Issue 100 – Tuesday 23 May 2023
Contents
HeadsUp
Robin is away (last I heard, sampling the delights of north-eastern Mississippi), so he has asked me to write a piece for P3. It’s the pointy end of the semester when marking ramps up, as do requests for extensions, so I will keep this short. First, I hope that everyone came through the recent deluges unscathed. If you haven’t noticed, it has been wet! Tāmaki Makaurau has experienced nearly the entire average annual rainfall in the first five months of the year, as this remarkable graph from the Metservice shows. Unfortunately, however, the challenges of a changing climate aren’t limited to Auckland, as this sobering study demonstrates. Anyway, on a more positive note, congratulations to the three colleagues who progressed to the second round of the Marsden fund (Mila Adams, James Muirhead, and Leane Makay) – all the best for writing your full proposals. Commiserations to those who were unsuccessful; I know all too well the hard work involved. So, I will sign off there – noho ora mai, and I hope the inevitable end-of-semester flurry is not too burdensome.
George
General Announcements
Master and Honours Short Extensions
Grace periods are no longer considered for postgraduate degrees, but supervisors can approve 1 month extensions (students are required to pay fees) for Hons and MSc. projects.
Student support for exams S1 2023 – Information for academics
Revising course content and practicing exam questions
- Exam prep workshops from 16th May – 1 June. Held at Epsom and City campuses plus online.
Covers preparing for your exam (organising, clarifying and revising), surviving the exam (before the exam, how to find your exam on Canvas, direction to Inspera support), during the exam (reading time, time management, understanding instructions, types of exam questions).
- Self-paced learning via Learning essentials: Preparing for exams, on exam day, types of exam questions.
- Workshop recording: Exam success: preparing for and surviving your exams.
Study events and support
- AUSA are running a Study Wananga open to all students.
- Study fono are run for Pacific first year students staying in accommodation – eligible students will be contacted directly. This group meets every Monday evening from 7 – 9pm at O’Rourke Hall.
- UniBound are running pastoral sessions for UniBound students from this year – this includes catch ups and some other initiatives where lecturers come to these sessions to support students learning.
Information about exam modes and technical support for exams
- Students will need to check their Exam modes for semester 1 2023.
- Preparation will be different for each mode – suggest students visit on exam day for more information.
- Encourage students to check the FAQs including technical support for during an exam.
- Specifically for online assessments students can find information here: Computer based exams, getting started with Inspera, and preparing for an online exam.
Open Access Agreements – staff email address needed!
Authors must use their staff email address (name@auckland.ac.nz) when using the agreements. The staff email address is needed for affiliation verification purposes. Student email addresses (name@aucklanduni.ac.nz) and other non-university email addresses will not work. Students who are not employed as RA/TA/GTA will need to apply for this ‘staff’ email address from IT – the group services co-ordination or supervisor should do this on their behalf for sub-doctoral students. Alternatively the supervisor or other member of the research team can submit the paper as corresponding author – but they must also use the correct form of their staff email address. Corrections cannot be made retrospectively.
https://research-hub.auckland.ac.nz/open-access/open-access-publishing-agreements
University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship Programme 2023
A reminder the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship is now competitive in four rounds a year. Less scholarships have been awarded by the faculty to date than expected so give it a go in the remaining two rounds of the year!
| Application Closes | Scholarship Offer | Enrolment Date: Domestic Candidate/ Domestic Qualifying Programme | Enrolment Date: International Candidate with International Qualifying Programme |
| 1 November 2022 | 1 February 2023 | 1 March or 1 June 2023 | 1 March, 1 June or 1 September 2023 |
| 1 March 2023 | 1 May 2023 | 1 June or 1 September 2023 | 1 June, 1 September or 1 December 2023 |
| 1 June 2023 | 1 August 2023 | 1 September or 1 December 2023 | 1 September or 1 December 2023 or 1 March 2024 |
| 1 September 2023 | 1 November 2023 | 1 December 2023 or 1 March 2024 | 1 December 2023, or 1 March or 1 June 2024 |
Once awarded the turn around time for students to accept PhD places and scholarships is really tight – 2 weeks. Please ensure that students are checking their nominated email account and student email account near the time of the results announcement. Also please remind them it is necessary to accept both their place in the programme and the scholarship separately. It is a two-step process.
Te Akoranga Kairangi programme for staff – starting 15 June
There is a new cohort starting in June on Thursdays 8.30-10.30 (see these dates below), and we would like to offer the places in this cohort to members of your department.
| Cohort 11-23 | Thursday, June 15, 2023 |
| Thursday, June 22, 2023 | |
| Thursday, June 29, 2023 | |
| Thursday, July 6, 2023 | |
| Thursday, July 13 18, 2023 | |
| Thursday, July 20, 2023 | |
| Thursday, July 27, 2023 | |
| Thursday, August 3, 2023 |
We can take up to 20 people. These classes are in person, in the Fisher Building on Waterloo Quadrant.
We ideally want participants to commit to attending all sessions, but we know this is not always possible due to other commitments, so we have some wriggle room there.
Find here the general information about Te Akoranga Kairangi.
Kind regards, ngā mihi nui,
Alison Jones
Whakawhanaungatanga – Communities
From the Disaster Prevention and Management Seminar team
We would like to kindly extend out an invitation to attend our next in-person major DPM Seminar event. Special guest speaker Iresh Jayawardena, who specialises in ecological-based planning, climate change adaptation, and environmental ethics in urban planning, from Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland will be joining us. He will join us in the Ontology Lab (302-551), in level 5 of the Science Building at the University of Auckland City Campus, to share his insights on mitigating risk through land use.
We hope you can make it! If not, we hope you continue having a wonderful rest of your week.
Ngā mihi,
Martin
ENV EQUITY COMMITTEE
Mālō, Talofa lava, Afio mai, Welcome!
Please join us for a light morning tea to celebrate Samoan Language Week. This event will be held on Wednesday, May 24th at Level 6 (303) in the break-out space! Afio mai! come and grab a quick meaai (food) and let us know what Samoan words you know. There will be a pop quiz and a prize to win! Sau (come) and join on the fun!
Fa’afetai lava.
The Equity Commitee is planning to organise for St John New Zealand to come to the School of Environment to run its Mental Health First Aid training course that any staff member or tutor can sign up to participate in.
The Mental Health First Aid is a full-day long course that teaches you skills and knowledge to recognise and respond to someone experiencing mental health concerns and gives you the confidence to provide initial help and guide a person towards professional help.
As I said previously, any staff member (both permanent and causal) who is involved with students can sign up to do the course as it is designed to help you feel better equipped to recognise the signs of mental distress amongst students (and colleagues) and also help you know what you should do to assist them.
But we only have a limited number of spots available (for twenty people) this time around and we also need to make sure that we get enough people able to attend the course.
Therefore, if you are interested in attending the course, please complete the following doodle poll to register your interest and your availability.
https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/bojrPxBa
Not everyone will be able to do the course this time around, but hopefully we can run the course (if it is popular) later in the year as well.
Ngā mihi,
Meg
Honours and Taught Masters Presentations
Wednesday 7 June, 9 – 11 am, Room 302-G20
The Semester 1 cohort of Honours and Taught Masters students will be presenting their research on Wednesday 7 June, 9-11 am, in Room 302-G20.
- 9.00 am BSCHons Earth Science (2 students).
- 9.20 am Master of Environmental Science (5 students)
- 10.15 am Geography and Environmental Management (4 students)
I encourage staff and PG students to come support those presenting their work. The presentation schedule will appear soon on a notice board near you.
Thanks,
Gretel
Talofa lava, Mālō e lelei, Kia orana, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Talofa ni, Ni sa bula, Fakafeiloaki, Fakatalofa atu, Halo, Gude, Greetings, Tēnā koutou katoa
Abi, ‘Ema and I wanted to invite you to our next He Vaka Moana Talatalanoa.
If you haven’t already been, you are very welcome to come – it’s focused on Māori student and Moana Pacific student success and is offered in the form of a talatalanoa – a continued open discussion – about this topic.
This session we have a guest speaker, Tim Baice, who has been working on the CFT with respect to Pacific.
We were so thrilled to be holding this HVMT, and hope you are able to join us.
Please RSVP if you are wanting to enjoy the light lunch we are catering (there will be vegan and gluten free food but if you have other dietary requirements please email h.seal@auckland.ac.nz to let her know).
Mālō ‘aupito,
Sonia
The Faculty of Science will be holding their 3MT hear on Thursday, 6 July.
About 3MT
Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an exciting, fast-paced research communication competition. It was developed by the University of Queensland and is now held annually in over 900 universities across the globe. Participants take up the challenge to share the story of their research with a general audience in under three minutes, supported by nothing more than a single, static slide.
Entries are open to all currently enrolled research masters students and doctoral candidates.
Date: Thursday, 6 July
Time: 1pm
Registrations close: 10am, Thursday 1 June
| Webinar: Writing Workshops with Write Ltd |
| We invite you to join us for a three-part online workshop series with Write Ltd, who will share tips and techniques to help you make your proposal and academic paper writing more effective and engaging for your readers. They’ll deliver three short, focused sessions to the group, mostly focussing on clarity of messaging and quality of writing. Feel free to register for all 3 or just the 1 or 2 topics of your choice. |
| Key Information
Workshop #1: 26 June 2023, 12pm – 1pm: Top five things you can do to improve your writing. Workshop #2: 3 July 2023, 12pm – 1pm: Engaging your readers, explaining the science. Workshop #3: 10 July 2023, 12pm – 1pm: 8 tips on emphasising the impact of your research. Location: Online via Zoom link Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/writing-workshops-2023-registration-636251143297 Please reach out if you have any questions: aul.researchdevelopment@uoa.auckland.ac.nz |
| [INVITATION] MBIE Endeavour Kick-Off Session with Max Kennedy and Rebecca Adams – 7th June 9:30 – 12:00pm |
| We invite you to join us for the 2024 MBIE Endeavour Kick-off Session on the 7th of June 2023, from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm, with special guest speakers Max Kennedy (former director of MBIE contestable funding) and Rebecca Adams (Director of Government Relations, Auckland UniServices).
Following his five and a half years as the Manager for Contestable Investments at MBIE, Max is now available to help researchers build on their awareness about MBIE Endeavour and use that knowledge to take their proposals to the next level. Teaming up with Max this year, Rebecca Adams will focus on giving an overview and practical advice around areas of research that align with the current Government priorities for the MBIE Endeavour Fund. This session is a strategic value-add for those already familiar with the contestable funding world in Aotearoa. The information provided in this session aims to help researchers gain a better understanding of how the Endeavour fund can be used to meet the grand challenges researchers face to make life better for New Zealanders, how research can be better positioned to issues at the centre of government policy and strategy, and will provide additional insight from Max’s vast experiences at the heart of NZ’s science investment strategy. The session will be primarily presentation based and followed by a Q&A interview, guided by questions received from registrants in advance email toaul.researchdevelopment@uoa.auckland.ac.nz |
| Key Information
– Date: Wednesday the 7th of June 2023 – Time: 9:30am – 12:00pm. – Location: Unleash Space – City Campus, Engineering Building (402) – 20 Symonds Street. – Audience: Targeted to participants who already have a general understanding of the MBIE Endeavour and contestable funding environment in Aotearoa. Open to UoA researchers and research support staff (FIRST). Registration Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/mbie-endeavour-2024-kick-off-session-tickets-606914285967 – |
| [INVITATION] MBIE MBIE Endeavour 2024 – Research Impact Webinar & Workshop with Dr Faith Welch |
| Research Impact Manager, Dr Faith Welch, will be hosting a webinar to give you practical advice on how to plan your MBIE Endeavour funding application to achieve maximum impact. She will cover how to articulate the benefits of your research, and how to develop an implementation plan to ensure those benefits can occur. The session will be an hour, questions are encouraged and there will be at least 15 minutes of Q&A at the end. Following the webinar, if you would like to have a discussion about the impact of your research, please contact Faith at researchimpact@auckland.ac.nz. |
| Key Information:
Date: Tuesday the 20th of June 2023 Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 am. Location: Online via zoom link. Audience: Targeted to UoA researchers and research support staff (FIRST) Registration Link: |
An introductory R Workshop is being run on Thursday 29th and Friday 30 th of June 2023. The course will be run by the Statistical Consulting Centre (SCC) in the Department of Statistics.
What’s covered in the workshop?
Introduction
Getting familiar with R
- Using R Studio and loading projects/scripts
- Basic functions using R
- Reading in Data Files (.csv, .xls/.xlsx)
- Introduction to R Objects. How R thinks (vectors, matrices, basic data formats)
Working with data(sets)
- Cleaning and subsetting
- Merging datasets and reformatting
- Grouping variables and summarising
R graphics
- Starting with plots in R (boxplots, histograms, bar graphs)
- Graphics in R with ggplot2 (customising plots)
Data analysis
- Introduction to performing t-tests, chi-square tests, ANOVA, and general linear models
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 Joei Mudaliar (j.mudaliar@auckland.ac.nz) for payment instructions.
We will be sending out a pre-workshop information email the week prior to the course, however here are some of the details:
Location
We will be in room 302.190. Building 302 is on the corner of Symonds St and Wellesley St. The room we will be using is on level 1, room 190.
Time and schedule
The approximate schedule for both days is attached (since this is the schedule from our previous course, it may yet be altered very slightly).
We will start at 9am and finish at 5pm.
Morning and afternoon tea will be provided, and there are cafes nearby for lunch.
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 RStudio onto your machine before the workshop (they are free to download).
We will also include some instructions on how to do this in our pre-workshop information email.
Access to computers and the 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.
I hope you can make it on the 29th and 30th June 2023, and we look forward to seeing you there.
Ngā mihi (Kind regards),
Joei Mudaliar | Group Services Coordinator
Department of Statistics | Faculty of Science
The University of Auckland | Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau
Sign up and join the student association RTEA and the Compass programme
1/ Please do encourage your students to join our student association RTEA. The new roster of officers is planning exciting activities for this year and they welcome support and contribution from fellow students. To encourage students to join just use the QR codes for the Facebook page and a Google form to formally sign up: https://rtea.auckland.ac.nz/
2/ Do encourage your PG students to also join our Compass programme. Larissa and her team of captains have planned regular activities to foster students’ wellbeing throughout the year.
3/ The Student Experience Committee (SEC) offers a small budget to course coordinators who would like to order some kai to share with their class. Reach out to JC should you be interested.
3k writing grant available for students
Funds are available to support students writing up their thesis as publication(s). Each grant is worth $3000 (120 hours at 25$ all included). There is no deadline to apply. Applications are evaluated as they come by members of Rangahau (2 weeks turn over max.), until we use all the funds available.
Do you have a good candidate in mind? Please complete this form and submit to melanie.kah@auckland.ac.nz.
Proposal development support
The Rangahau Committee has a small fund set aside to help with proposal development (e.g. writing support, support to scope proposals etc). If you have an idea that fits within this scope please get in touch with Kelly Kilpin to discuss further.
Undergrad research experience
We are now recruiting undergrads who would like to gain a research experience with a post-grad student in our School (30-40 hours, they get paid $800). The aim is to promote research and increase enrolment in our research programmes. Feel free to make an announcement in your courses and collect nominations. We have 10 places. We are hoping to match students by the end of the month.
If you would like to nominate an undergrad student who could be part of this programme, please email their name and research interest to melanie.kah@auckland.ac.nz
ENV Masters research seminars 6 June 2023 (rm 302-140)
The seminars are an opportunity for students to present their research and for members of our school to give feedback. To help develop a school culture, staff and students are encouraged to attend. The sessions are grouped loosely by topic.
Phil Shane (DGA)
| (6 June) | Chair Nick Richards | |
| 9.00 | Ema | Nersezova |
| 9.15 | Kerensa | Jennings |
| 9.30 | Amy | Barclay |
| 9.45 | Shreya | Gounder |
| 10.00 | Fei | Guo |
| 10.15 | Niamh | Galligan |
| 10.30 | Kaiqi | Li |
| 10.45 | Sophie | Mansell |
| 11.00 | Saima | Sakik |
| 11.15 | Laurence Lorenza | Suarez |
| 11.30 | Georgia | Woodside |
| 11.45 | Samuel | Scott |
| Chair: George Perry | ||
| 1.00 | Olivia | Avery |
| 1.15 | Hannah | Sussex |
| 1.30 | Charlotte | Ko |
| 1.45 | Grace | May |
Funding
| John Templeton Foundation – Core Funding Areas, Small and Large Grants | |
| The Foundation invests in bold ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries and challenge conventional assumptions. The Small and Large Grants are addressed under the 8 focus areas including
Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Science, and Human Sciences. |
|
| Value/Duration: | Internal Deadlines: |
| •Small grants can be up to US$234,800 (circa NZD373,000) and Large Grants are in excess of US$235,000 (circa NZD374,000).
•Project can be up to 36 months. •No more than 15% can be claimed for overheads. The overhead cost must be included in the total amount you requested |
Internal Deadline for First Stage: 12pm noon, Friday 11 August 2023. |
| Further Information (funding call, guidelines, registration info):
· Website If interested, please inform your FIRST team (Kelly or Sophie). |
|
| Catalyst: Leaders (Round 2) | |
| Catalyst: Leaders supports incoming and outgoing targeted international fellowships for exceptional individuals that cannot be supported through other means. The following funding scheme is open in Round 2:
Julius von Haast Fellowship Award (1 award) Supports an internationally recognised researcher from Germany to undertake research in New Zealand for a minimum of 4 weeks per year for up to 3 years. |
|
| Value/Duration: | Internal Deadlines: |
| Duration: Up to 3 years
Value: $20,000 stipend $20,000 research and travel allowance $10,000 host institution administration |
10 July 2023, 5pm |
| Further Information (funding call, guidelines, registration info):
· Website Email your title, full name, email address, faculty/department and the funder/scheme to the Funds Advisor Team via submissions@auckland.ac.nz to receive the instructions on how to initiate the letter of intent and the application template for the letter of intent. Please also inform your FIRST team (Franca, Dianne or Kelly). |
|
| Catalyst: Seeding (Round 2) | |
| Catalyst: Seeding 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/Duration: | Internal Deadlines: |
| Duration: 24 Months
Value: $80,000 |
5pm, Monday 10 July 2023 |
| Further Information (funding call, guidelines, registration info):
· Funding Call · Website To register to apply, please email the following information to the Funds Advisor Team via submissions@auckland.ac.nz: title (e.g. Dr, A/P, Professor), full name, email address, faculty and department. Please Also inform your FIRST team (Franca, Dianne or Kelly). |
|
| 2023 MBIE Catalyst: Strategic – New Zealand-China Strategic Research Alliance | |
| The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is calling for proposals for joint research collaborations between New Zealand and China.
MBIE will fund up to 4 joint New Zealand-China research projects to support the New Zealand-China Strategic Research Alliance, 2 each in the areas of food science and environmental science. Up to $300,000 over 3 years is available to each successful applicant, with successful projects expected to start in March 2024. New Zealand and China have agreed to support four projects through this funding round, two in each priority area of: • Food Science; and • Environmental Science |
|
| Value/Duration: | Internal Deadlines: |
| Duration: 3 years
Value: $300,000 |
5pm, Monday 10 July 2023 |
| Further Information (funding call, guidelines, registration info):
· Funding Call · Website Submission process: · Applications are submitted via the MBIE IMS Portal. · Returning applicants log in using your existing login details. · New applicants contact the Funds Advisor Team submissions@auckland.ac.nz to create your User Profile. Please Also inform your FIRST team (Franca, Dianne or Kelly). |
|
| Ministry for the Environment – Plastics Innovation Fund Round 2 – Te Tahua Pūtea mō te Kirihou Auaha | |
| The Plastics Innovation Fund supports projects that will minimise plastic waste and its harm on the environment. They are seeking to fund projects that find ways to use less plastic and make what we do use reusable or recyclable. It should be noted that applicants are required to secure at least 50% co-funding. | |
| Value/Duration: | Internal Deadlines: |
|
· EOI deadline from 1 November 2022 to 30 June 2023
· The Funds Advisor team will accept EOIs at any time during this period for a QA check provided that you allow at least 7 working days before final submission to the funder. |
| Further Information (funding call, guidelines, registration info):
Please register or make contact with FIRST (Kelly, Dianne, Franca) if you wish to make a submission. |
|
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
E Update April 2023
Find below the E Update from the HSW team for April 2023