Issue 65 – Monday 27th September 2021
Contents
HeadsUp
So, we’ve descended a level. The main indicator as I walked the beach this evening was the smells of deep-fried food and fresh-roasted coffee from up at the shops. Last night, however, two parties raged across the valley with a crowd singing ‘happy birthday’ about 2am. Clearly, some have unilaterally declared it to be Level 1 already.
Back at 23 Symonds St, however, it is firmly Level 3. I therefore I appreciate your patience with the regulations if you’re one of those eager to return to your lab. While the Head of School has authority in terms and times of access, decisions become a tough call when the incumbent’s only usual piece of kit is a laptop. I’ve therefore been grateful to have Jenny Salmond assisting me. Along with Blair Sowman, we’re working through requests. Do please recognise that Level 3 won’t last forever and that funding agencies along with the School of Graduate Studies are invariably offering wiggle room.
Speaking of kit, even the simplest of equipment can be trying in these times. Mysteriously, my laptop’s keyboard recently stopped being receptive to taps on the letter ‘e’. Now, comrades, try to write a sentence e-free! My future with only four vowels was looking rather bleak for a while. I’m grateful, however, to Michael our ever-resourceful manager for brokering a solution. I’m also appreciative to four colleagues who, at very short notice each wrote a report when I had missed the fine print on yet another administrative procedure. These have all been reminders of a what a great team we’re part of.
A curious little story to end. A couple of days before the latest lockdown, our Faculty Assistant Jignasha delivered me a note in distantly familiar handwriting. I just about fell over, metaphorically. It was from my final year high school Geography teacher, someone I’ve had no contact with in the 45 years since. The note conveyed that she was taking a Stage 1 Earth Science course and was keen to meet up.
Lockdown then intervened and we have yet to meet. But I did find it interesting to subsequently hear she had withdrawn from the course, “wanting to be there in person, not spend more time on the computer’. Fair enough -we’re all pretty much over it, aren’t we?
So, how is your morale at present? Do you have any ideas for how we can keep connected and maintain our personal and collective wellbeing in this slow elevator ride down to Level 1? Do please let me know if you do. All ideas will be gratefully considered. There may even been modest funds to support a plausible initiative.
Last year was tough as we rapidly upskilled and stumbled our way into new ways of engagement. My hunch is that this year has been different; is been both easier and harder. We’ve known what to do but, perhaps more so than last time, we’d so rather not be doing it.
On Friday a colleague told me they’d had enough of zoom and had booked an annual leave day for Monday. What a fine idea, look after yourself I said. And I say that to everyone. We’re in unusual times so, if you feel the need, take steps to look after yourself. Even if it’s annual leave with the novelty of going nowhere for a day. Or maybe taking leave to get that Level 3 contactless flat white.
Robin Kearns 26 09 21
Whakawhanaungatanga – Communities
Te wiki o te reo Māori/ Māori Language
In celebration of Te wiki o te reo Māori/ Māori Language Week Benjamin Jones and colleagues have created a storymap to learn more about the place names of archaeological sites around Aotearoa. It contains an interactive map with over 4000 names across Aotearoa and an associated kōrero of how important these names are for understanding archaeological landscapes.
link : Te Reo Place Names of Aotearoa’s Archaeological Past (arcgis.com)
Student Support
If students are struggling support is available:
Te Papa Manaaki | Campus Care https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/student-support/te-papa-manaaki-campus-care.html
Financial Support https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/fees-and-money-matters/financial-support.html
Covid will have likely have impacted progress for many so there are Postgraduate Extensions and Fee Waivers programmes. Note International students will need to consider visas!
Honours and Masters (as you know who will have been impacted please don’t wait for the last few days before the submission deadline to apply!)
Doctoral
If any doctoral students are ‘twiddling their thumbs’ because they can’t get into labs or do fieldwork it may be a good time for them to generally upskill:
Note to supervisors: Domestic PhD Admissions of those eligible for the guaranteed University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarships are up so it has become even more competitive for international applicants. Please manage expectations around this as you communicate with international enquiries.
Upcoming Events
H5P Practical tips series – How to intergrate interactive online activities into teaching
Link : https://auckland.zoom.us/j/93152663177
UoA Ethics process & researching with Maori
Link : https://auckland.zoom.us/J/98028798821
ENV Seminar series + Drinks
Join us on Friday, October, 1 from 4 pm to learn about research your colleagues do. All staff members and students from the School of Environment are warmly invited to attend this brilliant seminar. As you may be already aware we are running the seminars every “three” months and so far they have been incredibly fascinating.
In the upcoming ENV Seminar, we will have three amazing presenters: Ingrid Ukstins, Pankaj Sharma and Georgia Piggot and their talks will be accompanied by virtual drinks.
Friday, October 1, 16:00 – 17:00, Location: Zoom Meeting
https://auckland.zoom.us/j/8698433089
ENV Masters Research Seminars, 27 Oct 2021
Rm 302-130
Masters thesis students who enrolled in S1, 2021 will present their research results or progress in 10 minute talks as part of a seminar series. This is designed to assist them with the direction of their project based on feedback from staff. Thus, staff attendance is encouraged. For students it is good experience/skill for potential future employment. A staff member will moderate the session. The student’s supervisor will introduce the student as required.
Tentative schedule:
9-11 am: Earth Science/Geology/Engineering
11-12 noon: environmental science or related
12 -1 lunch in 4th floor tearoom
1-3 pm: Geography/environmental management or related
COVID Alert level: This is an on-campus seminar series. It does not involve Zoom-style or digital presentations from off-campus sites. The meeting will only be held if it meets university alert level requirements.
Science Research Showcase Show & Tell and Online Exhibition
The Science Research Showcase Organising Committee is pleased to invite you to the Science Research Showcase Show & Tell that will take place on:
Tuesday 28 September 11 am to 12 pm on Gather Town
The Science Research Showcase is our annual event showcasing the research of science doctoral candidates and research masters. Please join the Show & Tell session to support fellow science research students, celebrate their projects and vote for your favourite poster for People’s Choice awards!
You can also take a virtual tour of the Science Research Showcase any time until Friday 22 October and vote on your favourite poster there!
New to Gather town? Watch this short video tutorial to get started on your first Gather Town journey – it’s fun and interactive, just like real life!
Coastal flooding: From local to global predictors Charline Dalinghaus (PhD Proposal)
Zoom link https://auckland.zoom.us/j/91615452664?pwd=RW9hOXBkN3ljaU1ubGNUQk5JTWhJdz09
ESP Mini Conference 2021: Save the Date!
The Auckland Emerging Spatial Professionals are excited to announce this year’s mini conference (covid permitting). More information to follow but for now – keep Saturday 13th November 2021 free in your calendars!
Register here: https://fb.me/e/HS2t88dX\
Rangahau – Research
Research Assistant position available
The Sustainability Practices for a Future-focussed Faculty Initiative is concerned with finding gaps and opportunities for the Faculty of Science (FoS) to achieve a higher degree of sustainability. The research team is examining potential pathways for transitioning to new ways of doing things regarding our carbon emissions, lab-based teaching and research, and our sustainability mindset. The team is seeking input from the Faculty of Science’s staff and postgraduate students, which will help inform the University’s sustainability strategy. Engagement will include interviews and surveys. The data will be collected and coded in NVivo with the support of three Research Assistants (RAs), and the analysis and insights will be informed by transition theory frameworks. The initiative is led by Robin Kearns, Gillian Lewis (Associate Dean Sustainability), and Caroline Roughneen (FoS Strategic Projects Manager). The initiative leaders have appointed a Research Fellow (RF), Dr Barbara Ribeiro, to act as Project Lead (designing the research structure, providing a theoretical grounding, and day to day project management). We are seeking a further suitably qualified RA experienced in conducting interviews and undertaking qualitative research. Theis researcher would start at the primary data collection phase (mid-October) and continue until the project is completed by December 17th. Pay rate to be assessed by experience and qualifications by HR. For further information and /or to apply, please contact Barbara at b.ribeiro@auckland.ac.nz.
Funding Call
Endeavour Fund Roadshows: 2022 Investment Round
The Endeavour Fund Roadshows for the 2022 investment round will be presented virtually on 4, 11 and 12 October, 2021. Please join us then.
At the roadshows, we will:
- review the 2021 round
- highlight changes related to the new Investment Plan for the Fund
- provide an overview of Smart Ideas and Research Programmes mechanisms, available funding, application process, key dates
- cover eligibility, investment signals and impact categories, assessment criteria, changes in the assessment process, and key documents.
To register, please visit the MBIE website.
If you are intending to apply for either a Smart Idea, or Research Program, please get in touch with either Kathryn, Franca or Kelly so you can keep up to date with all the support available.
MBIE 2022 Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund
The Fund aims to:
- 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
Funding is available through two schemes, each in support of the Fund’s aims:
- 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
The work programme term for both Connect and Placement schemes is up to 2 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
Key elements (see Call for Proposals for full eligibility requirements):
- Proposals must be co-developed with a Māori organisation (with either UoA or Māori organisation as lead contractor, and the other as the partner organisation)
- Proposals must include co-funding at a minimum of 10% of requested amount
- Proposals must not include any full-time tertiary or school students
- For the placement scheme, the proposal must name the placement individual(s)
- Funding must not be for activities for the same purpose already funded by any government agency
- Research project must directly strive to achieve the Fund’s aims and support the themes and outcomes of MBIE’s Vision Mātauranga policy (Indigenous Innovation, Taiao, Hauora/Oranga, Mātauranga (and not solely address hauora/health
For further information, please visit the funders website
Internal Deadline: 12 noon, Tuesday 2 November 2021
Proposal support: This scheme has been designated as a ‘High Value Bid’ based on the close strategic alignment with University priorities. Additional proposal development support will be available, in the form of a webinar/Q&A session, assessment panel, and potential bid-writing support. Please get in touch with your RPC to register your interest in this funding scheme for further information.
MBIE are also hosting a webinar on 12 October to talk you through the application process and answer your questions. Register here
Catalyst Fund: Seeding (Round 3)
This fund facilitates new small and medium pre-research strategic partnerships that cannot be supported through other means, and with a view to developing full collaborations that could be supported through Catalyst: Strategic over time. Funding is for research exchanges, research activities, and expenses related to hosting workshops for new strategic research partnerships with international collaborators.
Value: A maximum of NZ$80,000 (excl. GST) is available per proposal for projects lasting up to two years.
Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 12 October 2021
For further information, please visit the funders website
Catalyst Fund: NZ – Japan Joint Research Projects
Funding for research exchanges, research activities, and expenses related to hosting meetings in collaboration with Japanese researchers. Up to 3 joint research projects may be funded in the current round.
Value: Up to $30,000 per annum for up to two years
∙ The NZ PI and the Japanese PI must make applications to their respective application administrators in both Japan and NZ. More information can be found on the JSPS website
∙ Please note the application date in Japan (08 September 2021) is earlier than the application deadline in New Zealand
Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 12 October 2021.
For further information, please visit the funders website
Catalyst Leaders – JSPS HOPE Meeting (Round 3)
HOPE Meetings are held for excellent graduate students and young researchers specially selected from countries/areas around the Asia-Pacific and Africa region. These meetings give an opportunity for the participants to engage in interdisciplinary discussions with Nobel Laureates and other distinguished scientists pioneering the frontiers of knowledge
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions the HOPE Meeting will take place online.
Eligibility:
(1) Be a PhD student or young researcher (receiving their PhDs after 2 April 2016) with a record of excellent academic performance
(2) Be able to participate in the entire Meeting programme
(3) Not have been selected to participate in any past HOPE Meetings
Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 12 October 2021
Publications
SCHLOFFEL-ARMSTRONG, S., BAKER, T. & KEARNS, R. 2021. Geographies of the public library: Institutions, architectures, interactions. Geography Compass (published online 16.08.21) doi: 10.1111/gec3.12592
OPIT, S., WITTEN, K., KEARNS, R. and FERGUSSON, E. 2021. Density in the suburbs: families with children adapting to living in a medium density social housing development. Urban Policy and Research. (published online 7 September, 2021) doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2021.1974830
JAMES, B, COLEMAN, T., CRAM, F. BATES, L., KEARNS, R. 2021. Pathways to Renting among Older Former Homeowners. NZ Population Review 47, 225-261.
Sharp EL, Haszard J, Egli V, Roy R, Te Morenga L, Teunissen L, Decorte P, Cuykx I, de Backer C and Gerritsen S (2021) Less Food Wasted? Changes to New Zealanders’ Household Food Waste and Related Behaviours due to the 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown. Sustainability 13 (18), 10006.
Sayre R, Martin M, Cress J, Butler K, VanGraafeiland K, Breyer S, Wright D, Frye C, Karagulle D, Allen T, Allee RJ, Parsons R, Nyberg B, Costello MJ, Muller-Karger F, Harris P. 2021. Earth’s coastlines. In: Wright D. & Harder C. (eds), GIS For Science, Volume 3: Maps for Saving the Planet. Esri Press, Redlands, California, Chapter 1, 4-27 pp.
Gordó-Vilaseca C, Lavin CP, Costello MJ. 2021. Climate warming impacts on communities of marine species. In: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier, 2021, ISBN 9780124095489, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821139-7.00105-7.
Kocsis, Á. T., Zhao, Q., Costello, M. J., and Kiessling, W. 2021. Not all biodiversity richspots are climate refugia. Biogeosciences https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-179.
Arfianti T., Costello MJ. 2021. The distribution of benthic amphipod crustaceans in Indonesian seas. PeerJ 9, e12054. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12054
More Information
Need to store and share research data? Request Research storage or UoA Dropbox for research
Queries about virtual machines? Virtual machine consult or Nectar Research Cloud?
ResearchHub: connects people, resources, and services -research-hub.auckland.ac.nz
Remote working issues: Please refer to the remote working page. If you do not find the answers to your questions, please log a call on the IT Portal for any IT-related issues or contact the Staff Service Centre for other queries.
Two-factor Authentication : Authy
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html
YubiKeys work but of course require a USB port.
VPN: Instructions on how to install
VPN, Linux: FortiClient is running fine on Linux. Check the VPN link listed above.
VPN, Mac desktops: (information from April, may be outdated). Students may need IT to make their machines mobile and install FortiClient directly from the website. They will also need to set-up two-factor authentication by downloading an app like “Authy” on their phones and then setting up their University of Auckland account. I suggest people do this part before IT gets to them to make the process faster. To do that, they can use the instructions on this page:
To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.
FlexIT and Remote Access
FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.
Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis. This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis. Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..
FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.
FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html. It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.
Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.
“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1
Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “
(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.
Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.
Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html
Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday