Issue 42 – Monday 28th September 2020
Contents
Vaiaso o te ‘Gana Tuvalu
HeadSup
Fakatalofa atu
Spring has sprung and it is breezy…too breezy for some! I had a good look at the sheared off strut on the Harbour Bridge before it got swapped out for a pipe…wow! Hasn’t it been an extraordinary year? And, it is not over yet even though the end of the teaching semester feels close. To all of you who were hoping to graduate in person – I am so sorry we have had to cancel the ceremony, I was really looking forward to toasting you all. On the plus side, that gives the ENV Singers (c’mon Nick, how about it George?) another semester or two to get the waiata sorted 🙂
I would like to congratulate all who contributed to the wonderful PG Showcase, the event was excellent. Thanks to all participants and congratulations to prize winners. Special thanks to Carlos, Luitgard and team for doing such a good job organising and facilitating the event.
Also, a big thank you to Gary and everyone who made the River Futures Aotearoa webinar event possible – it was brilliant. If you missed it, here it is.
On the good news front, our Sustainability Module made it into the finals of the 2020 Australasia Green Gown Awards. The winners will be announced in November – good luck Joe and team.
As you know, the University is starting on the path of reducing permanent staff FTE in response to the budget impact of COVID-19. All permanent employees will have an opportunity to apply to conclude their employment via a Voluntary Leaving Scheme. HR is preparing for the launch of the scheme (5 OCT), which includes refining the process and securing resources for advice for staff. Information and resources are available via the staff intranet. If you are considering your options please check this site. Please get in touch with me before lodging an application. Updates will be added as they become available and are expected to include a generic enhanced redundancy and retirement estimator to allow staff to ascertain an estimate of the compensation they may be eligible for if their application is approved.
Given the scale of the financial challenge facing the University, a forced redundancy round may follow the voluntary leaving scheme. Currently, I do not know how this will affect the School. Any decisions on FTE will be impacted by the effectiveness of the Voluntary Leaving Scheme AND the strategic direction of the University (size, shape, composition), which as you know is being defined at the moment. As a School, I think we are in good shape in terms of relevance and potential for COVID-19 recovery; nonetheless, I am expecting a directive to reduce permanent FTE. At this stage I have no idea of numbers or process. As soon as I understand the situation facing the School I will schedule an open forum for discussion.
Please get in touch if you have concerns or wish to raise any points for discussion.
Ke Manuia
JR
Whakawhanaungatanga-Communities
Health and Safety Incident Reporting System Launch
Reporting health and safety incidents on paper will be replaced by a smart, quick, and easy to use online tool from 1 September 2020. This was one of the main objectives of Phase One of the Health and Safety Project. It is our health and safety responsibility to report incidents. If you see an incident or something unsafe then resolve it if you can to prevent an incident from happening to someone else and then report it. It is the right thing to do and it helps to keep everyone safe. Watch this 60 seconds video for details.
What does this mean for you?
Before we go live, learn how to report incidents in this 15-minute online training module called ‘Creating Health & Safety Awareness’ which is now available on Career tools.
For further information please visit the Improving Health and Safety’s project page on the staff intranet and the Health, Safety & Wellbeing webpage.
L2 Lab and fieldwork Access Requests
The School Technical Team will be working through access requests for staff and students to use School facilities. Applications will be assessed and access will be given where possible. The technical team will make sure spaces are suitable for the type of work being requested and that all covid-19 H&S measures are in place.
Please note that this is subject to change and access may be changed with short notice.
Supervisors you will need to submit on behalf of your students. This is the same form that we used under L2 earlier this year. https://forms.gle/TfnVaYBN1G4546rn8
Any questions please email Blair (b.sowman@auckland.ac.nz)
2020 Early Career Researchers Video Competition
Entries are now open for the 2020 Early Career Researchers video competition, sponsored by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and Royal Society Te Apārangi.
The Royal Society Te Apārangi are promoting the ‘Early Career Researcher Forum’. This is an opportunity for early career researchers to create a short 3 minute ataata video talking about their research, and for the chance to win one of five prizes.
The prizes are:
- $2000 Kaiarataki Achiever in professional video category
- $2000 Kaiarataki Achiever non-professional video category
- $2000 Te Ao Māori category
- $2000 Moana Oceania category
- $2000 People’s Choice category.
To enter, produce your own ataata video that features yourself or your team explaining your research in no more than 3 minutes.
The full competition details can be found here.
The form for entering can be found here. The deadline has been extended to 16 October 2020.
Karawhuia go for it, tuku atu upload!
Software for Teaching in Labs/FlexIT for 2021
IT need to know which software you are planning to use in the computer teaching labs. and on FlexIT in 2021. If you have not yet sent your list to Ingo yet, please contact Sean Davidson (s.davidson@auckland.ac.nz) at IT as soon as possible.
Even if it is the same software as this year, IT need to know – software will not automatically be carried over from this year.
Transitional Facility – Charges for Delays in Biosecurity Processing
Historically, Biosecurity NZ officers have been following up on consignments of risk goods without cost recovering for this work effectively. From this point forward, officers’ time spent following up risk good consignments will be fully cost recovered. Examples of when you will be charged for delays in biosecurity processing include:
- Not booking inspections for risk goods in a timely manner
- Unauthorised release of goods
- TF has not informed Biosecurity NZ of risk goods sitting in their warehouse unactioned/abandoned
- Parcels requiring a retroactive BACC (paperwork not correctly done in the first place)
- Incorrect paperwork provided with consignment (e.g. wrong material type, incorrect volume etc)
If the importer or agent is deemed to be at fault for the delay in processing of biosecurity risk goods, this will be recovered against the consignment.
When the TF is deemed to be at fault, the normal cost recovery process for charging for TF compliance will be followed (under the Biosecurity (costs) Regulations 2010, Schedule item 23).
Any questions ask Blair Sowman
ENV Laboratory Inductions – Reminder
Now is a good time for you or your students to complete induction courses. All of our induction courses are run through Canvas. To request access to the induction course, please send an email to, b.sowman@auckland.ac.nz, with your UPI.
Inductions for General Facilities, Chemistry and Geochemical Laboratories, Earth Science Processing (ESP), Electron microprobe (EPMA), X-Ray Laboratories (XRF, Prep, and Itrax) and the Transitional Facility can be found in the Schools induction course; https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/16362
Geographical Society of New Zealand
Hydrogeology Talk Announcement
Register at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JXWK9MH.
Drinks offsite afterwards (courtesy of Stantec, Aqualinc and McMillan Drilling).
Venue courtesy of Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management.
Meetings, Seminars and Events
R Workshop
An Introduction to R Workshop is being run on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th of November.
This will be led by Daniel Barnett, from the Statistical Consulting Centre, in the Department of Statistics.
Venue: Building 302, Level 1 – Room 190.
Time: 9am – 5pm
Schedule
Please find the approximate schedule for both days here (since this is the schedule from our previous course, it may yet be altered very slightly). Morning and afternoon tea will be provided and there are cafes handy nearby for lunch.
Payment Process
As per our previous Introductory R workshops, the cost is $300 for UoA students and staff. You can pay using your PRESS account, research grant, or other UoA account. You can also opt to use a debit/credit card (however we will have to also add GST for this type of payment and payment can only be made at the Student Resource Centre on main campus). The payment authorisation form for UoA participants paying from a UoA account is attached. The cost for non-UoA attendees is $500 + GST, please contact me for directions to the Student Resource Centre. Please use this Form to fill in payment details.
Computers
We will be using a Faculty of Science computer lab. You are also welcome to use your own laptop, however please make sure that you have downloaded R and R Studio onto your machine before the workshop (they are free to download). We will also include some instructions re how to do this in our pre-workshop information email.
Access to computers and internet
We will arrange access to the lab computers for all non-UoA participants. We will also have a guest wireless password for non-UoA participants who are bringing their own laptops. UoA staff and students will be able to access the FoS computers using their normal UoA UPI and password.
Please contact Joei Mudaliar for enquiries
Provisional Year Seminar
You are welcome to join a provisional year seminar by Niraj Bal Tamang (a PhD Candidate) on “Modelling River Response to Landslide Sedimentation in Braided and Steepland Rivers”
Date & Time: Oct 8th, 10 – 11 am
Zoom ID: Zoom Link for Seminar
Passcode: 818037
GSNZ Conference Update
The Canterbury GSNZ Branch and GSNZ are continuing to prepare for a face-to-face conference on 22 – 25 November at the University of Canterbury. This will incorporate all intended pre- and post-conference field trips and workshops. However, for a face-to-face conference (with a gathering > 100), Canterbury will need to have moved to Alert Level 1 by 20 October, a month prior to the conference. If Canterbury is still in Alert Level 2 by 20 October, we will move to straight delivering a virtual format.
Furthermore:
- If Canterbury is at Level 1 but a couple of other regions are at Level 2 or above on October 20, then the conference proceeds as face to face for participants ONLY from Level 1 regions. Those who are unable to attend in person will receive partial refunds on registration but will have access to all (recorded) talks shortly after the conference.
- If between 20 October and 22 November, Canterbury and/or the whole country move from Level 1 back to Level 2 or higher, the conference will move to a virtual format.*
* Delegates who have already registered will receive a partial refund for any difference in registration fees from the in-person fees to the virtual fees.
Abstract submission is extended until Monday 21 September.
Registration fees have been posted on the conference website (https://www.gsnz.org.nz/news-and-events/geosciences-conference-2020/), with online registration opening toward the end of next week.
The conference website will also include information around changes from a physical to a virtual conference, changes to bookings as a result of going to a higher alert level, and submission of pre-recorded talks.
To help with a the possibility of a rapid transition to a virtual conference, all accepted abstract presenters will be asked to pre-record a version of their presentation, and all poster presenters to prepare and submit a PDF of their poster by 6 November 2020, 2 weeks prior to the conference. More details will be provided with your acceptance letter.
We are very much hoping for a face-to-face conference since the programme contains planned meetings and workshops, and the student-oriented events about careers and networking with industry partners. These will all be more difficult to deliver in a virtual format but we have plans in place to make the virtual experience interactive and collaborative in order to keep one of the best aspects of attending a conference, the ability to meet other scientists and discuss their work.
Kari N Bassett, GSNZ 2020 conference convenor
James Scott, GSNZ president
For enquiries please contact Jennifer Eccles
Auckland Heritage Festival
Come out and support you fellow DEVORA and QuakeCoRE colleagues with the yearly Auckland Heritage Festival: Earthquakes and Volcanoes day! We hope to see you there!
Please note: The dates have been changed to (27th sept – 10th October)
SOE “PUB” QUIZ
For Quiz sign up form, please click on this link https://forms.gle/5ayZZ4zBhAwq3uVw9
Ako – Teaching and Learning
Libraries and Learning Services – Te Tumu Herenga
Teaching’s online until 21 September but so are we!
Folks at the library are here to help.
The Library AskUs form is the fastest way to get a response, particularly for a quick query, as it is monitored regularly by staff, but they also will triage any more complex queries through to discipline and topic specialists. So if you have a citation or publication you can’t find or access, this is the best place to start out.
The Te Tumu Herenga advisers for Science are available for 1:1 consultations by Zoom. This means even when we can’t be on campus, we can provide more specialized advice, or help working with systems like Research Outputs and other databases.
(Dr Alissa Hackett, Dr Jo Simons, Ms Justene McNeice, Dr Donna MacColl, Te Tumu Herenga advisers for Science)
Te Tumu Herenga Physical Spaces open
Along with the Kate Edger commons, the General Library, Davis, Philson, Tai Tonga, and Epsom libraries and spaces, will all open from Monday 31st of August for click and collect, access to collections, and provision of study spaces with appropriate physical distancing and attendance recording in place.
Learning Essentials Resources
You may have seen our new Te Tumu Herenga Learning Essentials online resources, please do promote them to your students. They cover a wide range of useful skills from time-management and note-taking, to critical reading skills and presenting your work. They can be found on the library website but are also linked in the help section in Canvas for Semester 2 courses.
A Survey
The School’s Ako Innovation Committee would like staff to complete a short survey to assess the software / apps that school staff have access to for teaching, or wish to have access to for teaching, beyond the standard University software. Could you please complete our very short survey. The survey is a google form and can be found here: https://forms.gle/FTqma2WvpUY49GvA9
Rangahau – Research
A Guide to Vision Mātauranga
Recently a Guide to Vision Mātauranga (lessons from Māori voices in the New Zealand Science Sector) was prepared by the Rauika Māngai – an assembly of representative Māori scientists, research leaders and programme managers from the 11 National Science Challenges and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Please contact Melanie Kah for details.
Postgraduate Research Showcase – Congratulations to our award winners
Thank you for attending the Postgraduate Research Showcase last week. We have seen great presentations covering a wide range of topics followed by a lively and informative panel discussion on “interdisciplinary research”. Check out the ‘recipe book of disciplinarities’.
Award Winners:
Video: Niraj Bal Tammang (Hapuku River)
Photo: Michaela Dobson (Sampling hot springs)
Poster:
1st Rose Gregersen (Diatoms: The biggest loser? Can diatom cell size help us understand long term lake ecosystem response to impacts?)
2nd Jacqui Vanderhoorn (The ghosts of forests past: mapping the ghost taxon Beilschmiedia tawa through species distribution modelling and co-occurring species)
3rd Ari Kurniadi (What are independent ENSO and IOD impacts on Indonesian rainfall extremes)
Talk:
1st Rachel Lawson (Human mobility during the New Zealand International Convention Centre Fire)
2nd Solana Liu (Optimizing sustainable cities using enhanced cycle routing rulesets)
3rd Joao Albuquerque (The past and future of New Zealand’s wave climate: from hindcast to projections)
Congratulations!
Faculty of Science – Poster competition
Are you enrolled in postgraduate research? This showcase provides an excellent opportunity for research students to present their research to their peers and the University of Auckland staff and student community. Please consider entering the Faculty of Science 2020 Postgraduate Poster Competition! Need advice on how to prepare a poster? Mila Adams and Carlos Carvajal Garcia have prepared tips on how to design/present a poster.
Research and Funding Opportunities
GMCNE Call for Proposals 2020
The George Mason Centre for Natural Environment Request for Proposals 2020
| Types of Grant |
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| Purpose | This RfP provides an opportunity for researchers at UoA and colleagues to support students and seed projects and that enhance the aims of the George Mason Centre.
The Expert Advisory Panel will be looking to identify and foster the connection between projects that lead to thematic research and to expanded funding opportunities for research and application. This is an opportunity to extend and link your research to foster a wider capacity and capability in finding solutions to environmental problems. The underlying theme for all proposals should align with supporting a diverse range of research projects to address questions within and across different natural ecosystems that demonstrate a direct impact on issues of environmental restoration, conservation and/or sustainability Please find more in-depth information in the 2020 guidelines attached. |
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| Grant Value and Duration | A total of $750,000 is available in this round, with that sum in total spread over up to 3 years.
Successful projects will be funded from 1 January 2021 at the earliest and run for the appropriate time period from your chosen start date. |
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| Deadline | Friday 16th October 1.00pm | ||||||||||
| Submission Process |
The application is submitted via an online form, you will receive a confirmation email once it is submitted. |
Any queries, please contact Amy Weir directly
New Zealand History Research Trust (the History Awards)
The New Zealand History Research Trust Fund (the History Awards) supports historians, researchers and writers working on non-fiction projects that will significantly enhance our understanding of New Zealand’s past.
Value: $12,000
Deadline: 15 October 2020
For guidelines and the application form, please visit the funders website.
Amelia Earhart Fellowship
2021 Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund
Fund Purpose:
- Strengthen capability, capacity, skills and networks between Māori and the science and innovation system, and
- Increase understanding of how research can contribute to the aspirations of Māori organisations and deliver benefit for Aotearoa.
Key Features:
- Proposal must be co-developed with a Māori organisation
- Proposal must include co-funding at a minimum of 10% of requested amount
- Research must support the themes and outcomes of MBIE’s Vision Mātauranga policy
- Fund includes 2 schemes: ‘connect’ and placement’ – Connect Scheme: Build new connections between Māori organisations and the science and innovation system; Placement scheme: Enhance the development of an individual(s) through placement in a Partner organisation
Grant Value:
The work programme term for both Connect and Placement schemes is up to two years.
- $150,000 (ex GST) – max funding per proposal for projects up to 1 year in length
- $250,000 (ex GST) – max funding per proposal between 1-2 years in length
Internal Deadline: 12 noon Monday 2 November 2020
For further information, including details on eligibility, please visit the MBIE website or contact your RPC
Meetings, Seminars and Events
New Publications
- Tephra characteristics and depositional mechanisms at the Hikurangi subduction margin. Jenni L. Hopkins, Richard J. Wysoczanski, Alan R. Orpin, Jamie D. Howarth, Lorna J. Strachan, Ryan Lunenburg, Monique McKeown, Aratrika Ganguly, Emily Twort and Sian Camp (2020) Quaternary Science Reviews, 247: 105600. https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1bm8i-4PRxn7n
- What we do in the shallows: Natural and anthropogenic seafloor geomorphologies in a drowned river valley, New Zealand, by Sally J Watson, Helen Neil, Marta Ribó, Geoffroy Lamarche, Lorna J Strachan, Kevin Mackay, Steve Wilcox, Tim Kane, Alan Orpin, Scott Nodder, Arne Pallentin, Tilmann Steinmetz, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, section Coastal Ocean Processes. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.579626
- Sediment characteristics and internal architecture of offshore sand ridges on a tideless continental shelf (western Mediterranean), by Ruth Durán, Jorge Guillén, Marta Ribó, Gonzalo Simarro, Araceli Muñoz, Albert Palanques, Pere Puig, published in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4986
Please email content to Bizza for next edition of P-cubed by Friday 12th October