Issue 67 – Monday 25th October 2021
Contents
HeadsUp
The world is full of surprises. Here on the motu, a resident was woken at 3am on the weekend to fine a kororā (little blue penguin) among the dishes on his kitchen bench.
Political surprises too. Who’d have thought of the audacity: a pekapeka (native bat) is on the ballot paper for Bird of the Year (by the way, have you voted yet? I hope so. If, Team Kororā would love you to give our beleaguered penguin top-polling).
Surprises abound. Maybe more so because its spring. I’m annually astonished at the acrobatics of the blossom-crazed tui and the elegance of the new flowering spears on the harakeke (flax).
And, surprise surprise, here we are still locked-down and, for most of us, locked out of our usual workplace. Who’d have thought?
But, to reframe the rhetorical question, haven’t we done well? It’s been bumpy, frustrating, imperfect and isolating …..but, we’ve reached the end of the semester and navigated through the longest lockdown in Auckland. And it ain’t over yet….
As Acting-HoS, should I be surprised we’ve made it this far with so few dramas? Yes and no. Yes, I believe we should never lose the delight at discovering what we can do under trying circumstances. But no, I’m not really surprised.
We are part of a great – and oh so diverse – team. And I am continually and genuinely impressed by the willingness of so many to step in and step up to ensure things get done, students’ needs are met and creative solutions to various challenges developed. Such a healthy culture-shift from many university Departments of old where the Head ruled the roost and autocratic decisions were the daily norm.
That we’re an impressive team, busy working creatively within a distributed leadership structure, was one bit of preliminary feedback offered by the Chair of the External Review Committee. What surprises await in the Review? Will there be surprises or expected imperatives? All I have received so far are indications. But all will be revealed at the annual All-staff ‘Wrap Up’ afternoon on Wednesday 3rd November. Be there (virtually) and we’ll work through the Review Panel’s recommendations….. or else be elsewhere and more surprised than I’d prefer you to be!
Meantime, if you hear a nocturnal clattering in your kitchen, it could just be a kororā hoping for your vote. It’s the season of the birds and spring is the season of surprise.
Oh, and news:
One of our wonderful Technical Services Team had a well-earned surprise last week. Big congratulations to David Adams, recipient of a Special Achievement accolade in the Faculty’s 2021 Professional Staff Excellence Awards. Superb and very big congratulations, David!
Emma Sharp has kindly agreed to be Acting Chair of the School’s Equity Committee while Sonia Fonua is on parental leave.
We received approval from the Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP) for our new Master of Environmental Management which will be a 180 point taught masters (more below). Thanks to Gary, David, Brad and others who made this happen.
And, to reiterate, we have the all-staff Wrap-Up session next Wednesday 3rd November. Please reserve the revised time of 1pm-4pm. ( Zoom invite to follow). We need this duration and need you there to begin ‘digesting’ the External Review report which I expect to receive later this week.
Have a great 20% shortened work week
Robin Kearns 24/10/21
Whakawhanaungatanga – Communities
Half-Earth Day 2021, online conference
Prof. Costello was an invited speaker at the “Half-Earth Day 2021” online conference on 22nd October with over 3,000 registrations and in the eminent company of David Attenborough, E O Wilson, Johan Rockström and others.
Congratulations RTEA!
We have been awarded “Best New Club of the Year” in the 2021 Clubs Awards
We would like to thank all students and stuff who have supported and attended our events throughout the year. We look forward to a long and prosperous future.
IT Committee:
Please let us know by Tue., 26/10, night, if you are planning to request any major new software or data next year that may potentially be covered by the IT Committee’s budget. This is for our information only and of course non-committal. We will send out a broader call later in the year.
Thank you, Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz)
Auckland Council Position, Compliance Monitoring Officer
Maria Dio is recruiting for the Licensing and Compliance Department with the Auckland Council and she is currently looking for people who will be interested to work as a Compliance Monitoring Officer. These roles are Full-time Permanent roles and there are vacancies in North (Orewa based), Central and West Auckland.
Click here to access the link for the position application
Maria’s email: Maria.Dio@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Supervisor Development
Dr Hugh Kearns gave a very useful fabulous webinar on the 7th October called ‘Giving Good Feedback’ and if you didn’t have time for the 2 hour session it may still be worth having a look at the slides and notes distributed.
You can access the notes and the slides of the webinar by clicking the links below:
Feedback(Auckland)(Supervisor) slides
My Feedback Style – self assessment sheet
You also might also be interested in the following supervisor development sessions coming up:
Research Supervision Masterclass Date: Nov 2nd Time: 1000-1230 Book in Career Tools
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
Honours Presentations on Wednesday 27 October
The Honours and MENS (30 point) students will be presenting their research projects on Wednesday 27 October via Zoom. (This is the same day at the Masters presentations.) Please do call by the Zoom room to hear what they are up to.
Further details including the zoom link are in the attached document:
ENV Masters Research Seminars, 27 Oct 2021
REVISED SCHEDULE & ONLINE DELIVERY
FT Year 2021 students will present their masters thesis research. This will be a valuable opportunity for ENV masters students to get feedback, and all staff and PG students are encouraged to attend.
27 Oct 2021
Convenor: Phil Shane (general enquires)
Session 1: 9-11 am, Geology, Geophysics, Earth Sci topics Chair: Martin Brook (contact) https://auckland.zoom.us/j/97684741989 Meeting ID: 976 8474 1989
Session 2: 11 am -12 noon, Env Science & similar topics Chair: Luitgard Schwendenmann (contact) https://auckland.zoom.us/j/92077976961 Meeting ID: 920 7797 6961
Session 3: 1 -3.30 pm, Geography, Env Management & similar topics Chair: Karen Fisher (contact) https://auckland.zoom.us/j/91488686946
Click here for schedule details (Excel file)
AKO Innovation Committee Lecture, 3 Nov 2021, 11-12
Join Zoom Meeting https://auckland.zoom.us/j/91617834976
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\
School of Environment Rangahau Committee Seminar, 17 Nov 2021, 1-3pm
Wednesday 17th November 1-3PM : The School of Environment Rangahau Committee presents an online Seminar on University Researchers’ Engagement with Policy and Practice.
Join us for an interactive School-wide afternoon discussion on Aotearoa New Zealand’s much anticipated new Resource Management legislation. Find out about ways that your research might help inform policy and practice as you learn about government evidence provisioning from the Chief Science Advisors of MfE and DoC.
More details coming soon…
AKO
New programme: Master of Environmental Management
We will soon be offering a new 180 point taught masters degree in Environmental Management. This has just been given the go-ahead from the Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP) and will be available from Semester 1, 2022. It builds upon the long-established PGDipSci and MSc options, and the existing foundations of critical social science will be augmented with new courses with a more applied focus. The fairly tight programme and the core course (701) will ensure that all students get a coherent and well-rounded experience, but with space to include courses from related subjects, as well.
With our recently-appointed new colleagues we will be able to roll out a full programme in 2022:
Semester 1
- ENVMGT 741: Social Change for Sustainability (Georgia Pigott)
- ENVMGT 744: Resource Management (Karen Fisher)
- ENVMGT 749: Environmental Sociotechnologies (Emma Sharp)
- ENVMGT 751: River Management (Gary Brierley)
Semester 2
- ENVMGT 701: Environmental Management in Practice (Brad Coombes + other staff)
- ENVMGT 742: Social Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (Meg Parson)
- ENVMGT 746: Collaborative Environmental Management (Brad Coombes)
- ENVMGT: 748: Coastal Management (Emma Ryan)
Brad Coombes is the Environmental Management programme adviser.
Rangahau – Research
Antarctica field work
Any one preparing funding bids that involve fieldwork in Antarctica is encouraged to contact Esme Robinson (e.robinson@antarcticanz.govt.nz) Science Programme Advisor, at Antarctica New Zealand early in the development of their research plan so that they can support the preparation of a logistically feasible application.
School of Environment Marsden Club
All potential applicants to the next RSNZ Marsden round, are warmly invited to the inaugural meeting of the School of Environment Marsden club which will be held via zoom on Tuesday 26 October from 1-2pm. We’ll hear tips and advice from previous applicants, share useful resources and outline support arrangements to develop a successful application. Please email Sila (katarzyna.sila-nowicka@auckland.ac.nz) or Kathryn Howard (Kathryn.howard@auckland.ac.nz) or use the zoom link below if you’d like to join in.
https://auckland.zoom.us/j/94588258562?pwd=NDZoekRnTzlwdE5wK3dHNC9keGFPdz09
Kind regards
Kathryn
“PLEASE NOTE key information on research continuity through COVID-19 is being updated regularly via COVID-19: Researcher continuity support and information”
Announcing two research positions in Mātauranga Māori
Dan Hikuroa and Jan Lindsay are excited to offer two new research positions exploring the interface between Mātauranga Māori and Earth Science – one at the level of Research Fellow or equivalent, and one for a PhD student. The PhD student will focus on the Auckland Volcanic Field. Both positions will be full time for a period of 3 years, starting as soon as possible.
Please pass on to any colleagues and students who might be interested in applying!
Here is the link to more information:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xw_ae20HZfr07PA6RV6aodRsyXOU8L1O/view?usp=sharing
Summer Research Scholarship – Late Submission
Hi all,
Please find attached the guidelines for the new application process for late submissions for Summer Research Scholarships.
Please note the following:
- The form that was filled out in previous years will no longer be accepted. Instead, there is a spreadsheet that can be accessed via Teams which needs to be filled out. This is a Faculty of Science Teams folder, access will be given to the GSMs, GSCs, RPMs and RPCs. If there is anyone else that you think needs access, please let me know.
- The last day to add SRS details to the Teams spreadsheet is 29th October. After this date, Finance will submit the form to the Scholarships Office. This is to ensure that there is sufficient time for the Scholarships Office to process the applications before the SRS programmes begin in November/December.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact jess.davis@auckland.ac.nz
Student Sustainability Research Awards
We welcome applications for the Faculty of Science Student Sustainability Research Awards. Awards of up to $2,000 each are available to students within the Faculty of Science to support the student’s living costs. $2,000 will be awarded for a full year project that is located within a formal qualification, for example an Honours dissertation, or a Masters or PhD project. For shorter projects up to $500 will be awarded.
The awards are open to applications from postgraduate students who are undertaking a research project and are enrolled (or have recently completed) in the Faculty of Science (or whose primary discipline is administered through the FoS). Supervisors with a project can identify a suitable student and encourage them to apply. Applications for small projects that are not a formal part of the student’s degree or diploma programme will be considered. Preference will be given to non-doctoral students and those without an existing stipend.
Please note that projects can be supervised by any University of Auckland staff member.
This round of awards is suitable for current or recently completed Masters or PhD students, or students who would like to undertake a project over the summer. For students intending to begin their Honours or Masters projects next year we ask that you instead wait to apply in our first 2022 round, which will open in April 2022.
Applications for this round will close at 5pm on Thursday 4 November
For more details, including application forms, please check this link.
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
Near-Miss Fund
***Application Deadline 22 November***
The purpose is to provide support to PIs who successfully progressed to the second stage of a major external funding round but missed out at the final stage. The fund will provide up to $10,000 for research activity that will improve the chances of the project’s success in a future round. We envisage being able to fund up to 10 applications in the 2021 round. Note – targeted funders are MBIE, HRC and Marsden or similar (the deadline has been set so that unsuccessful Marsden applicants will have time to submit an application if they wish). The Near Miss Fund Guidelines and Application form can be found on the staff intranet.
Fostering Collaborations fund
***Application Deadline 22 November***
This fund is to provide support to clusters of staff wishing to develop and deepen collaborations across the Faculty and beyond. The fund will provide up to $20,000 for research-related activity that will support initiatives that may:
- a) Lead to the development of a School/Department, Faculty, or University level Research Centre under the new Research Centres policy
- b) Continue and enhance the activities facilitated by those existing Faculty Research Themes that are still active
- c) Enhance existing or seed new transdisciplinary research collaborations
- d) Lead to the submission of a collaborative bid to an external research funding agency
We envisage being able to support up to 15 applications in the 2021 round. The Fostering Collaborations Fund Guidelines and Application form can be found on the staff intranet.
Transport Research Scholarships
***Application Deadline 12 November***
Te Manatū Waka–Ministry of Transport and Waka Kotahi, NZ Transport Agency have established, and jointly fund, new Transport Research Scholarships. The scholarships were established to support students undertaking postgraduate research focusing on transport and its role and impact on Aotearoa New Zealand society. Many of the suggested topics are Engineering/Science related but there are also topics relating to sustainability, wellbeing, supply chains, data governance, economic productivity, equity, infrastructure, compliance. You can find all the details using these links:
Transport Research Scholarships | Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara (universitiesnz.ac.nz)
Transport Research Scholarships Regulations.pdf (universitiesnz.ac.nz)
MBIE 2022 Endeavour Fund: transforming New Zealand’s future
***Smart Ideas Registration Deadline 22 October***
The Fund aims too:
• support research science or technology, or related activities that have high potential to positively transform Aotearoa New Zealand’s economic, environmental, and societal outcomes, and give effect to the Vision Mātauranga policy; and
• drive an increasing focus on: excellent research; and, the potential for impact in areas of future value, growth or critical need for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Smart Ideas are intended to catalyse and rapidly test promising, innovative research ideas with high potential for benefit to New Zealand, to enable refresh and diversity in the science portfolio.
• Value: $0.4 – $1 million over the term of the contract
• Duration: 2 or 3 years
• Registration Deadline – Friday 22 October 2021
• Concepts Deadline – Tuesday 16 November 2021
Research Programmes are intended to support ambitious, excellent, and well-defined research ideas which will have credible and high potential to positively transform New Zealand’s future in areas of future value, growth, or critical need (as set out in the Investment Signals).
• Value: $0.5 million or more per year
• Duration: 3, 4 or 5 years
• Registration deadline: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
• Full proposal: Friday 18 February 2022
Guidelines and other important documents are available from your RPC or via the MBIE Endeavour Fund Website.
Support initiatives: There are a number of support initiatives running for both Smart Idea and Research Programmes. If you intend to apply and haven’t yet made contact with your RPC please do so asap.
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
Publications
Thomson SA, Thiele K, Conix S, Christidis L,· Costello MJ, Hobern D, Nikolaeva S, Pyle RL, van Dijk PP, Weaver H, Zachos FE, Zhang Z-Q, Garnett ST. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species II. Consequences of inadequate taxonomic list governance. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. in press. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00518-8
Kanakiya, S., Adam, L., Rowe, M. C., Lindsay, J. M., & Esteban, L. (2021). The role of tuffs in sealing volcanic conduits. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2021GL095175. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095175
Comprehensive framework for human health risk assessment of nanopesticides
M Kah, LJ Johnston, RS Kookana, W Bruce, A Haase, V Ritz, J Dinglasan, …
Nature Nanotechnology 16 (9), 955-964
Brierley, G., Fryirs, K., Reid, H., & Williams, R. (2021). The dark art of interpretation in geomorphology. Geomorphology, 390, 107870.
Brierley, G., Tunnicliffe, J., Bizzi, S., Lee, F., Perry, G., Poeppl, R., & Fryirs, K. (2021). Quantifying Sediment (Dis) Connectivity in the Modeling of River Systems. Treatise in Geomorphology. Elsevier
Fryirs, K., & Brierley, G. (2021). Assemblages of geomorphic units: A building block approach to analysis and interpretation of river character, behaviour, condition and recovery. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
Fryirs, K., & Brierley, G. (2021). How far have management practices come in ‘working with the river’? Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
Hikuroa, D., Brierley, G., Tadaki, M., Blue, B., & Salmond, A. (2021). Restoring Sociocultural Relationships with Rivers: Experiments in Fluvial Pluralism. River Restoration: Political, Social, and Economic Perspectives, 66-88.
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 Isabella for next edition of P-cubed by Friday