HeadSup

Kia ora koutou

People are continuing to come and go on Level 6. Hayley who did a terrific job setting up P-cubed has headed off to Australia for a new adventure and shortly Chris will be leaving his role as Academic Services Coordinator to take up a new opportunity in timetabling. Thank you and we wish you both well. Happily, Alex has arrived as Simrin’s replacement – welcome.

I’m delighted to highlight the inaugural ENV Careers Expo, an initiative that developed because one of our PG students saw a gap that needed filling and had the energy and perseverance to make something happen. Good job Michaela! It would be great to see lots of students pass through the Expo; please give it a big plug in classes and encourage research students along.

In the last budget we were awarded three new positions for the School (PTF environmental science/Pacific; S/SL Earth Sciences: Prof Environmental Management). Some of you may be wondering where we are up to in the appointments process. All advertisements are now closed. Currently we are interviewing for the PTF position and hope to have an outcome in the next few weeks. For the Earth Sciences position we have selected an initial short-list and are arranging skype interviews so that we can narrow the field to 2 or 3 people who will be invited for face-to-face interviews and presentations. The Professorial position is in the short-listing phase.

Lastly, it is super exciting to see Shane’s efforts to secure a new top-end microprobe pay off. Together with our LA-ICPMS, XRF and ITRAX, this piece of kit cements our first-class geochemical analytical capability. We expect to start commissioning mid-year with full operation anticipated September. Now is your chance to improve the School’s research and teaching infrastructure and assets: the 2020 CapEx round is open!

For your Diary

Graduation	1 May: Faculty Celebration Breakfast 7.30-8.45am Environment Celebration Afternoon Tea       4.00pm	Level 6 Common Space Building 302
Faculty research induction day	15 April, 1-6 pm (with 5-6 pm for refreshments & networking)	303-G15
ENV Annual Retreat – all staff	Wednesday 12 June, 9.00-17.00
ENV Careers Expo	3 April, 1.30-3.00pm	302-140
2020 CapEx Round	Submit applications to Blair Sowman by April 19

Faculty research induction day

The Faculty Research Support team is planning a Research Induction Afternoon for new staff, and staff who feel they would like to have a refresher on research support.

This will take place on 15 April 2019, 1.00 pm – 6.00 pm (with 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm for refreshments and networking); Location: 303-G15

This session will cover a range of topics including where to go for research support, what funds are available and how to apply for them, and the importance of impact and Vision Mātauranga in grant proposals. If you have specific topics you would like covered please let us know. For more information, please contact Wendy Rhodes or  Kathryn Howard.

This has been advertised in the faculty; please encourage any new staff to attend. RSVP to Brittany Bennenbroek by 8 April 2019.

Funding success

International Central Network and Partnership Grant – Sila has been awarded funding to establish links with the Australasian Spatial Information Education and Research Association (ASIERA) – we look forward to hearing more about this association.

Welcome to the school! 

Your new Group Services Administrator (Simrin’s replacement)

A very warm welcome to Alexandra Soudlenkova who is the newest member of the Group Services team and joined the School on 20^th March as Group Services Administrator.

Alex brings with her excellent organisational and administrative skills having spent the last 10 years as a Pharmacist. Her attention to detail and excellent interpersonal skills give us every confidence she will do a great job supporting the School of Environment.

Alex is based on Level 6 (Environment Reception), so please feel free to introduc yourself to Alex when you pass by and welcome her to the School.

“Hello the Enviro world,

My name is Alexandra Soudlenkova, and as I’m sure you know, I’m the new Group Services Administrator for the School of Environment. Please, don’t hesitate to reach out with anything you need, I’m happy to help!

I’m really looking forward to getting up to speed in this new position – I know I have some big shoes to fill! If you have any quick tips for success in this role, don’t hold back 😊

Happy to be part of the team,

Alexandra – And, yes, Alex will do just fine 😊” 

New Intern with Dr Lorna

A very warm welcome to Joshua Malone, a 3^rd year Geology major from Augustana College, USA, who is completing an 8 week internship with Dr Lorna Strachan. Joshua will be working on the deep marine deposit that was triggered by the Kaikoura 2016 earthquake and deposited for at least 600 km along the deep marine Hikurangi Channel. 

New PhD with Dr Jennifer 

Welcome to the school, new PhD student Pablo Aguilera who has joined the School of Environment and is currently developing a project relating to geothermal systems in his home country of Columbia

2020 CapEx Applications

We are now accepting applications for the 2020 CapEx round.

You should have received the application form in your email this morning.  Please return these to Blair by the end of April 19th.

If you have already submitted an application then you don’t need to do it again.

ENV fundraiser for Christchurch

The horrific white supremacist terrorist attack in Christchurch on Friday 15th March which left 50 dead and many more injured, saddened and appalled us all.
The School of Environment held a fundraising morning tea and bake sale to raise funds to support the victims and their families. The morning tea saw us coming together as a community, by bringing a plate in the spirit of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga. As we remembered the victims, we also celebrated our diverse origins in the School of Environment by bringing food we associated with home. With the help of ENV student volunteers we also held a bake sale in the foyer of Building 302.

Thanks to the generous donations made during the morning tea and the bake sale, we raised $2394 which was donated to Christchurch Shooting Victims’ Fund.

Learn how to take Environment photos for website and publications

You should have all received JR’s email invitation to join the University’s senior designer, Ashley Marshall, for a special presentation on the guidelines we need to keep in mind for our images to be considered for use on University webpages and in publications.

This is your chance to find out how students give their permission for their image to be used; what orientation and size images need to be; specific branding requirements and other hints and tips for University images.

Please make every effort to attend this presentation as we would love to see more of our own photos used.

Please RVSP your attendance to Samantha Huang using our handy google form and save this date in your calendar or diary: 9 April 2019 | 11am – 11.30am | Room 302-140

Available Scholarships

Please follow the links to the University website for more information 

Craig Memorial Scholarship

Market Economics Geography Masters Research Scholarship

Norman Thom Award

R J Mowat Scholarship in Geology

R N Brothers Memorial Award

School of Environment Maori Masters Thesis Scholarship

Flu Season is upon us! 

Flu vaccinations begin next week, staff see more information about getting yours here~

School of Environment Careers Expo

When/Where? 3^rd April 1.30-3.00 pm
Room 302-140 (Science building)

Do you study Earth Science, Physical Geography, Environmental Science and/or Human Geography and want a job?

Some of the Companies attending:

• ENGEO
• BECA
• Auckland Council Emergency Management
• Morphum
• Aurecom
• Auckland Council RIMU
• Tonkin + Taylor

The School of Environment Student Experience Committee

The Student Experience Committee has been established to support and enhance student learning while fostering positive experiences for all students within the School. As part of this initiative the Committee has a small pot of money available to support activities that encourage student retention. We are also keen to develop a student mentoring programme, so if you have specific students in your undergraduate classes that might benefit from a little assistance then please get in touch. For more information please contact Joe j.fagan@auckland.ac.nz

VGP research group meeting

The volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology (VGP) research group will be meeting on 11 April in 302-140 from 11 to 12. During this meeting, Sophia Tsang and Mike Rowe will be giving talks.

Geosciences group meeting

Next Marine Geosciences group meeting moved to Thu 11 April, 1-2 pm (from Mon 8 April)

School of Environment Facebook page

• The School facebook page is constantly seeking content. We have a large (~1400) and diverse group of followers who are very engaged in School happenings.
• Content that works well includes: field trip photos, staff/students in the media, photos generate a lot more engagement than text, staff successes (if there’s a photo and plain English text to accompany), student successes (i.e. a photo of a PhD student submitting their thesis tends to work well).
• Content that does not work well includes: lengthy posts (3-4 sentence max is usually best), routine admin type announcements (seminars etc.), links to academic papers and anything that appears to be too much like a sales pitch.
• Send photos/text to m.ford@auckland.ac.nz  and he will post.

Outreach event needs volunteers!

The DEVORA (Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland), QuakeCore, AUGA (Auckland University Geoscience Association) outreach group is taking our natural hazards lab to MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology). The annual science street fair draws 2000 visitors, and we have fun telling them about volcanoes, earthquakes, rocks, and earthquake engineering. This year we need help! 

The event runs 10 am – 4 pm on Sunday 7 April.

Please get in touch if you have a couple of hours to play. No experience required! We will teach you all you need to know.

Here is the description for visitors: 

Have you ever seen an erupting volcano? Felt an earthquake? Would you like to learn more about why volcanoes erupt and earthquakes shake? Build a house to see if it would stand up in an earthquake? Come to the natural hazards lab to do some fun volcano-related experiments and see examples of explosive and oozing eruption styles. Learn about earthquakes and why and how they rock and roll. Talk to volcanologists, seismologists, and earthquake engineers from The University of Auckland. All ages of kids and kids-at-heart are welcome!

Kaitoke Dunes at Claris on Great Barrier Island

Recent Hood fellow Monica Turner is a landscape ecologist whose foundational work in the field centred on the massive Yellowstone fires of 1988. To round out a productive and enlightening visit to Auckland, she was treated to a visit to one of the sites of New Zealand’s most recent and destructive fires – the Kaitoke Dunes at Claris on Great Barrier Island. As a regular site for teaching and research for George Perry, and the subject of Riki Taylor’s MSc thesis, they were able to show off many of the ecological highs and the lows of the island. These features range from endemic plants and recovering native bird populations, to the much-maligned (and usually overlooked by visitors) Kaitoke fire site.

Caption: L-R: Monica Turner, Riki Taylor, George Perry and James Brock amongst post-fire regrowth at the Kaitoke dunes.

Coastal Seminar Galore

When: Wednesday April 3rd 11.00-13.00

Where: Coastal Lab (4^th Floor)

Eli Lazarus (University of Southampton): “Before the excavators arrive: dynamics of flood deposition in built environments” 
Ana Rueda (University of Cantabria): “Deep learning in coastal waters”
Edwin Bayes (University of Auckland): something experimental (he has done some of the coolest lab experiments i have seen)
Karin Bryan (University of Waikato): something on mangroves and their effect on hydro- and morphodynamics (Karin needs no introduction. she does super cool research)

Each talk will be 20 minutes with 5-10 minutes for discussion. It’s all reasonably disorganized so please contact Giovanni for more details.

Eli Lazarus (University of Southampton) is visiting UoA to work on coastal hazards. He has worked on river morphodynamics and human interactions. He is based in Giovanni’s office. Give him a call if you wanted to meet him.

Funding call for the RSNZ – James Cook Research Fellowship 2019

The James Cook Research Fellowships are awarded to researchers who have achieved national and international recognition in their area of scientific research.
Click here to read further information 

NZARB

Invite you to submit an abstract to present at our upcoming conference in Napier on the 14th and 15th November 2019
click here to read further information

Perspectives on the origin, nature, and limits of life

When/Where? 9th April, The Great Hall (105-101) 22 Princes St

Click here for more information and RSVP details

Geographical society newsletter

The Auckland branch of NZGS promotes the activities of geographers and the development of the discipline in the Auckland region. It has proven an effective platform for hosting and sponsoring public seminars and workshops, and talks by prominent local and international geographers

Read the newsletter here

Classified Ads

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Plan cabinet surplus to requirements. 5-drawers, mdf. Contact Louise Cotterall lm.cotterall@auckland.ac.nz if interested. They will fit into a station wagon if there’s no room in your office!

 

A surplus pinboard is available outside Mel Wall’s office (301-437). Free to any taker

HeadSUP

As salaam-alaikum, peace be upon you. This beautiful islamic greeting will have been offered and answered many times as people arrived last Friday for prayer at the Al Noor and Linwood Mosques. The callous slaughter that ensued is heart-wrenching and affecting on many levels. My thoughts are with those who were there, those who have lost their loved ones, and to the many who became involved.

This atrocity is an afront to everyone and was designed to instil fear amongst our Muslim communities.

To all our Muslim whanau, we stand with you in grief and dismay. As you are brave in going about your daily lives, we all must be brave in speaking out as bystanders when we bear witness to disrespectful or bigoted behaviour, no matter who is targeted.

We value diversity, inclusivity and equity for all.

Ngā mihi – JR

How to support your students

• Take time to acknowledge what has happened
• Reassure students that whatever they are feeling – shock, fear, anger, anxiety, sadness – are completely normal reactions after a traumatic event such as this
• Slow things down, go gently
• Remind them that connection is important – look out for each other
• Affirm that they have our support, and that the University is committed to keeping them safe
• Direct them to the Student Health and Counselling Service – (09) 923 7681 or email generalmanagerUHCS@auckland.ac.nz – if they feel they want/need a deeper conversation about the incident (most staff are not qualified to help at that level, but our trained counsellors are)
• Remind them they can also contact the 1737 number (Need to Talk) if they want to talk to a trained counsellor

Staff needing support can contact the Employee Assistance Programme team on 0800 327 669, emailauckland@eapservices.co.nz or online at https://www.eapservices.co.nz/contact/

The Maclaurin Chapel will be open for everyone (regardless of religion or beliefs) from 9.00am to 5.00pm during this week. The Chapel is a place of quiet reflection and korero, where students and staff can take time out for themselves

Vale: Ron Keam

Ron Keam, a friend and colleague to many of us, died on 6 February. For many years Ron was a fixture in the Physics Department, sometimes it seemed literally. He taught geophysics and persuaded some of us in the geology stream that the maths actually was possible and did mean something. But more importantly, Ron had a great passion…the 1886 Tarawera volcanic eruption. His book on the subject is wonderful (http://www.tarawera.com) and his recent paper (Keam, R., 2016.

The Tarawera eruption, Lake Rotomahana, and the origin of the Pink and White Terraces, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 314, 10-38) is geopoetry – a good read for everyone. But, of all Ron’s research outputs, a favourite has to be his bathymetric map of Frying Pan Lake, Waimangu, which famously includes the statement ‘not for navigational purposes’. Ron will be missed.​

Fundraising morning tea Wednesday 20^th March, 10:30-11:30am

All proceeds to the Christchurch Shooting Victims’ Fund

The horrific white supremacist terrorist attack in Christchurch last Friday which left 50 dead and many more injured has saddened and appalled us all.

The School of Environment is holding a fundraising morning tea this Wednesday 20^th March at 1030-1130am in the Level 6 breakout space of Building 302. Please bring a cash donation, all proceeds to Victim Support: Christchurch Shooting Victims’ Fund.

If you are able can you please “bring a plate” of food to share with everyone at the morning tea. Bringing a plate is about whanaungatanga and manaakitanga, a tradition in Aotearoa/New Zealand of coming together as a community. To celebrate our diverse origins in the School, it would be great if you could bring food you associate with home.

Any leftovers will be taken to a table in the 302 foyer to be sold by our student associations to raise further funds for Christchurch Victim Support.

Please direct any questions to Mel Wall (m.wall@auckland.ac.nz)

HoS Weekly Open Door Sessions

JR will be having her Open Door Sessions in her office on every Wednesday, 11:30am – 12:30pm, starting from 20 March. Staff and students are all welcome to walk in without making an appointment and quickly talk to JR about any issues. However, for any other issue which requires formal discussion, please book a meeting with JR through Samantha (Samantha.huang@auckland.ac.nz).

ENV Committees and documents

Many of the School of Environment’s Committees will in future be storing documents and resources on Google Team Drives. Members of each committee will be given access and in each case these will be accessible only by those members. In effect, these will replace other storage sites such as the School’s network drives or the Sharepoint. In addition, it should reduce the need to email attachments and to provide easier access to archived documents and to the sharing of resources.

A whole-School Team Drive will be created for all members of the School to access. This will have folders for the Minutes of the various committees, as well as other documents of a general interest.

A word of your Gmail account

While this will be old news for many of you it is worth reminding you that every member of staff has a University Gmail account. This will be your username followed by @aucklanduni.ac.nz. With this you get a Google drive account with unlimited file storage.

Your Google drive offers both:

• a personal My drive – where you can store your own files; and you may share these with others, if you wish; and
• a Team Drives – which are shared by specific groups. ENV committees will have their own Team Drive.

Please note that you should use your UoA Gmail account when accessing Team Drives and files shared with you. Most of you will have a personal Gmail account and it can cause confusion if you use that one instead.

The EARTHSCI 703

Understanding Hydrothermal Systems – class jumped straight into the field at the start of the semester to investigate surface manifestations of geothermal systems between Rotorua and Taupo, as lead by Kathy Campbell and Earth Science PhD students Irene Wallis and Ayrton Hamilton.
The lively group of students tested and applied conceptual models of how different fluid compositions come about when hot water interacts with the surrounding country rock to produce a wide variety of other-worldly land surface features which bring flocks of tourists and earth scientists to our shores every year from around the world. Ubiquitous signs of dynamic volcanism, active faulting and extremophile microbes living in the hot water added to the mix and created a buzz amongst the students as they traced, photographed and mapped the products of the inner workings of the Earth’s heat and tectonic engines under the shadow of brooding Mt Tarawera, colourful Rainbow Mountain, and deceptively calm Lake Taupo, site of NZ’s own currently resting supervolcano.

HeadSUP

Great to see so many new students about the campus and at the Faculty of Science pōwhiri where we welcomed them onto our marvellous Waipapa Marae and they transitioned from being manuhiri (visitors) to whanau (family). Be sure to give them a warm welcome over the next few weeks and take special care of the lost ones. Many of you have helped out during orientation – a big job, thanks very much!

As we head into the start of the semester, good luck to all our new academic staff, GTAs and TAs. Teaching can be a lot of fun, and challenging. Mel Wall is leading the Teaching and Learning Innovation Team – if you hit a snag or want some ideas about course organisation and strategies to improve learning, don’t be shy in making contact.

Other news: Professor Joel Baker has resigned his academic position with UOA effective from 1 March and has switched onto a 2-year part-time position to focus on his research projects and PG students. Joel has put in huge effort over the past few years in the research space, supporting many of us with our research applications. Thanks Joel! We look forward to hearing news of the speleothem project, which is getting exciting with high-resolution dates coming in.

And, Simrin Ahmed has been promoted to a new position and will be leaving us soon – thanks for looking after us so well, we will miss you!

The QS subject rankings were released last week: great news for Geography, up one place to 28. Earth and Marine Science stayed in the top 100 and Environmental Science is in the top 150.

Lastly, if you are a new (or old student), keep an eye out for Joe Fagan, who is back from a year cycling around the world. Joe is heading the Student Experience Committee – we’re in for a good ride!​

New Zealand Geographical Society Excellence in Geography Awards

The New Zealand Geographical Society at the Awards Ceremony being held on Tuesday 12^th March.

Please click here for more information

funding calls for all of our major research funders (for staff)

The Funds and Submissions Team have compiled a list of funding calls for all of our major research funders. Check it out:

https://www.staff.auckland.ac.nz/en/research-gateway/research-support-gateway/identify–explore-and-create-opportunities/finding-funding/funding-calls.html”

Price list for casuals (for staff)

Do you need to “price” the cost of a casual contract (for internal or external funding applications) Here’s a useful page that addresses costs per hour for 2019.

Click here for the cost list

New pages to P-Cubed!

P-Cubed is expanding! If you haven’t seen already – we have added a “How to do stuff” page (here). This page will be a helpful resource to get stuff done within the School of Environment. We will also be adding “classified ads” at the bottom of each blog post, for in-house advertising – you can see this at the bottom of this post.
Check it out!

Farewell to Simrin

Our Group Services Administrator, Simrin Ahmed will be moving on from the School of Environment on the 15^th March.  Simrin was successful in her application for a Research Programme Coordinator position (Supporting Physics and Chem).  This is fantastic opportunity for Simrin and a great step in her career progression.  Simrin has done a fantastic job supporting both the school of Environment, as well as being a highly engaged member of our Group Services team, she will be sorely missed.  The search for Simrin’s replacement is underway and the School will be updated once an appointment has been made.

Health and safety reminder

Field work

Field activity is any work carried out for the purpose of teaching, research or representing the University off-site, where facility for health and safety is not managed by another host institution.
Any time you wish to undertake field work you need to complete a Field Activity Plan (copy attached) before you undertake the work.

All of the documents relating to field work at the University can be found here http://www.env.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-school/health-safety-and-wellbeing.html.
If you are unsure if your work requires a field activity plan then please ask Blair.

Driving assessments and ENV vehicles 

You will need to undergo a driving assessment (just once) if you wish to drive any of the School vehicles; assessments are booked through Blair. The use of private vehicles for University work is only approved in exceptional circumstances.  The School has a fleet of vehicles to use which includes 2x Utes, 1x Van and 1x 7 Seater SUV.

All of the vehicles have automatic transmissions and can be booked through https://appis.sit.auckland.ac.nz/admin/CarScience/ Vehicles have fuel cards and are billed against the charge code you supply when making the booking. Your students need to complete assessments as well, so don’t forget to tell them.

PhD proposal Seminar 

Title: Reef Islands from Space: A Remote Sensing -Machine Learning Approach to Identify the Drivers of Reef Island Change in the Pacific
Presenter: Meghna Sengupta
When/Where: Tuesday 5 March 12PM, 302-140

Click here for more information 

PSC Career Forum

The love and enthusiasm for science do not necessarily translate into staying in academia after obtaining a postgraduate degree. Yes, for some it does, you could get a PhD, a couple of postdoc positions, and then become a professor or a researcher full time. However, more than 50% of all doctoral degree holders work outside academia or research. So, what non-academic options are out there in the real world if you decide academia is not for you?

This Career Forum will try to answer this question and hopefully help you define career choices as you work towards and finish your postgraduate degree.

Computer labs

To those who teach in the computer labs.  Please check software as soon as possible this week.  There is still room for emergency changes.  Please contact Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you have any problems – will forward to IT.

Leapfrog changes

Leapfrog licensing is changing — we still get academic licenses but they are now to individual users, rather than dongles.  Anyone who is using Leapfrog, please contact Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) by Fri. 15 March.

Research Support Team Updates

It has been a really busy time with Marsden and MBIE proposals. Thanks very much for your understanding until the round is over!

Funding call for RSNZ – Rutherford Discovery Fellowship has just been released. More info on: Rutherford Discovery Fellowship 2019

“The Funds and Submissions Team have compiled a list of funding calls for all of our major research funders. Check it out:

https://www.staff.auckland.ac.nz/en/research-gateway/research-support-gateway/identify–explore-and-create-opportunities/finding-funding/funding-calls.html”

You should check with JR also the following one (related to the attached one):

Do you need to “price” the cost of a casual contract (for internal or external funding applications)? Here’s a useful page that addresses costs per hour for 2019. (and you need to do some magic and add a link to the file attached)

Tree-Ring Lab news

Prof. Neil Loader and Dr Giles Young (Prifysgol Abertawe / Swansea University UK) visited the Tree-Ring Lab for two weeks in February, on an exchange programme supported by a Royal Society of New Zealand Catalyst Grant. Neil and Giles are part of the Dendro Isotope group at Swansea, using tree ring stable isotope ratios to reconstruct climate of the past and for dating wood in circumstances where conventional dendrochronology may not work. We are collaborating on a project exploring the potential for isotopic dating of archaeological wood in New Zealand using kauri, matai and miro. Their visit included meeting Alan Hogg, Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Lab, and fieldwork at Pureora Forest and Huapai Scientific Reserve. Neil will make a second visit at the end of the year, when we hope to have some interesting results to report from our research.

Photo: Gretel, Neil and Giles and Pouakani, a very large totara tree, near Pureora Forest.

Mentoring

The School of Environment is currently looking to review and expand the mentoring scheme currently in place. Mentoring takes on a variety of different forms, but aims to provides support, information and knowledge sharing, tailored to individual needs. It might be formalised or informal and take the form of a partnership with more experienced staff or a peer support group. It is always a mutually agreed negotiated relationship and does not usually involve a direct line manager.

The current mentoring model formalises the mentor / mentee relationship for new staff pre-continuation as required by the Faculty of Science. This type of mentoring is considered developmental and instrumental and is intended to guide the mentee through the Institutional process of gaining continuation using a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,  Relevant, Time-bound) goal setting process. Mentors meet with mentees every 3 months to review progress, strategize and set new priorities and goals where appropriate. This is separate from the Faculty run Early Career Mentoring Scheme which Jan Lindsay coordinates. More details can be found about this here.

Other types of mentoring which we see within the school is more informal, and ad hoc. Individuals might ask senior colleagues or peers for advice surrounding a particular issue such as promotion, teaching evaluations, or sabbatical or maternity leave. Meetings might take place regularly or as required and are usually prompted by a request from the mentee rather than a ‘nag’ from the mentor.

If you would like to find out more about what the School currently offers you can find this here. The University of Auckland also has a number of formal mentoring programmes in operation which you can read about on the University of Auckland Mentoring and Coaching resources website.

Would you like a mentor within the School of Environment?

We would like all forms of mentoring especially peer mentoring and SMART objective setting type mentoring to be available to everyone and are looking to pilot new schemes and build new partnerships based on demand. If you would like a mentor to help with a specific process or issue or just general advice on career progression and time management please let me know.

Would you like to be a mentor? 

If you would like to be a mentor and support colleagues please also let me know. More information about the mentoring process can also be found here.

Do you have an experience of mentoring (either formal or informal)?

I’m really keen to hear any comments that you may have (positive or negative) about your experience either as a mentor or mentee. I’d like to understand better what works and what doesn’t, and what you think is currently missing from the process, from both perspectives. Any suggestions regarding the future development of the mentoring programme would also be warmly received.

Teaching Cultures Survey

The University of Auckland is taking part in the Teaching Cultures Survey, a survey in which 13 universities across the world are participating. Like this wider group of universities, we are looking to understand more about how the status of teaching and learning is viewed by the academic community.  This will help inform the ongoing development of the University’s teaching and learning strategy.  Following this 2019 survey, our aim is to repeat the survey in 2021 and 2023 to track any changes in staff views.

The survey (here) is seeking your views about the status of university teaching at the University of Auckland.  The survey comprises 22 check box response items.  It should take no longer than 6 minutes to complete.  It will be open from 18 February to 6 March.

Taking part is voluntary and confidential: aside from Faculty affiliation, gender and years of service at the University no personal information is collected. Your data are anonymous, stored and transferred securely and used only for the purpose of this survey. The University will not have access to these data.  The study is being conducted by independent researchers based in the United Kingdom, who will manage the data collection and storage in accordance with established research standards. By completing the survey you are giving consent for your responses to be used in the study. Your data will not be shared with the university nor with any third party and it will not be used for anything other than this research.  Further information about the survey is given on the attached information sheet.

The university will receive a report setting out the findings from their own institution and be able to compare these with the aggregated results from other participating universities. Where the number of survey participants in a particular group at Auckland is small, findings will be presented in ways that protect anonymity, for example, by combining groups.

We very much hope that you will support this study by completing the survey.  Should you have any questions about the survey please feel free to contact me – g.aitken@auckland.ac.nz

You can read the information leaflet here

Sustainability teaching module

As most of you know the sustainability teaching module starts this year with SUSTAIN 100 running in the second semester. I’ve attached two flyers – one about SUSTAIN 100 and one about the module as a whole. Please feel free to share these and promote the module as appropriate.

If you are interested in contributing to the teaching of any of the courses, you are invited to a meeting on Wednesday 27 February from 10 – 11.30am in 302.230. If you can’t make the meeting but are interested, please email me. We will also approach people for one-off guest lectures or to be on a panel about our case studies on water, population (SUSTAIN 100), food, inequality (SUSTAIN 200) and atmosphere (SUSTAIN 300).

Read here for more information 

Introductory GIS Workshop

Introductory GIS course is being organised for the interested graduate and postgraduate students during the semester break.

Click here to complete the expression of interest survey 

Service Delivery Model for Libraries and Learning Services – Te Tumu Herenga

In 2018 Libraries and Learning Services – Te Tumu Herenga undertook a review of its services and structure. As a result of this review there are now four new functions that deal directly with staff and students:

1. Client Services: Deal with questions raised through the Ask us portal on the LLS – TTH home page or face to face through libraries and information commons, connecting you with the correct functional expert as necessary
2. Research Services: Provide advice to you and PhD students on resources and tools to help shape your research projects by enabling discovery, use, sharing, and management of information.
3. Learning and Teaching Development: Work with you and students to design, develop and integrate resources which foster students’ academic skills development
4. Academic Engagement: Work with faculty and LSRI leadership and committees to identify strategic areas of need, promote new and existing services, resources and technologies and connect you with functional experts, services and collections

To facilitate working together our faculty has a support team comprising an Academic Engagement Adviser and at least one Research Services Adviser and one Learning and Teaching Development Adviser. Our team is listed below. You can also find their details on the Contact us section of the LLS – TTH website. Please feel free to contact them directly with research or learning and teaching questions.

Academic Engagement Adviser: Justene McNeice
Learning and Teaching Development Advisers: Liz Hardley, Sumia Quazi
Research Advisers: Jo Simons, Derryl Hayman
Māori Academic Engagement Adviser: Manuhiri HuatahiPacific Academic Engagement Adviser: Judy McFall-McCaffery

Any general queries can be raised through Ask us or directly with a Client Services team member when you visit LLS – TTH in person. If you wish to order a new resource for the collection this can be done via the online recommendation form.

Welcome new MSc Student

Please welcome intern MSc student Thibault Romao visiting from the University of Bordeaux, France.  Thibault is visiting us for 5 months and working on Antarctic marine sediment core and bathymetry data from offshore Adelie Land with Dr Lorna Strachan and Dr Helen Bostock (NIWA). He is based on the 4th floor of building 302, please say hello!

The 2019 Darcy Lecture Series in Groundwater Science

Click here to read more information

 

 

Classified Ads

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Sabbatical Accommodation

Three bedroom furnished house in Mt Albert available for 3-12 month period from mid-June 2019. Family-friendly large yard, fenced with trees and gardens. Modern kitchen, two bathrooms. Easy (20-30min) travel to city campus by train and/or bus. Close to primary and secondary schools, parks, and shopping. Further information, contact: Robin Kearns   r.kearns@auckland.ac.nz

 

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.

Comment from the Head of School

Kia ora koutou

The academic year is gearing up and the building is starting to feel alive again. Summer is a busy time for the school with field-based research in full swing, summer school underway, MSc students racing to meet thesis deadlines, and people coming and going. It’s lovely to have Gretel, Marie and Larry back from research and study leave. Brad, Hong-key and Jennifer E are about to head off on long-leave, and of course Jon T is still enjoying his time away. Melanie, Sila and Michael have arrived to the great delight of the Environmental Science and GI Science teaching teams.  And we have visitors. Matthew England is working with Sam on water allocation in majority world communities, Richard Williams is working with Gary on new technologies to inform river management. Paola Gomes de Silva is working with Giovanni on coastal flooding and Eric Palkovacs is working with Kevin on evolutionary ecology. Tama has finished up as Group Services Co-ordinator and Samantha Huang, who some of you may remember, has started in the role.

On behalf of the school, a warm welcome to all who have returned or arrived, happy travels to those who are heading off on leave or new adventures, and may the force be with everyone finishing up their theses!

Of course other changes are afoot as well. Last week, David concluded his term as Head of School and is beginning a new role as Associate Dean – Strategic Projects, and I moved my rock display into the Level 6 HoS office. Luckily for us the Dean has left David enough time to continue as Deputy Head of School with oversight of academic programmes.  

In the short term things will continue much as usual though with some modification to the ways in which we share information and come together. The P-cubed initiative is one way we can improve our information sharing efficiency and I look forward to seeing it become part of our way of doing things. In lieu of monthly staff meetings, we will come together less often but hopefully with more purpose, starting with our kaupapa meeting Wed 13^th February, which will include a catered lunch. It will be great to see all staff there.

Ngā mihi
JR

From the Research Committee

The research committee is: Tom Baker, Giovanni Coco, Shane Cronin, Murray Ford, Melanie Kah (starting in March), Lorna Strachan

Are you a PI?

This is a busy time and we are sure that many are preparing proposals (e.g., Marsden or MBIE) or waiting for results (e.g., Smart Ideas). While we know about proposals submitted by ENV staff as PI, we have little idea of our participation to projects with a PI external to the school. We wish to acknowledge these efforts but to be able to do it, you need to tell us. Vanessa is going to collect all info, please send her a message. This is what Giovanni sent:

“Kia ora Vanessa,
Here are proposals I have recently submitted or I am about to submit:

• co-PI, Australian Research Council (PI from UNSW). can’t remember the title. something coastal…
• co-PI smart idea entitled “A new machine learning algorithm to avoid overcooking spaghetti” (PI from UC)
• I will submit a marsden as co-PI (PI from Faculty of Engineering UoA)

ciao
Giovanni”

Round about Marsden

Do you need help? Would you want to hear how your one-page proposal reads? Contact the RC committee and we will help. Someone totally ignorant about the subject can still provide useful comments.

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.

Postgraduates Matter

Postgraduate committee will be meeting next week. If you have any that needs to be discussed, please send it to the appropriate advisor:

Anthony Fowler (Physical Geog.)
Ward Friesen (Geography – Honours)
Kevin Simon (Env Sci)
Karen Fisher (Env Mgt)
Jay Gao (GIS)
Mila Adam (Earth Sci/Geophys- Honours)
Ingo Pecher (MSc Coordinator)
Michael Rowe (Committee Chair – PhD)

Masters

Now is the time many are planning MSc/MA projects for the start of 2019. Please remember when planning projects that they need to be feasible in 9-10 months, with the remainder to finish off the writing. We’ve been having an increasing number of extensions (for multiple reasons) and as a result the timeframe for completion has been increasing – with those additional costs being carried by both the School and the student. It is important to have a feasible plan, and back-up plan in place. With only 12 months to completion, our Masters students don’t have time to weather significant delays.

PhD

Remember that the new PhD provisional year rules are in effect and will impact anyone starting after July 2018. The procedure is copied here for your “long-term” records.

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.