to Natures Challenges National Science Challenge. They will also assist me with tasks related to the International Working Group on Volcanic Hazard Maps. I would also be open to two people sharing this role at 0.5 FTE each.
Main tasks would fall in the areas of communication and outreach (including website maintenance), database management, organisation of meetings and workshops, research and field assistance, and project management support. The candidate(s) should ideally have a bachelors or a postgraduate degree in a relevant field (e.g. Earth Sciences, Geography, Environmental Science, Communication) and some research experience. Candidates should have excellent organisational and oral and written communication skills, and ideally a good understanding of the natural hazard risk research environment in New Zealand. Project management, science communication and stakeholder engagement experience would be desirable, as would experience with Vision Mātauranga and engaging with Māori.
For more information please visit https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CfT6W8qwpfU4Z6qSnam8U9gJm4bBifZc
Or email Jan Lindsay j.lindsay@auckland.ac.nz
Please apply by emailing a Cover letter and CV to Jan Lindsay by Monday 19th August.
Copy deadline for next edition of P-cubed: Friday 12:00 16th August, to Samantha: samantha.huang@auckland.ac.nz