HeadSUP

Exciting news this week, with Brendon Blue winning post-doc funding from the George Mason Centre and Kathy Campbell and Te Ao Mārama getting the nod for the next Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture Series.

Geoff Lerner’s excellent Bulletin of Volcanology paper on the explosive history of Mt Taranaki generated media interest, and George Perry featured in the UK Guardian’s piece on the Nelson fires.

Last week the ENV staff got together over lunch for the first meeting of the year, a chance to reflect on our shared and individual objectives for 2019 in the context of the school’s three pillars – Ako (Teaching & Learning), Rangahau (Research) and Whanaungatanga (Communities).

Robin Kearns will continue working with the academic committee in the Head of Ako role, Giovanni Coco is Head of Rangahau and working with the research committee, and Karen Fisher is heading Whanaungatanga, which will involve the outreach, student experience and equity committees.

Lastly, well done and fingers-crossed for everyone who submitted a Marsden application, good luck to those of us who are on the final sprint to the MBIE Endeavour funding deadline, and enjoy your last days of quiet in the run-up to Semester 1!

Ngā mihi
JR

ENV Strategic Plan 2019-2021

Every year come August the School submits a 3-year rolling strategic plan to Faculty. The plan includes objectives for the years ahead, a review of progress against objectives previously set, and a wish-list for resourcing, generally related to staffing and infrastructure.

Operation of the school plan is shared, right down to the individual, via our committee structure and academic groups. This year’s plan, much like the plans before, sets out aspirational objectives. Effective operation of the plan requires creative and strategic input by everyone.

The plan is always developed through consultation via the academic groups and executive committee (now steering group). This year we will create space in the mid-year retreat for discussion of progress against the 2019-2021 plan and priorities for the 2020-2022 plan.

Perspectives on Life in the Universe

Te Ao Mārama – Centre for Fundamental Enquiry, with Kathy Campbell of ENV as director, has been awarded the VC Lecture Series for 2019/2020.

Leading international astrophysicists and astrobiologists will be brought together with researchers at the University of Auckland to explore fundamental questions about the nature and evolution of the universe and its life.  Te Ao Mārama—Centre for Fundamental Inquiry, a new research centre in the Faculty of Science with members from across the University, is committed to addressing big questions — the search for life in the universe, the origin and nature of life itself, and the understandings of such questions across cultures, and underpinning philosophical issues — in a way that transcends disciplinary boundaries. The series will include lectures, as well as a planned panel discussion moderated by Kim Hill, contingent on scheduling later this year.

“Watch this space” for more information later in the year.

Annual Leave

All staff including research fellows and research assistants accrue annual leave at a rate of 25 days per year, pro-rata according to FTE. This total includes the standard university holidays at Easter and over the Christmas-New Year break. Note that leave accrues when on Research and Study Leave, and Maternity Leave.

Annual leave is important for health and wellbeing and we encourage everyone, including those on R&SL, to take their full entitlement every year. It is ENV policy to complete a LEAVE PLANNER and return it to Samantha (Samantha.huang@auckland.ac.nz), who will enter these dates into PeopleSoft HR on your behalf.

Thank you to those who have sent through your leave planners for 2019.

Have you accrued leave from previous years? Accrued leave poses a significant financial risk to the school. If you have leave owing, please make a plan to clear this leave within the current year or within the term of your contract, whichever comes up first.

From the Research Committee

Board Award

Marian Cranwell Prize ($3,000)

The Prize will be awarded annually to the student who, in the opinion of the selection panel, completed the best thesis or dissertation focusing on the areas of environmental or ecological science, including the cultural history of environmental areas, in fulfillment of the requirements for a Masters or PhD degree.
This is open to SoE students!

PBRF 2019

The call is out! Apply, apply and apply!

Conference Fund

Here are some useful details.

• Each PBRF eligible member of staff is entitled to apply for up to $3500 to support the attendance at a conference within a three-year window.
• We are currently within the 2018-2020 conference fund window.
• The University and School allocate money to the fund on an annual basis. As such, it is possible for us to exhaust the annual allocation.
• Once the annual funds are exhausted, no further applications will be considered during that year.
• You must pay for travel expenses and conference registration in 2019.

Did you know that…

The Faculty has two internal support mechanisms to help you with your funding applications.

1. Supporting the development of high quality applications for large research projects.

There is a limited fund to support the preparation of large applications to for example MBIE. While there is no official limit on each proposal the fund would generally expect to provide support between $500 and $8000.  This could be used for writing assistance, hosting/attending meetings with collaborators, stakeholder engagement, matching other support from for example Funds and Submission, and accessing data that will help the case for maximum benefit to NZ (eg market reports).

Please email Wendy Rhodes (w.rhodes@auckland.ac.nz) with a short description of the project, the funding agency, what the funds are to be used for, when you plan to resubmit and whether you have other support to develop the proposal.

  2. Near-miss Funding

This funding is for PI’s who have successfully progressed to the second stage of a major funding round, but missed out at the final stage.  Information and an application form can be found here

VGP Meeting

The Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology (VGP) research group is beginning to meet again now that the semester has started! Our first meeting of the year will be on 14 March from 11 to 12 in 302-140. Talks will be given by Daniel Bertin and by Danielle Charlton. Please feel free to come along! 

If you would like to be added to the VGP mailing list or have questions, please contact Sophia Tsang (s.tsang@auckland.ac.nz). Speakers and events will also be posted on our website: https://vgp.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/

DPM Seminar

Title: Indigenous people in disaster: an insider’s perspective

When/Where: 303-G15, 26 February 11AM

Celebration

It is the 30^th anniversary of a book I co-authored with a mate from doctoral days (we had the same supervisor), a research text ‘Karst Geomorphology and Hydrology’ (Unwin, 1989). The book, including its second edition ‘Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology’ (Wiley, 2007) and its Chinese translation (China University of Geosciences Press, 2015), has had about 5000 citations according to Google – and still going strong – making it probably the most influential book in its field ever published.

[For the uninitiated, karst covers 14.7% of the ice-free continental area and supplies water to about 20-25% of the world’s population, but covers less than 3% of NZ which is why we don’t hear much about it here].

Paul Williams, Emeritus Prof

Research Updates

If you are an AI on a MBIE proposal, please let our RPCs know, Vanessa and Amy can provide a costing and prepare a MOU.

Vanessa Castro v.castro@auckland.ac.nz
Amy Weir amy.weir@auckland.ac.nz

Arts Cross-faculty Collaborations

The Faculty of Arts has funded ten new diverse and innovative projects to encourage research collaboration within Arts, and between Arts and other faculties.
Click here for further information

Auckland Antarctic Science Meet Up

Seminar – Prof. Peter Barrett
Title: How the Antarctic Ice Sheet formed, then waxed and waned over the last 30 million years – secrets revealed from the drilling programs, 1973 to today
When/Where: Thursday 21 Feb – 6PM. MacGregor Seminar Room, Old Biology Building, University of Auckland, 3 Symonds St. 

Further details can be found on facebook here
Meet Up details here

Geoscience Society of NZ Auckland Branch and Geology Club

Next meeting: Epsom Community Center, 200 Gillies Ave, Epsom. Opens at 7.30 PM for 7.45 PM start

Further information here

Short Course in Japan – by Geodiscovery 

Applications are now open for the Postgraduate short course in 3D Structural Geology, Paleoenvironmental and Geophysical Methods, for Scientific Drilling

Venue: Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Dates: 17 – 30 June 2019 (+ optional field trip around Hokkaido 1-5 July)

The short course course comprises three individual Hokkaido Summer Institute papers. You can apply for any one of these but we strongly recommend you join all three.

If you think you’d like to participate, note that applications must be submitted online between 1 Feb and 28 Feb 2019 at
https://hokkaidosummerinstitute.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/applications/admission.html
Submitting an application doesn’t commit you to attending, but if you don’t apply at this time you absolutely cannot attend!

More information can be found here

Call for papers

“In collaboration with our team of Guest Editors, PLOS ONE is calling for submissions spanning the intersection of ecological, climatological, and sociological patterns and processes within urban systems. Urbanisation is a key aspect of anthropogenic global change in the 21st century, and understanding its impacts is a critical challenge for contemporary science.”

Please see here for further information

From Previous Issue

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The Award board

Have you nominated a colleague for the UoA Early Career Research Excellence Awards?
The 2019 guidelines and application form are here. But if you have no time, please make a suggestion to any of the RC members.

School staff meetings and events 2019

Now that we have P-cubed up and running we don’t need to spend so much time listening to notices and updates in monthly staff meetings. Instead, this year we will trial limiting our whole school meetings and events to the following (*staff attendance expected unless on leave):

• *Pre-S1 Setting the kaupapa (strategic plan) for the year and lunch (currently scheduled for  12-2pm Feb 13)
• *Two Strategic Engagement Forums in lieu of the current HoS Seminar Series (under the auspices of the Research committee), timing to be advised.
• *One one-day offsite retreat (to be held in the week following the end of teaching in Semester 1, week starting 10 June)
• *End-S2 Wrap-up and lunch (to be held from 10-2pm in the week following the end of teaching Semester 2)
• ENV Awards ceremony (early November)
• School End of Year Party

In addition, we will kick-off brownbag lunches with various groupings of people (lecturers, senior lecturers, APs, Profs, technical and professional staff, PTFs/STs, students) to provide opportunity for discussion and reflection on topics of relevance to the school.

Wednesday morning teas will continue in the Level 6 common space – a box of chocolate biscuits can be collected from Simrin at 10.30 am.

PBRF and Conference Funds

Adverts and guideline are about to be sent out. Stay tuned.

Seminar – Geoffrey Lerner

The PhD Student Committee invites you to Geoffrey Lerner’s PhD Seminar on

When/Where: February 21st 4-5pm in 320-G20.

Title:“Applying multiple methods to understand lava dome growth and destruction, Mt Taranaki, New Zealand”

Please bring along your favorite nibbles to share. Following the talk, there will be an opportunity to ask plenty of questions and celebrate Geoffrey’s achievement at Old Government House.

Please see details in the attached flyer and get ready for a great talk.

Seminar – Software

The PhD Student Committee invites you to the first Software Seminar in 2019 focusing on presentation skills, graphics, and video making. Come along if you’d like to learn more about recording and editing videos, making easy but great vector graphics and the presentation software Prezi.

When/Where: February 19th, 12pm in 302-G20

Everybody is welcome to attend and pizzas will be served.

Please see details in the attached flyer and don’t hesitate to contact us (enquiries to Leonie Peti lpet986@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

10th Workshop on Volcanic Lakes

In name of the IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Lakes and GNS Science, New Zealand, we are delighted to present you the SECOND CIRCULAR of our upcoming 10th WORKSHOP ON VOLCANIC LAKES, to be held from 17 to 25 MARCH 2019 in Taupo and Rotorua, New Zealand.

The Workshop will be built around 8 Scientific Symposia during the first three days, followed by field work at Ruapehu, Waimangu and Lake Rotomahana.  A post-CVL10 field trip to White Island is optional.

The second circular is attached, together with the official documentation of NZ Customs to enter your scientific gear. You can find a detailed program, the scientific symposia, online registration procedure and costs in the attached circular.

For any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us through b.christenson@gns.cri.nz
We hope to meet you all at the shores of Lake Taupo in March 2019.