HeadsUp

---

So, we’ve descended a level. The main indicator as I walked the beach this evening was the smells of deep-fried food and fresh-roasted coffee from up at the shops. Last night, however, two parties raged across the valley with a crowd singing ‘happy birthday’ about 2am. Clearly, some have unilaterally declared it to be Level 1 already.

Back at 23 Symonds St, however, it is firmly Level 3. I therefore I appreciate your patience with the regulations if you’re one of those eager to return to your lab. While the Head of School has authority in terms and times of access, decisions become a tough call when the incumbent’s only usual piece of kit is a laptop. I’ve therefore been grateful to have Jenny Salmond assisting me. Along with Blair Sowman, we’re working through requests. Do please recognise that Level 3 won’t last forever and that funding agencies along with the School of Graduate Studies are invariably offering wiggle room.

Speaking of kit, even the simplest of equipment can be trying in these times. Mysteriously, my laptop’s keyboard recently stopped being receptive to taps on the letter ‘e’. Now, comrades, try to write a sentence e-free! My future with only four vowels was looking rather bleak for a while. I’m grateful, however, to Michael our ever-resourceful manager for brokering a solution. I’m also appreciative to four colleagues who, at very short notice each wrote a report when I had missed the fine print on yet another administrative procedure. These have all been reminders of a what a great team we’re part of.

A curious little story to end. A couple of days before the latest lockdown, our Faculty Assistant Jignasha delivered me a note in distantly familiar handwriting. I just about fell over, metaphorically. It was from my final year high school Geography teacher, someone I’ve had no contact with in the 45 years since. The note conveyed that she was taking a Stage 1 Earth Science course and was keen to meet up.

Lockdown then intervened and we have yet to meet. But I did find it interesting to subsequently hear she had withdrawn from the course, “wanting to be there in person, not spend more time on the computer’. Fair enough -we’re all pretty much over it, aren’t we?
So, how is your morale at present? Do you have any ideas for how we can keep connected and maintain our personal and collective wellbeing in this slow elevator ride down to Level 1? Do please let me know if you do. All ideas will be gratefully considered. There may even been modest funds to support a plausible initiative.

Last year was tough as we rapidly upskilled and stumbled our way into new ways of engagement. My hunch is that this year has been different; is been both easier and harder. We’ve known what to do but, perhaps more so than last time, we’d so rather not be doing it.

On Friday a colleague told me they’d had enough of zoom and had booked an annual leave day for Monday. What a fine idea, look after yourself I said. And I say that to everyone. We’re in unusual times so, if you feel the need, take steps to look after yourself. Even if it’s annual leave with the novelty of going nowhere for a day. Or maybe taking leave to get that Level 3 contactless flat white.
Robin Kearns 26 09 21

---

Whakawhanaungatanga – Communities

---

Te wiki o te reo Māori/ Māori Language

In celebration of Te wiki o te reo Māori/ Māori Language Week Benjamin Jones and colleagues have created a storymap to learn more about the place names of archaeological sites around Aotearoa. It contains an interactive map with over 4000 names across Aotearoa and an associated kōrero of how important these names are for understanding archaeological landscapes.

link : Te Reo Place Names of Aotearoa’s Archaeological Past (arcgis.com)

Student Support

If students are struggling support is available:

Te Papa Manaaki | Campus Care  https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/student-support/te-papa-manaaki-campus-care.html

Financial Support https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/fees-and-money-matters/financial-support.html

Covid will have likely have impacted progress for many so there are Postgraduate Extensions and Fee Waivers programmes. Note International students will need to consider visas!

Honours and Masters (as you know who will have been impacted please don’t wait for the last few days before the submission deadline to apply!)

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/fees-and-money-matters/tuition-fees/postgraduate-research-fees-free-extension.html

Doctoral

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/school-of-graduate-studies/covid-19-doctoral-extension-fee-waiver.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/school-of-graduate-studies/doctoral-opportunities.html

Note to supervisors: Domestic PhD Admissions of those eligible for the guaranteed University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarships are up so it has become even more competitive for international applicants. Please manage expectations around this as you communicate with international enquiries.

Upcoming Events

---

H5P Practical tips series – How to intergrate interactive online activities into teaching

Link : https://auckland.zoom.us/j/93152663177

UoA Ethics process & researching with Maori

Link : https://auckland.zoom.us/J/98028798821

ENV Seminar series + Drinks

Join us on Friday,   October, 1 from 4 pm to learn about research your colleagues do. All staff members and students from the School of Environment are warmly invited to attend this brilliant seminar. As you may be already aware we are running  the seminars every “three” months and so far they have been incredibly fascinating.

In the upcoming ENV Seminar, we will have three amazing presenters: Ingrid Ukstins, Pankaj Sharma and Georgia Piggot and their talks will be accompanied by virtual drinks.

Friday, October 1, 16:00 – 17:00, Location: Zoom Meeting

https://auckland.zoom.us/j/8698433089

ENV Masters Research Seminars, 27 Oct 2021

Rm 302-130
Masters thesis students who enrolled in S1, 2021 will present their research results or progress in 10 minute talks as part of a seminar series. This is designed to assist them with the direction of their project based on feedback from staff. Thus, staff attendance is encouraged. For students it is good experience/skill for potential future employment. A staff member will moderate the session. The student’s supervisor will introduce the student as required.

Tentative schedule:
9-11 am: Earth Science/Geology/Engineering
11-12 noon: environmental science or related
12 -1 lunch in 4th floor tearoom
1-3 pm: Geography/environmental management or related

COVID Alert level: This is an on-campus seminar series. It does not involve Zoom-style or digital presentations from off-campus sites. The meeting will only be held if it meets university alert level requirements.

Science Research Showcase Show & Tell and Online Exhibition

The Science Research Showcase Organising Committee is pleased to invite you to the Science Research Showcase Show & Tell that will take place on:

Tuesday 28 September 11 am to 12 pm on Gather Town

The Science Research Showcase is our annual event showcasing the research of science doctoral candidates and research masters. Please join the Show & Tell session to support fellow science research students, celebrate their projects and vote for your favourite poster for People’s Choice awards!

Gather Town link

You can also take a virtual tour of the Science Research Showcase any time until Friday 22 October and vote on your favourite poster there!

Online exhibition link

New to Gather town? Watch this short video tutorial to get started on your first Gather Town journey – it’s fun and interactive, just like real life!

Coastal flooding: From local to global predictors Charline Dalinghaus (PhD Proposal)

Zoom link https://auckland.zoom.us/j/91615452664?pwd=RW9hOXBkN3ljaU1ubGNUQk5JTWhJdz09

ESP Mini Conference 2021: Save the Date!

The Auckland Emerging Spatial Professionals are excited to announce this year’s mini conference (covid permitting). More information to follow but for now – keep Saturday 13th November 2021 free in your calendars!

Register here: https://fb.me/e/HS2t88dX\

 

---

Rangahau – Research

---

Research Assistant position available

The Sustainability Practices for a Future-focussed Faculty Initiative is concerned with finding gaps and opportunities for the Faculty of Science (FoS) to achieve a higher degree of sustainability. The research team is examining potential pathways for transitioning to new ways of doing things regarding our carbon emissions, lab-based teaching and research, and our sustainability mindset. The team is seeking input from the Faculty of Science’s staff and postgraduate students, which will help inform the University’s sustainability strategy. Engagement will include interviews and surveys. The data will be collected and coded in NVivo with the support of three Research Assistants (RAs), and the analysis and insights will be informed by transition theory frameworks. The initiative is led by Robin Kearns,  Gillian Lewis (Associate Dean Sustainability), and Caroline Roughneen (FoS Strategic Projects Manager). The initiative leaders have appointed a Research Fellow (RF), Dr Barbara Ribeiro, to act as Project Lead (designing the research structure, providing a theoretical grounding, and day to day project management). We are seeking  a further suitably qualified  RA experienced in conducting interviews and undertaking qualitative research.  Theis researcher would start at the primary data collection phase (mid-October)  and continue until  the project is completed by December 17th. Pay rate to be assessed by experience and qualifications by HR. For further information and /or to apply,  please contact Barbara at b.ribeiro@auckland.ac.nz.

Funding Call 

Endeavour Fund Roadshows: 2022 Investment Round

The Endeavour Fund Roadshows for the 2022 investment round will be presented virtually on 4, 11 and 12 October, 2021. Please join us then.

At the roadshows, we will:

• review the 2021 round
• highlight changes related to the new Investment Plan for the Fund
• provide an overview of Smart Ideas and Research Programmes mechanisms, available funding, application process, key dates
• cover eligibility, investment signals and impact categories, assessment criteria, changes in the assessment process, and key documents.

To register, please visit the MBIE website.

If you are intending to apply for either a Smart Idea, or Research Program, please get in touch with either Kathryn, Franca or Kelly so you can keep up to date with all the support available.

 MBIE 2022 Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund

The Fund aims to:

• strengthen capability, capacity, skills and networks between Māori and the science and innovation system, and
• increase understanding of how research can contribute to the aspirations of Māori organisations and deliver benefit for Aotearoa

Funding is available through two schemes, each in support of the Fund’s aims: 

• Connect Scheme: Build new connections between Māori organisations and the science and innovation system 
• Placement scheme: Enhance the development of an individual(s) through placement in a Partner organisation

The work programme term for both Connect and Placement schemes is up to 2 years.

• $150,000 (ex GST) – max funding per proposal for projects up to 1 year in length
• $250,000 (ex GST) – max funding per proposal between 1-2 years in length

Key elements (see Call for Proposals for full eligibility requirements): 

• Proposals must be co-developed with a Māori organisation (with either UoA or Māori organisation as lead contractor, and the other as the partner organisation)
• Proposals must include co-funding at a minimum of 10% of requested amount
• Proposals must not include any full-time tertiary or school students
• For the placement scheme, the proposal must name the placement individual(s) 
• Funding must not be for activities for the same purpose already funded by any government agency
• Research project must directly strive to achieve the Fund’s aims and support the themes and outcomes of MBIE’s Vision Mātauranga policy (Indigenous Innovation, Taiao, Hauora/Oranga, Mātauranga (and not solely address hauora/health 

For further information, please visit the funders website

Internal Deadline: 12 noon, Tuesday 2 November 2021

Proposal support:  This scheme has been designated as a ‘High Value Bid’ based on the close strategic alignment with University priorities. Additional proposal development support will be available, in the form of a webinar/Q&A session, assessment panel, and potential bid-writing support. Please get in touch with your RPC to register your interest in this funding scheme for further information.

MBIE are also hosting a webinar on 12 October to talk you through the application process and answer your questions. Register here

Catalyst Fund: Seeding (Round 3)

This fund facilitates new small and medium pre-research strategic partnerships that cannot be supported through other means, and with a view to developing full collaborations that could be supported through Catalyst: Strategic over time. Funding is for research exchanges, research activities, and expenses related to hosting workshops for new strategic research partnerships with international collaborators.

Value: A maximum of NZ$80,000 (excl. GST) is available per proposal for projects lasting up to two years. 

Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 12 October 2021
For further information, please visit the funders website

Catalyst Fund: NZ – Japan Joint Research Projects

Funding for research exchanges, research activities, and expenses related to hosting meetings in collaboration with Japanese researchers. Up to 3 joint research projects may be funded in the current round.

Value: Up to $30,000 per annum for up to two years

∙ The NZ PI and the Japanese PI must make applications to their respective application administrators in both Japan and NZ.  More information can be found on the JSPS website
∙ Please note the application date in Japan (08 September 2021) is earlier than the application deadline in New Zealand

Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 12 October 2021.

For further information, please visit the funders website

Catalyst Leaders – JSPS HOPE Meeting (Round 3)

HOPE Meetings are held for excellent graduate students and young researchers specially selected from countries/areas around the Asia-Pacific and Africa region. These meetings give an opportunity for the participants to engage in interdisciplinary discussions with Nobel Laureates and other distinguished scientists pioneering the frontiers of knowledge

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions the HOPE Meeting will take place online.
Eligibility:
(1) Be a PhD student or young researcher (receiving their PhDs after 2 April 2016) with a record of excellent academic performance
(2) Be able to participate in the entire Meeting programme
(3) Not have been selected to participate in any past HOPE Meetings

Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 12 October 2021

Publications

---

SCHLOFFEL-ARMSTRONG, S., BAKER, T. & KEARNS, R. 2021. Geographies of the public library: Institutions, architectures, interactions. Geography Compass (published online 16.08.21) doi: 10.1111/gec3.12592

OPIT, S., WITTEN, K., KEARNS, R. and FERGUSSON, E. 2021. Density in the suburbs: families with children adapting to living in a medium density social housing development. Urban Policy and Research. (published online 7 September, 2021) doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2021.1974830
JAMES, B, COLEMAN, T., CRAM, F. BATES, L., KEARNS, R. 2021. Pathways to Renting among Older Former Homeowners. NZ Population Review 47, 225-261.

Sharp EL, Haszard J, Egli V,  Roy R, Te Morenga L, Teunissen L, Decorte P, Cuykx I, de Backer C and Gerritsen S (2021) Less Food Wasted? Changes to New Zealanders’ Household Food Waste and Related Behaviours due to the 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown. Sustainability 13 (18), 10006.

Sayre R, Martin M, Cress J, Butler K, VanGraafeiland K, Breyer S, Wright D, Frye C, Karagulle D, Allen T, Allee RJ, Parsons R, Nyberg B, Costello MJ, Muller-Karger F, Harris P. 2021.  Earth’s coastlines. In: Wright D. & Harder C. (eds), GIS For Science, Volume 3: Maps for Saving the Planet. Esri Press, Redlands, California, Chapter 1, 4-27 pp.

Gordó-Vilaseca C, Lavin CP, Costello MJ. 2021. Climate warming impacts on communities of marine species. In: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier, 2021, ISBN 9780124095489, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821139-7.00105-7.

Kocsis, Á. T., Zhao, Q., Costello, M. J., and Kiessling, W. 2021. Not all biodiversity richspots are climate refugia. Biogeosciences https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-179.

Arfianti T., Costello MJ. 2021. The distribution of benthic amphipod crustaceans in Indonesian seas. PeerJ 9, e12054. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12054

More Information

---

Need to store and share research data? Request Research storage or UoA Dropbox for research

Queries about virtual machines? Virtual machine consult or Nectar Research Cloud?

ResearchHub: connects people, resources, and services -research-hub.auckland.ac.nz

Remote working issues: Please refer to the remote working page. If you do not find the answers to your questions, please log a call on the IT Portal for any IT-related issues or contact the Staff Service Centre for other queries.

---

Two-factor Authentication : Authy

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html

YubiKeys work but of course require a USB port.

---

VPN: Instructions on how to install

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadsUp

---

Kia ora koutou. It’s Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori language week). Polling last December revealed that over 80% of New Zealanders see te reo as part of their national identity and something to be proud of. We have come a long way as a nation since the Māori Language Ac of 1987.

My track record with language-acquisition is not great. A degree better than numeracy, but only just. I passed 5^th Form School Certificate French by 51%, barely enough many years later to get by in a market in Menton in the south of France. Who knows whether the vendors knew the significance of their town to New Zealand (it was where Katherine Mansfield relocated and wrote). But once I said, in ‘Frenglish’ “Les All Blacks”, the transactions were achieved with a smile. Now, years later, I’m finding more enthusiasm for Te Reo given its close-to-homeness and its sheer depth and beauty. 

By happy coincidence, as I practice vocabulary, I’ve been joined by another in my bubble; a large kererū has taken up residence in the kōwhai tree off my deck. S/he hangs out there rain or shine either watching me or munching away on the leaves. While the kākā come and go (just love the collective noun – a hoon of kākā!) the kererū flops about in the tree awaiting spring’s more emphatic arrival.

With my bubble-mate in mind, this whakataukī (proverb) stood out as I reopened Hinemoa Elder’s book Aroha  “E koekoe te tūī e ketekete te kākā e kuku te kererū ” (The tūī squawks, the kākā  chatters, the kererū  coos). This saying celebrates and endorses diversity. So many languages in the world, so many bird calls in the bush.

As I’ve undertaken ADPR interviews with many of you over recent weeks, I’ve been reminded of the diversity in our midst.   Is there a School in our Faculty as diverse? Metaphorically speaking we’re surely as diverse as the birds of the NZ bush. And better off for it. When I hear of the deep-seated enmities embedded in some university departments and schools, maybe it’s in part because there’s too little diversity; too much descent into the claustrophobic rabbit-holes of mutually familiar intellectual territory.

While a decade ag we were still ‘sussing each other out’ as a newly formed school, the forthcoming Review and the 3 Year Plan I’ve been working on remind me how far we’ve come. While we might not all speak the same disciplinary language there’s more mutual understanding than ever. Like birds in the bush, as a variety of disciplinary subspecies we increasingly and maybe unconsciously recognise that our mixed ecology has an importance larger than individual interests.    

And maybe Te Wiki o te Reo Māori can offer us something on this count. In English, it would feel odd, if not ridiculous, to speak of ‘love’ for the School. In Te Reo, however, the word ‘aroha’ offers deeper and more malleable connotations: “aro” is to give something attention or focus towards, and “ha” – is life force, breath, energy.

As I’ve moved from one ADPR to another and more recently been considering promotion applications, I’ve been struck by the degree of aroha so many of you direct towards your teaching, research and serving the School. I love that.

 

What’s happening

• All best to all of you re-engaging with teaching again after the break. As we settle into the decision to stay remote, my thanks to you all for your attempts to connect with students and affirm their efforts in these challenging times.
• Congratulation and welcome (same place, new and exciting rolel!) to Gina Swanney who has been appointed to th position of Assistant Technologist – Environment.
• If you haven’t already, please remember to sign up for an opportunity to join a discussion about our School with the External Review panel on the afternoon of Wednesday 6^th October: https://forms.office.com/r/GqUcJgDThj
• While there have been unfortunate disappointments, congratulations to Lorna for her part in an Endeavour titled ‘Assessing silent tsunami risk in the Tasman Sea/Te Tai-o-Rēhua’
• With the anticipation of a to return to at least Level 3 comes pre-emptive requests for building and, in particular, lab access. Please read the email to all from Linda Thompson prior to approaching Blair and /or myself (in particular, read Please read the current Covid-19 Alert Level 3 University plan – The University of Auckland). There are some very important operational expectations in this updated plan. We have no alternative but to be patient, adaptable and compliant in these times. This last week I spoke to a colleague in Canada who was back on campus for the first time in 18 months. A reminder that we’re doing pretty well, relatively speaking.
• Finally, Gary (who recently now adds Opa to his distinctions! – well done) sent this account of nurturing doctoral talent: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/international-students/meet-our-international-students/phd-student-stories/meiqin-han.html

 

---

Whakawhanaungatanga – Communities

---

Upcoming Events

---

---

IT Committee

---

Please request software for teaching in 2022 by 30 September. 

See message from Sean Davidson:  For the last few years images used for teaching have been produced for the entire UoA by the Digital Workplace Platform team (DWP).

• DWP have advised that they are in process of collecting requirements for 2022. Due date for submissions has been set to end of September 2021
• DWP request that submissions be made using this form https://tinyurl.com/Teaching-Lab-Software-2022
  • To edit this form you need to sign into google using your <UPI>@aucklanduni.ac.nz account
• Once this window closes DWP will begin to produce the base image which will be used in the Infomation commons. Each faculties requirements will then in turn be applied on top of this base with intent to make a test image available early next year

---

Rangahau – Research

---

AINSE Scholar Gold Medal (nominations received until 4 October 2021)

The AINSE Scholar Gold Medal is awarded for impact and excellence in research on the basis of publications that acknowledge AINSE support. At the presentation of the medals, the newly-awarded Gold Medallists are invited to deliver an address on their research.

To nominate an early career researcher or postgraduate student for a Scholar Gold Medal, please complete the attached nomination form (also available online at this link) and return via email to enquiries@ainse.edu.au prior to the close of nominations at 11:59 pm AEDT Monday 4^th October 2021.

For more information please visit the AINSE Scholar Gold Medal page or contact AINSE.

 

5^th AINSE Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) School (30 November – 2 December 2021) – Applications open (expressions of interest received until 24 October 2021)
(flyer attached and available online)

The Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE), with support from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), are providing a fifth intensive residential workshop for first-year undergraduate Women in STEM.

Expressions of interest are now being received for the 5^th AINSE Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) School, to be held as an entirely-online event from Tuesday 30^th November to Thursday 2^nd December 2021.

 

Expressions of Interest from students will be received by AINSE until Sunday 24^th October 2021.

The AINSE Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) School is targeted at student women in STEM who are about to complete their first year of studies at University. The school places an emphasis on women in STEM and their career opportunities in nuclear science and engineering.

The AINSE WISE School will include:

• Virtual tours of ANSTO research facilities
• High-profile guest speakers
• Networking opportunities with other Australian and New Zealand students and ANSTO researchers
• Access to an ongoing mentorship program throughout 2022; and
• An extensive online social program.

A key component of the WISE School is access to an ongoing mentorship program in which students are allocated mentors from across site at ANSTO. AINSE will be coordinating mentor and student meetings in 2022 to provide additional networking and educational opportunities for the participating students.

For further information, and to apply, please visit the WISE Website.

 

ANSTO Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Thesis Medal – applications are open (applications close 1 October 2021).

ANSTO is seeking nominations for the ANSTO Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Thesis Medal.

This medal is awarded annually to the PhD student at an Australian or New Zealand University who is judged to have completed the most outstanding thesis of the past two years whose work was undertaken at and acknowledges the  Australian Synchrotron, or the Australian National Beamline Facility (ANBF), or whose work acknowledges and was undertaken under the auspices of the International Synchrotron Access Program (ISAP) or the Australian Synchrotron Research Program (ASRP).

Nominations are invited for the 2021 ANSTO Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Medal, which will be awarded to the candidate producing the most outstanding thesis and whose degree was awarded, but not necessarily conferred, after the 1st July 2019. The awardee will receive a monetary prize of $3,000 funded by a bequest from the Wilkins family and by ANSTO to support career development.

Application deadline – Close of Business Friday 1 October 2021

For more information, please visit the ANSTO website.

 

IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) – applications are open (applications close 30 September 2021).

 The IAEA is pleased to inform you that the application process is open for students interested in applying for a scholarship from the IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) for the academic years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

The IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) aims to help increase the number of women in the nuclear field, supporting an inclusive workforce of both men and women who contribute to and drive global scientific and technological innovation. The Programme aims to inspire and encourage young women to pursue a career in the nuclear field, by providing highly motivated female students with scholarships for Master’s programmes and an opportunity to pursue an internship facilitated by the IAEA.

Scholarships are awarded annually, with up to 100 female students selected per year depending on the availability of funds. Consideration is given to geographic, field of study, and linguistic diversity. The selected students are awarded up to €20,000 for tuition costs and up to €20,000 for living costs for the duration of their Master’s programme.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 30 September 2021

For more information on the MSCFP, including instructions on how to apply, application requirements, and well as testimonials from current MSCFP recipients, please visit: www.iaea.org/MSCFP

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadsUp

---

It’s an old cliché that a week is a long time in politics. Perhaps a new one should be that a day is a long time in Covid. Within 24 hours we were gone from Symonds St. I sometimes think of that half-eaten apple I left on my desk in a distracted moment. But now we are home, in all its varied meanings and locations for us all.

First off, a BIG well done to everyone for so quickly shifting gear (literally and metaphorically) into remote mode again. Some have carried more than others in this process. You know who you are and I’m grateful. I guess we learned so much last year that now an action plan is sort of embedded in our cognitive DNA. It’s no less challenging but at least we know what to do and how to get it done. More or less.

It’s worth remembering that home is not so much our new workplace but rather we’re at home, of necessity, and working from what for many are improvised settings. In other words, we need to be easy on ourselves. It’s an imperfect world at the best of times, but most of all at present.

Second, please find ways to keep in touch with those you ordinarily work most closely with. It’s all those opportunistic corridor and common room conversations that are lost in this DIY working world. We have found a few ways to keep in touch however. Thanks to Patricia, we have virtual morning teas. And Sila has reinstated Friday drinks at 4pm at which we suddenly we know a little more about each other’s dogs, cats and some people’s favourite tipples.

Third, take breaks and look after yourselves as well as whomever you share bubbles with (and I don’t necessarily mean prosecco). After a day of one too many zoom meetings and a later need for Panadol, I recently made a decision: I placed “Walk” as a daily recurrent hour-long commitment in my Outlook calendar.

Wellbeing is a many-spoked wheel so through these weeks, do attend to your chosen combination of physical, mental, social and spiritual needs. And, to the extent that it feels comfortable, please bring wellbeing into supervision conversations with postgraduates. While solitude can be enjoyed, its darker cousin, isolation, can be corrosive to wellbeing.

Just as the Prime Minister insists we can beat the virus as a Team of 5 Million, so too as team of 60 or so, we can surely do this: keep students engaged; maintain our research in whatever way we can, and perhaps most importantly, keep in touch with each other.

Its National Poetry Day as I write (who decides these things?). So, to quote a line from my friend and poet Gregory O’Brien “If we all carry each other/ no one will have to walk”. Let’s find ways to carry each other and carry on over the coming weeks, though scattered across many locations. And let’s look back in years to come and be able to say, “we got there”.

Coming up:
Its now only weeks until the ‘site visit; by our School’s External Review Committee. Ahead of their engagement with us 5th-7th October, you may well be invited to join a roundtable or consultation of some sort. Please avail yourself if asked and regardless, please try not to schedule School meetings and events over those three days so as to optimise our collective participation in this first-in-a-decade review.
Robin Kearns, Acting Head of School

 

 

---

Whakawhanaungatanga – Communities

---

Upcoming events 

Geoscience Society of New Zealand

PhD Proposal – Internal Seminar Series

---

Publications

---

Result Number	Document title	Authors	Year	Source	Cited by
1	An (U-Th)/He age for the small Monturaqui impact structure, Chile	Ukstins, I.A., Wartho, J.-A., Cabrol, N.A., (…), Hodges, K.V., Chong, G.	2022	Quaternary Geochronology 67,101217	0
	View abstract  View at Publisher Related documents
2	Developing tree-ring chronologies from New Zealand matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia) and miro (Prumnopitys ferruginea) for archaeological dating: Progress and problems	Boswijk, G., Loader, N.J., Young, G.H.F., Hogg, A.	2021	Dendrochronologia 69,125876	0
	View abstract  View at Publisher Related documents
3	Reconstructing ecological functions provided by extinct fauna using allometrically informed simulation models: An in silico framework for ‘movement palaeoecology’	Perry, G.L.W., Wilmshurst, J.M., Wood, J.R.	2021	Functional Ecology   Article in Press	0
	View abstract  View at Publisher Related documents
4	Lake microbial communities are not resistant or resilient to repeated large-scale natural pulse disturbances	Brasell, K.A., Howarth, J., Pearman, J.K., (…), Simon, K.S., Wood, S.A.	2021	Molecular Ecology   Article in Press	0
	View abstract  View at Publisher Related documents
5	Sooty molds from the Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina	Nunes, C.I., García Massini, J.L., Escapa, I.H., Guido, D.M., Campbell, K.A.	2021	American Journal of Botany   Article in Press	0
	View abstract  View at Publisher Related documents

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

 

HeadsUp

---

Last week all New Zealanders were reminded of the ever-present possibility of a Delta-variant outbreak and the likely response: ‘short, sharp’ Level 4 lockdowns. ‘Be prepared’ is the imperative at all levels,

Meanwhile I was having my own little lockdown after some ankle surgery. It’s been a nice break from commuting, but its felt strange to be at arms-length from so much going on.  I hear the RTEA Ball was a great success – well done to those involved. And I hear the Te Manu Whititua hui – the launch of a process to enable staff to improve engagement with Māori – was such a success that not everyone who came could be accommodated. What a testament to an openness to enlarge our worlds!

My one big outing during the week was to have Covid-vax # 2 at the local medical centre. It felt a bit like election day: exercising a civic duty and stepping into the makeshift privacy of one of those flimsy cardboard booths. It’s such a greater leveler too. People from across the social spectrum were there to the jab (ahead of me was a modest Waiheke local who has tidy 50 million hits for a song on Youtube…).

Its all about risk management. Those Field Activity Forms we need to complete before we take students off-campus may feel as annoying as the afterburn of a jab in the arm but, at best, they provide pause for thought and the nudge to have a Plan B.

The sad downstream consequences of lax vigilance was in the media last week: a school Board of Trustees was charged with negligence for a drowning death at Waihi while students were on a geography trip.

Granted, form-filling itself cannot save a life. And granted, some questions on Field Activity Plans can seem banal (I recall my bemusement last year when asked what I would do if I lost all seven students I was taking to Waiheke for a day…). But the point is we have a duty of care in both the preparation and undertaking of anything in the ‘field’ (ie off-campus). It’s all about being prepared.

Another great way to be prepared is to become a registered First Aider. I did my two-yearly refresher recently and I would encourage others to get these credentials. And it turned out that vibrant Red Cross tutor was a geography graduate! Think of it this way: work is paying for your to gain a life skill. I admit to originally being motivated to do the introductory course to gain skills that could be handy when I’m away tramping in the backcountry.

Mercifully, like my locator beacon, I’ve never needed to activate those skills, but they are there, somewhere in my murky repertoire of know-how. And its not only in the backcountry or on our roads that emergencies happen. Those few of you who have been around as long as me will recall the day a student collapsed and sadly later died after giving a seminar. Once in a blue moon, as they say, emergencies and tragedies happen.

I certainly hope the moon does not turn blue any time soon. And I hope too we do not feel overly constrained in our aspirations and activities the risk-averse society we have become. Let us still engage and explore. But let’s recognize the duty of care that’s always there in our workplaces and wherever our research and teaching takes us.

Robin Kearns

 

---

Whakawhanugatanga – Communities

---

Science Research Showcase 2021

Are you enrolled in postgraduate research?

Are you keen to learn how to communicate your project effectively to a wide range of audiences?

Enter the Faculty of Science Postgraduate Research Showcase!
Registration closes on Friday 3rd September at 4 pm. Check the Science Research Showcase webpage for more details: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/…/pos…/research-showcase.html

Upcoming Events

---

PhD Seminar – Assembling Māori Kuku Economies

The Aotearoa government is signalling the increasing importance of Māori economies as new economic worlds are forming and new languages, actors and networks are coming to the fore. Emerging Māori economic entities are now competing on world markets as well as working to support iwi and hapū economies. Māori economies, however, are largely unexplored in the literature. Focusing on kuku (green-lipped mussels) this research examines how Māori economies are being assembled and how value is being constructed within them and derived from them. The work aims to highlight Māori economic agency and its connection to the possibilities that Māori economies generate and the benefits that they offer to Māori communities. The research brings together diverse economy approaches with a whakapapa based following methodology and will extend the nascent Māori diverse economies literature.

Zoom Link : https://auckland.zoom.us/j/96246586947?pwd=NjNFZk9tdUIyR3oxWCtEOFo1VFNKZz09

 

Supporting PhD Candidates

PhD students have been variously impacted by research disruptions and long separations from their families so as the stress continues to manifest in their morale and progress it is important we as supervisors take up opportunities to upskill ourselves to best support them. Please see https://www.staff.auckland.ac.nz/en/teaching-and-students/postgraduate-students/supervise-postgraduates.html for a full breakdown of opportunities but the workshops below by Dr Hugh Kearns and Dr Desiree Dickerson appear especially timely.

DR HUGH KEARNS WORKSHOPS  We’re pleased to present three new online supervisor workshops with Dr Hugh Kearns. You can now sign up for the following workshops: –  Supervising research students flexibly –  Giving good feedback –  Research supervision masterclass

Rēhita ināianei | Register now

SUPPORTING STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING Join this interactive online discussion with Dr Desiree Dickerson to develop a useful toolbox for navigating your students’ mental health. You will explore having an open-door policy, effective communication and fostering self-worth and capability.

Pānui tonu | Read more

---

Rangahau – Research

---

PhD opportunity

---

Emma Sharp is currently recruiting for a fully-funded PhD on Kindness in Science in Aotearoa New Zealand. The PhD position will be embedded within Te Pūnaha Matatini, the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems. Te Pūnaha Matatini brings together ‘many faces’ – different disciplines, ways of thought, methods, and crucially, people – to define, and then solve, society’s thorny interconnected problems.

Te Pūnaha Matatini has an active whānau group which supports early career researchers, committed to the Te Pūnaha Matatini values of manaakitanga and whakawhanaungatanga, offering supportive tuakana / teina learning environments.
Applications will be considered until the position is filled. Applications received by 31 October 2021 will receive full consideration.

Call for Nominations and Applications – Geoscience Society of New Zealand Awards

---

Premier Geoscience-wide Awards:

Hochstetter Lecturer

For a geoscientist with excellent public speaking skills to present new research to all branches of GSNZ. We welcome nominations of ALL members of the geoscience community for this award, from ECRs, through to senior geoscientists.

McKay Hammer
For the author(s) of the most meritorious geoscience paper(s) from the last 3 years (2018-2020).

GSNZ Honorary Member
Nominations are called for to recognise outstanding lifetime contributions to geoscience in New Zealand.

Hayward Geo-communication Award
Awarded to a NZ-based geoscientist or geoscientists for the most meritorious contribution to geocommunication in the previous 3 calendar years (2018-2020).

Young Researcher/Student Awards:

Hornibrook Award

For a postgraduate student undertaking a research project involving methods of stratigraphic correlation and of relevance to NZ and/or the southwest Pacific.

Jim Ansell Geophysics Scholarship

Post-graduate scholarship for NZ’s top up-and-coming geophysicist.

John Beavan Geodetic Fieldwork Grant

Support for students involved with geodetic research to undertake or participate in associated fieldwork.

Wellman Research Award

A contribution of approximately $3750 towards research in New Zealand. Contribution can cover field, travel, analytical expenses, etc (more details on website).

Werner F. Giggenbach Prize for Geochemistry

For the most outstanding geochemistry publication in 2020 by a NZ-based young researcher.

Special Awards:

S.H. Wilson Prize

Awarded in recognition of a lifetime of service in New Zealand Geochemistry.

New Zealand Geophysics Prize

For the most meritorious publication in NZ geophysics in the current and last 2 years (2019- 2021).

Harold Wellman Prize

Awarded for a recent discovery of important fossil material within New Zealand.

Kingma Award

Awarded to the most outstanding Earth science technician in New Zealand.

Alan Mason Historical Studies Fund

Up to $500 awarded to assist research on the history of Earth science in New Zealand.

Please email your nominations or applications to the Awards Subcommittee Convenor, Kat Holt, at vp@gsnz.org.nz, by the 1st of September 2021. For more details on the awards and to download nomination templates please visit http://gsnz.org.nz/awards

ANSTO 2022-1 Proposal Round – applications now open (applications close 31 August 2021).

The 2022-1 round for January – June 2022 access to the following facilities and capabilities at ANSTO closes on 31 August 2021:

• Biosciences- access awarded to this facility is valid for 12 months
• Centre for Accelerator Science – access awarded to this facility is valid for 12 months
• Isotope Tracing in Natural Systems- access awarded to this facility is valid for 6 months
• Nuclear Stewardship- access awarded to this facility is valid for 6 months
• Vivarium – access awarded to this capability is valid for 12 months

Submitting your proposal via the portal

Proposals must be submitted using the online system, https://portal.ansto.gov.au/. If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it at any time, by following the password reset link on the Portal login page.

Proposal deadline

The Proposal deadline is 11:59 pm on Tuesday 31 August 2021. The User Office will be able to provide assistance to 4pm on the day of proposal deadline. Please be aware that the proposal system may experience heavy use in hours leading up to the deadline, so ensure that your proposals are submitted earlier, if possible.

Need Assistance?

You can contact the User Office using the details below with any queries.

Email: user.office.nsw@ansto.gov.au

Hours: Monday- Friday 8:00am-4:00pm

ANSTO Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Thesis Medal – applications are open (applications close 1 October 2021).

 ANSTO is seeking nominations for the ANSTO Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Thesis Medal.

 This medal is awarded annually to the PhD student at an Australian or New Zealand University who is judged to have completed the most outstanding thesis of the past two years whose work was undertaken at and acknowledges the  Australian Synchrotron, or the Australian National Beamline Facility (ANBF), or whose work acknowledges and was undertaken under the auspices of the International Synchrotron Access Program (ISAP) or the Australian Synchrotron Research Program (ASRP).

 Nominations are invited for the 2021 ANSTO Australian Synchrotron Stephen Wilkins Medal, which will be awarded to the candidate producing the most outstanding thesis and whose degree was awarded, but not necessarily conferred, after the 1st July 2019. The awardee will receive a monetary prize of $3,000 funded by a bequest from the Wilkins family and by ANSTO to support career development.

 Application deadline – Close of Business Friday 1 October 2021

 For more information, please visit the ANSTO website.

IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) – applications are open (applications close 30 September 2021).

The IAEA is pleased to inform you that the application process is open for students interested in applying for a scholarship from the IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) for the academic years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

The IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme (MSCFP) aims to help increase the number of women in the nuclear field, supporting an inclusive workforce of both men and women who contribute to and drive global scientific and technological innovation. The Programme aims to inspire and encourage young women to pursue a career in the nuclear field, by providing highly motivated female students with scholarships for Master’s programmes and an opportunity to pursue an internship facilitated by the IAEA.

Scholarships are awarded annually, with up to 100 female students selected per year depending on the availability of funds. Consideration is given to geographic, field of study, and linguistic diversity. The selected students are awarded up to €20,000 for tuition costs and up to €20,000 for living costs for the duration of their Master’s programme.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 30 September 2021

For more information on the MSCFP, including instructions on how to apply, application requirements, and well as testimonials from current MSCFP recipients, please visit: www.iaea.org/MSCFP

---

Publications

---

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadsUp

---

At least on Level 6, last week seemed consumed by conversations about a letter in that very unscientific but high-impact journal, The Listener. The best responses are invariably the most pithy. Rangi Mātāmua, a new Fellow of Te Apārangi / the Royal Society, said “Māori have always been scientists. You don’t navigate that expansive ocean on myths and legends”. Similarly, two Māori and Pasifika high school students were quoted in the NZ Herald on the weekend as saying learning Mātauranga Māori in their science classes had engaged them more deeply because they finally saw themselves reflected in an otherwise Western-dominated subject.

Parking, for a moment, the topic of The Listener letter, another aspect is noteworthy: the speed of reaction. This was nothing short of breathtaking compared to the glacial pace of response to articles in academic journals! Would a letter on this topic by non-academics have generated such interest? Perhaps. But unlikely. What we witnessed was the entanglement of two concepts: authorship and authority.

As academics, we build a reputation in fields of knowledge and become authorities through the cumulative gravitas of authoring publications. While Acting Head of School I’m having a privileged window into that world of career-development and reputation-management through seeing colleagues’ CVs, conducting ADPRs, and – for some – reviewing promotion applications.

The university has – whether we like it or not – aspects of a meritocracy: our standing is related to how outstanding we perform and teachers and researchers. But what of those who less visibly contribute to outstanding research? I was recently given a paper in which the authors argue that “Technicians are a vital, but largely invisible part of institutional research….”. The authors advocate greater recognition for the contributions of technical staff to research outputs.

If authorship is how academics indicate their growing authority in a chosen field, how do other contributors to the scholarly division of labour attain recognition? As the writers of this paper (McLaren & Dent, 2021) point out ‘The acknowledgement section of papers appears just above the references and is generally not indexed’. In other words, even the courtesy of acknowledging technical staff (how many do this?) amounts to barely visible recognition of their labour, analytical insight and interpretive skill when any of these contributions may well have been central to the paper’s production.

Is there a case for including technical staff in the authorship of publications? If their contribution was critical, then why not? There is a politics to authorship. A while ago now, four of us in Geography (both academics and professional staff) published the outcome of an extended korero on this topic (Kearns et al, 1996). We argued that politics reached into not only whose names appear and whose are merely acknowledged (or left off), but also the order of listing.

I for one consider any paper developed from of a student’s thesis should have their name first. Why? It’s a matter of equity. Authorship is a career resource and a recent graduate has the most to gain.
According to the ‘Vancouver convention’ on authorship, anyone should be an author who has made a significant contribution to the production of a published work (design, analysis interpretation, drafting , and responding to critics).

Perhaps we have defaulted too much ethical deliberation to ethics committees. An encouraging step would be more conscious discussions of the politics of authorship. Whether it be in a letter to a magazine or an article in a refereed journal, authorship and authority are entangled.

Coming up

Please support the first of two hui organised by Kimoro, Karen and Mel as part of the Te Manu Whititua, a Māori-led initiative within ENV to assist staff to engage effectively with Māori. Guided by the principle of ako, Te Manu Whititua aims to provide quality space for continuous learning and reflection, inquiry and dialogue, sharing and collaboration. Lunch provided. Thursday 12 August 11-1, the Ontology Lab, 302.551

---

Whakawhanugatanga – Communities

---

Funding for class meet and greets

The Student Experience Committee has limited amounts of funding available for class related activities. If you want to have a morning tea or pizza lunch with your semester 2 class then get in touch with Joe asap (j.fagan@auckland.ac.nz). Funds are limited and the Committee would prefer to fund a few small events rather than one big one

Media Release – Envirolink Project 

Marta Ribó interview at RNZ

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018804232/new-research-finds-surprising-presence-of-microplastics

Sally Watson presenting research in NIWA video, with participation of Marta Ribó and Sarah Seabrook

Seeking Study Participants: The Role of the E-Bike in Mode Choice for Commuting in Auckland

Kim Dirks from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (and Sophie Gatman and
Ben Marsh, Part IV Project students) are seeking participants willing to complete an on-line survey
(10-15 minutes) about cycling in Auckland.

Both cyclists and non-cyclists are invited to participate. Participants who complete the survey will
be invited to go into a draw for one of six $50 vouchers.

If you are interested in participating, please click on the following survey link:
https://auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_43dxj8G308QNars

If you have any questions regarding the survey, or would like more information about the study,
please contact any of the researchers (k.dirks@aucland.ac.nz, sgat260@aucklanduni.ac.nz, or
bmar212@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

Approved by the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee on 28/05/2021 for
three years. Reference Number UAHPEC 21954.

Tech Notice Board

---

School of Environment Lab User Survey

The School Technical Team are currently trying to gain an idea of lab-users’ experiences of gaining access and working within the ENV laboratories.

If you are a lab user, we would appreciate if you could please complete a our short survey: https://auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0lnqpudH8CYsEnQ

ENV Labs and fieldwork reminder

I thought it was about time for a quick reminder about accessing ENV labs and undertaking fieldwork. As always if you have queries or concerns please email Blair or pop into his office (302.415). You will also receive an invitation to a survey in the next few weeks which the techs are using to capture feedback about our lab spaces; what’s good, what’s missing and what can be improved. I urge you all to complete this as this feedback will help us shape the future direction of the labs and assist with purchasing the right equipment for each space.

All of the information for accessing labs and undertaking fieldwork is in the aptly named “School of Environment Laboratory and Field Safety” canvas course; if you do not have access then please send Blair an email and he will add you. This course contains information on a range of health and safety topics relevant to the School, as well as showcasing some of our facilities and technical capabilities. You are able to take part in our online inductions to gain laboratory access and complete any annual refreshers (where required). These are regularly being updated and refreshed so they are as accurate as possible. All of our laboratory inductions are online so you can do these well in advance of when you need access. Some of you may have also noticed that the labs on L4 of 302 are currently being changed to swipe access; due to be complete in a couple of weeks. You will automatically be shifted over, however you will need to return your lab keys before your access is activated. Standard building access to our spaces is Monday-Friday between 7.30am and 6.00pm. If you wish to work outside of these times then let Blair know and he’ll send you the form to complete.

Field activity is any work carried out for the purpose of teaching, research or representing the University off-site; including site visits and reconnaissance trips. A field activity plan is required where facility for health and safety is not managed by another institution. Any time you wish to undertake field work or a site visit you need to complete a Field Activity Plan and have it signed off. Either Blair or Andres can sign as the HSW approver. When assigning your home-base contact, check-in person and UoA emergency contacts please remember to actually ask the person first and check they are available. In the coming months field activity plans will be moving to an online system; you’ll receive an email from Blair when this goes live.

A last reminder; please do not take any items/equipment/consumables from laboratories without talking to the technician-in-charge first. We have had a run recently of items being shifted to other labs (and offices) without approval. This can hinder or halt the work of others in our shared spaces and creates unnecessary work for staff who have to track the items down. ENV Lab polices are backed by UoA policies and procedures as well as those we are required to follow by regulatory bodies. While sometimes it may feel like there is too much paperwork, or too many requirements, please note that we are doing what is required to keep all of our users (staff, students, contractors, visitors) safe. If you are having issues or feel like you are stuck just pop in and see Blair; his door is usually open.

Job Opportunities

---

Assistant Technologist – currently advertised

We have just advertised and are looking for an enthusiastic and keen learner to join us as an Assistant Technologist to operate and maintain the School of Environment X-ray analytical Research Laboratories in our Microcharacterisation Facility.

This person will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance, technical support and operation of key research equipment, including, but not limited to:
• Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF) – our new 4KW Bruker Tiger S8 (arriving November)
• Cox Analytical Itrax Core Scanner
• X-ray Preparation facilities (in the new lab currently being built).
• Potential to learn and be a backup operator for the Electron Hyper-probe.

Would you please circulate this among your students and groups; it’s a graduate level position.

Applications close August 12 – https://smrtr.io/68yft

2021 ANZIC Science Committee

The Australia New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC) is seeking four new representatives to serve on the 2021 ANZIC Science Committee.

(From ANZIC’s announcement):
“The role is extremely rewarding and a significant boost to broadening your knowledge, skills and national network across IODP. ANZIC are looking for representatives that are willing to embrace the collaborative, collegiate and constructive ethos of the review process.

The roles of the Science Committee are:

Scientific Oversight
a) Setting the criteria for ANZIC IODP Expeditioner selection reflecting IODP policy and guidelines.
b) Assess and rank applicants for Expeditioner status and support by ANZIC.
c) Set the criteria for ANZIC post-expedition and legacy project support, reflecting IODP policy and guidelines.
d) Assess and rank applications for ANZIC post-expedition and legacy project support for advice, reflecting appropriate support of post-expedition and legacy grants.
e) Set criteria, assess and rank applicants for other calls for scientific funding support (e.g. workshops) supported by ANZIC.
f) Execute effective scientific governance of ANZIC.

The Science Committee will also set scientific criteria for assessing and ranking any other matters that the ANZIC Program Scientist or the ANZIC Governing Council delegates to the Science Committee.”

If interested, please contact Ingo Pecher (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) or Lorna Strachan (l.strachan@auckland.ac.nz). Deadline for an Expression of Interest at the ANZIC Office is 16 August.

Pasifika Internship Opportunities @ Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research

Our land, our future – this is the essence of why Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research exists. At Manaaki Whenua we undertake research that focuses on preserving New Zealand’s rich biodiversity, improving biosecurity, and protecting the health of the land, fresh water and soil resources we need for a prosperous future. We recognize the importance of partnerships, the special role of Māori, and the need to ensure that all New Zealanders have the knowledge, understanding, and tools to truly live-in harmony with our precious environment. We are recognised nationally and internationally for the quality of our research and work with a wide range of organizations within New Zealand and globally.

Manaaki Whenua has two Pasifika internships available this summer, over the ten-week period starting early December – through to the end of February with 2 weeks off for Christmas. One of these positions has been earmarked for our herbarium located in Lincoln. Our herbarium has species from all around the world but specialises in indigenous and exotic plants of the New Zealand region and the South Pacific. Our second opportunity will most likely be in Auckland.

The internships are full time (37.5 hours per week) and the pay rate is $22.75 per hour, so a net pay potential of just over $6,000 for the summer.

Ideally, we are seeking Pasifika students who are studying Science, we are open to which year of study etc. In the event we have more than two relevant expressions of interest we would look to offer an addition internship/s where possible. EOI to be emailed to: Temo Talie taliet@landcareresearch.co.nz

Events & Seminars

---

Te Manu Whititua : Enabling Staff to improve engagement with Māori

Socio-economic adaptation to ongoing Taranaki volcanism – A Co-Creating Systems Dynamics approach 

Disasters and the “Other Gender”: Exploring the Experiences of the Hijra Community in Disasters in India

Staff Equity Workshop & Lunch: Equity in out practice

Last call for tickets to the School of Environment Ball

Last call for tickets to the School of Environment Ball happening on Saturday 7 August from 7:30pm at Phoenix Cabaret. Ticket sales are online at https://forms.gle/esnCQrBaMEt4X6se6 and are open to all interested over 18 years of age.
School of Environment student tickets are $45pp, SoE staff tickets are $55pp, and non-SoE tickets are $55pp.
Please see the event page on the RTEA Facebook or contact rteauoa@gmail.com for more information.

Transdisciplinary Ideation Workshops

The next workshop in the series will focus on two priority themes within Taumata Teitei: Advancing Just, Cultured and Engaged Communities and Innovating Contemporary, Distributed, Secure Knowledge Systems. It will explore transdisciplinary research in association with these themes, socialize potential collaborators and support staff towards submitting applications to the Waipapa Taumata Rau Transdisciplinary Ideation Fund.

To register for this workshop please click the link below:

• Advancing Just, Cultured and Engaged Communities and Innovating Contemporary, Distributed, Secure Knowledge Systems
13 August 8:30am-12pm. Location: Epsom Campus (6EN).

Greetings from CSIR-North East Institute of Science & Technology (NEIST) Jorhat, Assam, India

The prevalent unprecedented situation due to the CoVID-19 pandemic have significantly impacted academic and research activities, including research exchange and collaborations across the globe. In course with this, the Geoscience & Technology Division (GSTD) of CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat had started an annual INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP, on “Global Seismology & Tectonics” (IVWGST),  targeting the undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG) and PhD students, besides academicians and scientists of geosciences and allied branches of science & engineering (Physics/Geology/Geophysics/Seismology/Environmental Science/Geography/Civil Engineering/Earthquake Engineering etc).  

1st IVWGST-2020 was conducted during September’ 2020, which was attended by more than 1000 thousand participants from 25 countries. This year, IVWGST-2021 shall be conducted from 20-30th September 2021, featuring resource persons from diverse forums as per the schedule mentioned in the Brochure.

Important Information regarding IVWGST-2021:

(1) The registration for the Workshop is free.

(2) Registration timing: 20th July to 20th August, 2021. (No requests for late registration shall be entertained)

(3)The link for registration is: https://forms.gle/NmEbXHUd4SejxmzQ9 

(4) The virtual workshop will be held via Microsoft Teams (MS Teams). The participants are requested to download and install Microsoft (MS) Teams software in their desktop or mobile devices. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/download-app)

(5) The MS Teams links for the respective sessions will be provided to the registered participants through email. We request not to share the link(s) with anybody who is not registered for the Workshop.

(6) E-certificate shall be provided to registered participants upon request, if they have attended at least 80% of the virtual workshop.

(7) Interested participants are encouraged to submit an abstract of their research (however not mandatory), neatly written within a page, in Microsoft (MS) Word template (Title of the Paper, Full Name of Author(s), Affiliation with complete address, Abstract,  Keywords) to the email address of the organizer, i.e. santanuivwgst@neist.res.in, on or before 14th September 2021. The selected abstracts shall be published in the e-abstract volume of the workshop. The decision of the organizing committee shall be considered final in case of any disputes, if any.

Please forward the information to your colleagues/friends/family members/students you think might be interested in joining the workshop series and direct them to sign up for the mailing list by visiting our website/link as mentioned above.

For further queries and inconveniences in registering etc., the organizing committee may be reached at santanuivwgst@neist.res.in

---

Ako Innovation

---

Transdisciplinarity – what does this mean in a teaching context? We want to hear your perspective.

‘Transdisciplinarity’ is often framed as a taken-for-granted virtue in the contemporary teaching and research sector and features prominently in the University of Auckland’s Strategic Plan, Te Taumata Teitei. Yet academic units and individual staff are grappling with precisely what transdisciplinary practice looks like, particularly in the teaching environment. The School of Environment with its strong disciplines across the natural and social sciences is potentially well suited to work in the complex and messy space of transdisciplinary science, but how this is playing or will play out in its teaching remains unclear. How does the School of Environment (ENV) and its staff understand and practice transdisciplinarity? How might it/we frame or change our practices in the future?

As successful recipients of an ENV Ako Innovation Teaching Grant we have developed a research project to explore ENV academic staff’s understanding and practice of transdisciplinarity in a teaching context. Over the next few weeks we will be approaching a range of staff across the disciplines to invite you to participate in a short 15-30 minute individual recorded interview. This can take place either online or in-person. All information will be collated so no individuals or individual courses can be identified. We will feed back the results of this work to staff later in the semester. If you would like to participate in this research, please contact any member of the project team: Marie McEntee, Tom Baker, Lorna Strachan, George Perry or Nick Lewis.

---

Rangahau – Research

---

Funding Call for Research Fellows

School of Environment Research Fellow Funding Support

• One application per Research Fellow is allowed per year.
• A maximum of $2,000 is available per applicant.

Funding to support Research Fellows on their career and professional development. This funding can be used for:
– Open-Access or publication fees of manuscripts (recently submitted, accepted or require minor revisions for acceptance) or just published.
– Attendance of meetings/conference/training (on-line and in person)
– Analytical expenses and consumables.
– Software licences for research-related work.
– One-off data purchases.

Applications are accepted until the 16th August 2021 12:00pm (midday).

PhD opportunity

Are you looking for a PhD programme in computational geophysics or know someone who is? The Rapid Characterisation of Earthquakes and Tsunamis (RCET) programme is looking for PhD students to join our team! We have five fully funded positions at Otago University. Available projects include: 1) tsunami early warning, 2) seismic imaging of large earthquakes, 3) improvements in earthquake magnitude determination, 4) exploration of earthquake energy release, and 5) broadband modelling of the seismic wavefield. The students will be co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Andrew Gorman (Otago) and Dr Bill Fry (GNS). If you’d like more information (about the grant, how to apply, etc.), please reach out to Sophia Tsang (s.tsang@auckland.ac.nz).

Postgraduate scholarship programme

There are 10 DOC scholarships worth up to $15,000 each. Full-time students are funded for one year and part-time students are funded for up to two years. For more information click here.

---

Publications

---

Hope, J.A., Giovanni, C., Ladewig, S.M. and Thrush, S.F., 2021. The distribution and ecological effects of microplastics in an estuarine ecosystem. Environmental Pollution, p.117731.

Vitousek, S., Cagigal, L., Montaño, J., Rueda, A., Mendez, F., Coco, G. and Barnard, P.L., The application of ensemble wave forcing to quantify uncertainty of shoreline change predictions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, doi: 10.1029/2019JF005506

Lavin CP, Gordó-Vilaseca C, Costello MJ. 2021. Global fisheries in a warming world. In: Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier, 2021, ISBN 9780124095489, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821139-7.00096-9 

Lien, A.M., Conix, S., Zachos, F.E., Christidis, L., van Dijk, P.P., Bánki, O.S., Barik, S.K., Buckeridge, J.S., Costello, M.J., Hobern, D., Montgomery N., Pyle R.L., Thiele, K.R., Thomson S.A., Zhang, Z-Q., Garnett, S.T. 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species IV: Overcoming fragmentation in the governance of taxonomic lists. Organisms Diversity & Evolution . https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00499-8

Conix, S., Garnett, S.T., Thiele, K.R., Christidis, L., van Dijk, P.P., Bánki, O.S., Barik, S.K., Buckeridge, J.S., Costello, M.J., Hobern, D. and Kirk, P.M., 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species III. Independence and stakeholder inclusion. Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00496-x

 Thiele, K.R., Conix, S., Pyle, R.L., Barik, S.K., Christidis, L., Costello, M.J., van Dijk, P.P., Kirk, P., Lien, A., Thomson, S.A. and Zachos, F.E., 2021. Towards a global list of accepted species I. Why taxonomists sometimes disagree, and why this matters. Organisms Diversity & Evolution , 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00495-y

KEARNS, R. (2021) Geographical metaphors in everyday life. In Covid-19 and Similar Futures: Pandemic Geographies (eds.) Andrews, G. , Crooks, V. Pearce, J. and Messina, J. Springer, Switzerland, pp 185-193

---

IT Committee

---

In order to ensure computer labs. of your classes can be run remotely, please let the students check if required software works off FlexIT. Be aware, staff may have different levels of access to FlexIT software. Information on FlexIT can be fount at: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/flexit-guide.html

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadsUp

---

I’m reminded of my islandnes here on Waiheke as I write these words while a storm rages outside and ferries are cancelled. It was 1624 that John Donne wrote the lines “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”. And it was about 1974 I had to memorise that poem in English class at high school. The implications of those lines have resonated down the years into times of more inclusive expression. We’re all part of something larger. We’re certainly on islands – larger as well as smaller – but can’t afford to be islands.

This connectedness to something larger has been more evident to me than ever as I have occupied JR’s office and been Acting Head of School. One cannot afford to maintain an insular vantage point. But it’s not just on the dizzy heights of the 6th Floor. We all need to be citizens of the School, Faculty and University.

This imperative was reinforced in the last week when the Associate Dean Academic, through JR as Acting Deputy Dean, requested use of the Multi-use Lab (MUL) for the remainder of 2021. No one likes giving up space. Threats to the occupation and use of space underly everything from door keys to border walls in this world. But manaakitanga is an important countervailing imperative for our times. In the case of the request to use the MUL it’s been a time of seeking the temporary use of other groups’ labs for those individuals and groups already booked in. A time of patience, negotiation, deliberation and, I’m optimistic, resolution.

One way to see it is that it’s an honour to host the FoS Curriculum Taskforce group. The first time I passed by that corridor in 302 since they moved in, the door was wide open, so I stopped in for a yarn. Please do the same. Make them welcome. Of course, our own Murray Ford is part of the group so he can broker introductions. I’m an optimist, so I’d like to think we’ll be enriched by their time in our midst.

It’s like the ‘Russian doll’ set a relative in Poland sent when my kids were very young; where one painted wooden doll opens to reveal another, and then another, and so on. We may primarily see ourselves as coastal experts, urban geographers, volcanologists or some other speciality, but we are more than that. We cannot be islands. We are members disciplinary/subject area groupings, who are also members of the School, all the while belonging to the Faculty of Science and, all those affiliations are nested within the University at large.

We’re all, in John Donne’s words, “a piece of the continent, a part of the main”. These are not times to be isolated islands, even if we live on them.

Turning to specific matters

• In a last stage of completing our School Review document, we are asked to revise our CVs according to the circulated templates, ensuring some brief narrative indicating impact etc. Please respond and return updated CVs to Anna simcock@auckland.ac.nz by Friday 23^rd.
• In examining the School’s budget and accounts it appears the professional development fund available to academic staff ($4500 over three years) is not receiving much attention. Please remember this is available for reasonable and relevant opportunities to enhance your skills (e.g., I am drawing on modest amount to enrol in a te reo course)
• In a similar vein, it seems fewer than usual claims have been made on the allowance available for Honours and Masters students. If you are supervising students, be sure you facilitate them getting reimbursed for appropriate research expenses within the allocated budget.
• Our new appointee Dr Georgia Piggot will be with us this week, having completed her two weeks of MIQ. Welcome!
• With the new semester upon us, may all your teaching engagements be enjoyable…and, just think, by the time the semester ends we’ll be in summer daylight saving again 😊

Kind Regards, 

Robin Kearns

---

Whakawhanugatanga – Communities

---

Office relocation draw

A couple of offices will soon be available in building 302. The School Steering Committee has agreed to organise a draw to attribute these two offices to whoever is interested in relocating from building 301. Therefore, please reach out to Michael Groom and JC Gaillard before the 23rd of July to express your interest. We should proceed with the draw at the subsequent Whakawhanaungatanga Platform meeting on the 29th of July. Thank you very much!

Pasifika Internship Opportunities @ Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research

Our land, our future – this is the essence of why Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research exists. At Manaaki Whenua we undertake research that focuses on preserving New Zealand’s rich biodiversity, improving biosecurity, and protecting the health of the land, fresh water and soil resources we need for a prosperous future. We recognize the importance of partnerships, the special role of Māori, and the need to ensure that all New Zealanders have the knowledge, understanding, and tools to truly live-in harmony with our precious environment. We are recognised nationally and internationally for the quality of our research and work with a wide range of organizations within New Zealand and globally.

Manaaki Whenua has two Pasifika internships available this summer, over the ten-week period starting early December – through to the end of February with 2 weeks off for Christmas. One of these positions has been earmarked for our herbarium located in Lincoln. Our herbarium has species from all around the world but specialises in indigenous and exotic plants of the New Zealand region and the South Pacific. Our second opportunity will most likely be in Auckland.

The internships are full time (37.5 hours per week) and the pay rate is $22.75 per hour, so a net pay potential of just over $6,000 for the summer.

Ideally, we are seeking Pasifika students who are studying Science, we are open to which year of study etc. In the event we have more than two relevant expressions of interest we would look to offer an addition internship/s where possible. EOI to be emailed to: Temo Talie taliet@landcareresearch.co.nz

Environment Equity Committee 

We would like to make sure that students (and staff) are aware of the ENV Equity committee. To assist us with this are you able to show this slide in your first lecture and put up on your Canvas page so any students (or staff) who might like to connect around equity issues know where to go. If you have any questions about how to speak to this slide, really happy to have a chat, Sonia (Chair – ENV EC)

Seminars & Events

---

Protection and inclusion? A feminist legal geographic approach to disaster law and regulation

Why Disaster Law and what is it? Disaster law consists of a portfolio of legal rules for dealing with catastrophic risks. The term usually includes the numerous hard and soft-law instruments devoted to addressing the legal and institutional issues relevant in disaster. The complex coexisting definitions/meanings of ‘risk’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘disasters’ within the disaster field induces debates on the ‘specificity’ of disaster law and on its miscibility with other branches of international or domestic law. This thesis will stand at the heart of this debate. Building on the large body of radical and feminist literature on the social construction of disasters and using a feminist legal geographic approach, it will explore the pertinence of the specific, technocratic, and hazard-focused way many legal practitioners and researchers keep addressing disaster law.

Zoom link: https://auckland.zoom.us/j/96616318877?pwd=eVNXd0JZNzRzV1lod1BMR0tyekh6QT09

The Faculty Of Science Pacific Research Symposium

The Faculty of Science is home to a growing number of Pacific researchers and Pacific-related research. This includes research with Pacific communities, environments, technologies, plants, animals, oceans, lands, skies, and more. Furthermore, this research is being produced amidst wider conversations about what Pacific research is, highlighting the dynamic nature of this interdisciplinary field. We aim to contribute to this wider conversation with a symposium highlighting the research of our Pacific postgraduate students and staff, and that of our non-Pacific peers conducting research relevant to the Pacific. This symposium will be a first for the Faculty of Science, and a unique opportunity to highlight the research capabilities of our Pacific colleagues and the dynamic research happening within the Pacific region.

We invite all Pacific postgraduate students and staff, and non-Pacific colleagues doing Pacific- relevant research within the Faculty of Science to submit an abstract (200 words max) to speak at the upcoming pacific research symposium.

Prizes for best student talks!!

Abstracts and registration for the event can be sent in via the QR code or the following link: https://forms.gle/6R6S5nFd5d6FVz6H9
Deadline for abstract submissions is 6 August 2021 5pm. We encourage graduate researchers to speak at this upcoming event.

School of Environment Ball

The annual School of Environment Ball is happening again on Saturday 7th August 7.30pm onwards at Phoenix Cabaret. Online ticket sales (https://forms.gle/esnCQrBaMEt4X6se6) have just started and the event is open to all undergraduates (r18+), postgraduates, staff and partners from SoE.

Prices:
School of Environment Students Ticket = $45pp
School of Environment Staff = $55 pp
Non SoE Ticket for friends and/or partners @ $55pp. (Limited availability)

Please see the event page on Facebook for further information or contact us via Email

Geologize Practical Geocommunication online training course for staff and students

Following some leading UK and Australian universities, we have recently purchased a site-license allowing all UoA staff and students FREE access to Geologize’s critically acclaimed and widely accredited course, ‘Practical Geocommunication’. You also have FREE access to Geoscience Outreach in Schools mini-course (by Out There Learning Ltd) as part of the package. All together this is worth $720 NZD per person, so please take advantage of this.

The training helps geoscientists become more effective and powerful public ambassadors for our field, something the geosciences urgently need. It will also look great on your CV, so there is nothing to lose and everything to gain from this opportunity. And as Warren Buffet, the famous American investor said “The one easy way to become worth at least 50 percent more than you are now, is to hone your communication skills”.

How to enroll on the course
Uoa’s unique access code is: auck-pggz-2122

1) Head over to https://training.geologize.org/courses/auckland
2) Click on ‘UNIVERSITY ACCESS’
3) Register (Free. This MUST be your university address)
4) Click on the link ‘Have a coupon?’
5) Enter the code above. This will apply the discount.
6) Start learning!

The number of times this coupon can be used is limited to the those at UoA, so please do not share this code to those outside our institution. If you attempt to enrol with a non-UoA e-mail you will be unenrolled.

Learners follow the course at their own pace and you will have lessons, quizzes, assignments and the opportunity to interact directly Dr Haydon Mort, the course teacher through the forums. A certificate is provided at the end of the course, with the seals of the many international organizations who endorse this course.

CitiSci – citizen science workshop day

The School of Environment is collaborating with the Auckland Council and the Auckland Museum Institute (Auckland branch of the RSNZ) to produce the event CitiSci on 11th September: This is forum where citizen scientists interested in conservation can learn about emerging new tools, resources, and innovative techniques and where developers can interact with users.

CitiSci ran last year as part of the 2020 Auckland Council Pestival weekend.

Workshops are short 1.5 hour sessions. Free registration will be via the AC website (link will be circulated in the next P-cubed).

If you would like to present or suggest a session or have any questions, please email Rosemary Barraclough: rk.barraclough@auckland.ac.nz

2021 sessions penciled-in thus far are:

AI in conservation:
Using artificial intelligence to accelerate wildlife conservation, e.g. Spyfish Aotearoa. Session presented by Victor Anton, PhD from Wildlife.AI.
Armchair/remote conservation:
Participating in conservation via Zooniverse and other platforms presented by Monica Peters, PhD.
CatchIT V2 Version two of this online conservation resource will be released just prior to CitiSci: CatchIT tracks and protects rat trap, bird nesting and other restoration data, as well as providing graphics outputs e.g. heat maps and graphs. Presented by Prof Rachel Fewster, Dept of Statistics, UoA.
eDNA: (session to be confirmed) Environmental DNA monitoring, presented by Theirry Lints, FMHS, UoA.
AC Innovation: The Auckland Council’s ‘Conservation Information and Tools group’ led by Viv Cole will present re their most recent innovative field and digital tool development work.
iNaturalist: This free platform is the largest citizen bio-science platform in the country, with New Zealanders having made >1.12 million observations of 19 000 plant, animal, and fungal species over the past 14 years. Led by Colin Meurk, Landcare, and team.

---

Rangahau – Research

---

MBIE – Unlocking Curious Minds

NOTE TIGHT DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION – Contact your RPC for details on how to register in the MBIE IMS portal

The Fund aims to encourage quality projects that reach and inspire a broad base of New Zealanders through initiatives that bring science and technology to audiences that have less opportunity to learn about and to engage with science and technology

The fund will support projects that:

• take place in 1 or more New Zealand regions
• reach audiences in more than 1 location across a region(s)
• provide 1 or more new science and technology engagement activities.

Grant Value: The available funding per project is between $50,000 (minimum) and $150,000 (maximum).  

Duration: Projects will run for up to 11 months between 1 Feb 2022 and 31 Dec 2022. 

Internal Deadline:

• Registration (compulsory): 12 noon, Monday 26 July 2021.
• Full Proposal:12 noon, Friday 20 August 2021.

Further information, including guidelines and other essential documents can be found on the MBIE website.

OECD – Co-operative Research Programme (Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems) Fellowships and Conference Sponsorship

Fellowship: Applications are invited from research scientists working in agriculture, forestry or fisheries and who would like to conduct research projects abroad, in another member country of the Co-operative Research Programme. The aim of the Research Fellowships is to strengthen the international exchange of ideas and increase international mobility and co-operation among scientists working in these areas.

Value:  Fellowships may be from 6 to 26 weeks, with travel costs, weekly subsistence allowance and airport terminal charges allowed.

Guidelines and further information available on the funders website.

Conference Sponsorship: Applications are invited from research scientists working in agriculture, forestry or fisheries for funding towards a conference (or workshop, symposium, etc) to take place in a member country of the Co-operative Research Programme. The aim of the Conference Sponsorship scheme is to inform policy makers, industry and academia of current and future research, scientific developments and opportunities in these areas.

Value: Travel Lump sum for Keynote Speakers, or a contribution made towards the costs of hosting a digital event.  A contribution of EUR 3,050 (circa NZD 5,128) towards the publication costs of the proceedings of the Conference. This contribution is paid directly to the publishers of the proceedings

Guidelines and further information available on the funders website

Internal Deadline: 5pm Thursday 2 September 2021

Publications

---

Tim Baice, Sonia M. Fonua, Ben Levy, Jean M. Allen & Tepora Wright (2021) How do you (demonstrate) care in an institution that does not define ‘care’?, Pastoral Care in Education, DOI: 10.1080/02643944.2021.1951339

Neuwelt, P.M. and Kearns, R. A. 2021 Playing the Game: Interactively exploring journeys into primary care. Wellbeing, Space & Society. Published online 8 July, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2021.100045

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadsUp

---

Most of us are slow learners when it comes to mātauranga Māori. Research or ethics applications these days appear to demand otherwise. But I’m convinced that slowing down is the only way. We need to be slow learners. There is no quick fix.

Where I live on Waiheke Island, there are large billboards near each of the ferry terminals that proclaim ‘SLOW DOWN, YOU’RE HERE”. Sadly fewer people than ever seem to honour that exhortation. But from time to time there’s a reminder that slowing down is not just about driving and cars.

Recently on the motu we’ve had a return visit from  tohunga taiao (environmental healer) from Okarito in south Westland.  Ramari Stewart was awarded the NZ Order of Merit in 2020 for her services to Māori culture, wildlife conservation and research. She is a whale expert, with extensive expertise in the traditional knowledge systems of mātauranga Māori. Among other things she trains others in safe and effective tikanga-based methods conducting research with cetaceans. I say with because, as you listen to her, it’s clear that she has a deep relationship with whales and dolphins, dead or alive. Working on them, rather than with them, would be anathema to her world view.

Ramari’s attention has turned to birds of late, prompted in part by the outcry over the seven hectare floating marina ‘development’ underway at Pūtiki Bay on Waiheke. In recent talks at Piritahi Marae and the Community Art Gallery she spoke of her mātauranga-informed investigations of birdlife at the Bay. Two characteristics shone through in her perspective: first, the need to slow down and be still in their presence. For her, clock time needs to be suspended as we observe the ‘natural ‘world. Second, the need to acknowledge diversity. Rather than all being homogenous and enumerated  ‘adults’ or ‘juveniles’ of a species such as torea (variable oystercatchers), she spoke of each family having its own ‘culture’ as its adapted to local coastal conditions.

In reflecting on the gift of time with whaea Ramari,  what struck me is that mātauranga Māori itself can so easily be colonised  (in the sense of presumed to be known) and commodified (confined to a box on a form). It also struck me that knowing the world in this way requires something of a suspension of the clock time (‘deadlines’ and schedules etc)  our work lives are driven by (what the Greeks called chronos) and an openness to the unstructured ‘now’ (what they call kairos).  In times of knowing kairos, other rhythms such as tides, sun, moon take precedence over minutes and hours. In the case of the avian world, observable rhythms such as  birds feeding, roosting, teaching their young become apparent.

Ideally, perhaps,  our time away from the chronos-based attention to the screens, lectures and clock-time of meetings at work can allow for an occasional immersion in the kairos of slowing down. Perhaps that’s the gift of weekends and  times in the field: a greater awareness of the world and  people around us. Perhaps too, mātauranga is less about embracing a set of constructs and more about a deep attentiveness to relationality, time and place. We need guides, and when people like whaea Ramari appear, their presence is a gift worth slowing down for.

He waka eke noa!   We’re all in this together.

On more immediate matters:

• This week we have examiner’s meetings and the finalisation of grades. Big thanks to all who have adapted to Inspera and worked through the on-screen scripts. I hope you can all give your eyes a rest soon!
• The School Review process proceeds: Recall that input to the narrative JR’s been working on has now closed, and it’s a time to be gathering your thoughts for an independent or group submission.
• Earlier in the year, we were invited to participate in a university-wide wellbeing survey that focused on recent Covid-year experience. Please expect notice of a zoom-based presentation on School-specific results soon.
• July sees Karen Fisher assume the role of Head of Geography from Jenny Salmond, and Nick Lewis assume Luitgard’s Postgraduate Chair position.
• In a further appointment, Murray Ford has been invited to join a 5-strong Faculty Curriculum Taskforce chaired by Duncan McGillvray. David Hayward will offer a link between this process and our school as our ‘Curriculum Champion’ in addition his Head of Academic Operations portfolio.
• I am aware of at least three colleagues dealing with difficult situations with ailing parents. My, and I’m everyone’s, thoughts are with you as you balance family and work imperatives and deal with “the should I stay or should I go?” question;
• I’m not sure if I congratulated the parents of new arrivals earlier: Emma Ryan’s welcomed Kate, Joe’s welcomed Freddie and Blair’s welcomed Brielle. Wonderful!
• And, lastly, happy Matariki! May the turning of the year bring new horizons.

---

Whakawhanugatanga – Communities

---

Tino pai! Congratulations to the winners of our 3MT Science heat and well done to everybody who took part! 

Masters category
1st place: Sebastian Dunn (Biological Science/Computer Science)
Runner up: Rachel Lawson (Environment)

Doctoral category
1st place: Luke Boyle (Statistics)
Runner up: Amy Renelle (Statistics)

Course builder

Postgraduate Information on Coursebuilder!

https://www.coursebuilder.cad.auckland.ac.nz/flexicourses/4112/publish/1/index.html

PhD information on this page has been updated 30/6/21 and a new section on Wellbeing and Student Hardship Support added https://www.coursebuilder.cad.auckland.ac.nz/flexicourses/4112/publish/1/9_9.html but if you spot anything else out of date please contact j.eccles@auckland.ac.nz or env-pgadmin@auckland.ac.nz

Alumni Volunteering

It is now possible for colleagues across the University to report alumni that they have involved as volunteers to support programs or activities, such as career fairs, mentoring programs, marketing collateral, talking to students, and more.
a. One-off/individual volunteering – all staff can fill in the online form on an ongoing basis as individual alumni volunteer for one-off jobs
b. Multiple volunteers – for programs with several volunteers, you can use the Excel volunteering data template attached and then complete and upload a list of volunteers via the online form.

Events & Seminar

---

Erionite Webinar Series – A Review of Commercial Erionite Testing – 13 Jul 2021

We are delighted to invite you to a lecture in the Erionite Webinar Series hosted by the research team from the MBIE Endeavour Funded “Assessing and mitigating the risk of erionite in New Zealand” research programme. In this series, we invite distinguished international speakers from a range of different fields to share their expertise and latest research on erionite, and aim to promote opportunities for further discussion about erionite within New Zealand communities.

For this webinar, which will be held on zoom on Tuesday 13th July at 1300 NZST, we are pleased to present Will Riffe who will speak about “A Review of Commercial Erionite Testing, with supposed Parnell Volcaniclastic Conglomerate as Subject”. Will Riffe is from the International Asbestos Testing Laboratories in the USA, and is an expert in analytical methods for detecting erionite and understanding the challenges of identifying it in rock material.

Please register for this webinar by clicking on the link below or pasting it into your browser. More details are also included in the attached poster. We look forward to seeing you!

Register: https://auckland.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUuceGrqjMoE9QKkpLFaWhnKgL8_5jzUosK

If you would like further information about this webinar or others in the series, or would like to be added to our erionite mailing list, please contact Cody Lim (clim508@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

The Faculty Of Science Pacific Research Symposium

The Faculty of Science is home to a growing number of Pacific researchers and Pacific-related research. This includes research with Pacific communities, environments, technologies, plants, animals, oceans, lands, skies, and more. Furthermore, this research is being produced amidst wider conversations about what Pacific research is, highlighting the dynamic nature of this interdisciplinary field. We aim to contribute to this wider conversation with a symposium highlighting the research of our Pacific postgraduate students and staff, and that of our non-Pacific peers conducting research relevant to the Pacific. This symposium will be a first for the Faculty of Science, and a unique opportunity to highlight the research capabilities of our Pacific colleagues and the dynamic research happening within the Pacific region.

We invite all Pacific postgraduate students and staff, and non-Pacific colleagues doing Pacific- relevant research within the Faculty of Science to submit an abstract (200 words max) to speak at the upcoming pacific research symposium.

Prizes for best student talks!!

Abstracts and registration for the event can be sent in via the QR code or the following link: https://forms.gle/6R6S5nFd5d6FVz6H9
Deadline for abstract submissions is 6 August 2021 5pm. We encourage graduate researchers to speak at this upcoming event.

School of Environment Ball

The annual School of Environment Ball is happening again on Saturday 7th August 7.30pm onwards at Phoenix Cabaret. Online ticket sales (https://forms.gle/esnCQrBaMEt4X6se6) have just started and the event is open to all undergraduates (r18+), postgraduates, staff and partners from SoE.

Prices:
School of Environment Students Ticket = $45pp
School of Environment Staff = $55 pp
Non SoE Ticket for friends and/or partners @ $55pp. (Limited availability)

Please see the event page on Facebook for further information or contact us via Email 

Geologize Practical Geocommunication online training course for staff and students

Following some leading UK and Australian universities, we have recently purchased a site-license allowing all UoA staff and students FREE access to Geologize’s critically acclaimed and widely accredited course, ‘Practical Geocommunication’. You also have FREE access to Geoscience Outreach in Schools mini-course (by Out There Learning Ltd) as part of the package. All together this is worth $720 NZD per person, so please take advantage of this.

The training helps geoscientists become more effective and powerful public ambassadors for our field, something the geosciences urgently need. It will also look great on your CV, so there is nothing to lose and everything to gain from this opportunity. And as Warren Buffet, the famous American investor said “The one easy way to become worth at least 50 percent more than you are now, is to hone your communication skills”.

HOW TO ENROL ON THE COURSE
UoA’s unique access code is: auck-pggz-2122

1) Head over to https://training.geologize.org/courses/auckland
2) Click on ‘UNIVERSITY ACCESS’
3) Register (Free. This MUST be your university address)
4) Click on the link ‘Have a coupon?’
5) Enter the code above. This will apply the discount.
6) Start learning!

The number of times this coupon can be used is limited to the those at UoA, so please do not share this code to those outside our institution. If you attempt to enrol with a non-UoA e-mail you will be unenrolled.

Learners follow the course at their own pace and you will have lessons, quizzes, assignments and the opportunity to interact directly Dr Haydon Mort, the course teacher through the forums. A certificate is provided at the end of the course, with the seals of the many international organisations who endorse this course.

---

Ako Innovation Committee

---

Teaching and learning innovation fund

---

Rangahau – Research

---

Funding Calls:

Emma Waterhouse Award for Women in Natural Science

Opening date: 24th June
Closing Date: 5th August
Applicable study: UG or PG study in the natural sciences including Biological Science, Environmental Science, Marine Science, Geography and related areas
Value: $5,000
Link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/scholarships-and-awards/find-a-scholarship/emma-waterhouse-award-1107-sci.html

Laura Bassi Scholarship

The Laura Bassi Scholarship, which awards a total of $8,000 thrice per annum, was established by Editing Press in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Summer 2021:

Summer 2021
Application deadline: 31 July 2021
Results: 20 August 2021

All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, previous winners, and the application portal can be found at: https://editing.press/bassi

Waipapa Taumata Rau Transdisciplinary Ideation Fund

The University of Auckland is pleased to announce the Waipapa Taumata Rau Transdisciplinary Ideation Fund, a new internal research award designed to cultivate cross-faculty and transdisciplinary collaborations and generate new projects that respond to the four priority areas identified within Taumata Teitei: sustainability, health and well-being, justice, and ethical innovation and technology.  

This award will provide up to $60,000 towards research costs for projects designed to take place in 2022. Two University-wide workshops provide an opportunity for you to connect with researchers from other Faculties and develop potential projects in thematic areas:

• Sustainability – 9 July 8:30am-1pm. Location: OGGB4 / 260-073. Register here. 

• Health and Wellbeing – 16 July 8:30am-1pm. Location: 505-011. Register here.

Further information on the Transdisciplinary Ideation Fund, including guidelines and application/budget forms, can be found here: TIF Guidelines and Forms

Proposals must be submitted using the Application Template and emailed to internalawards@auckland.ac.nz by 30 September 2021.

John Templeton Foundation – Core Areas: Small and Large Grants

The John Templeton Foundation is interested in ideas for projects related to their Core Funding Areas. 

SCIENCE AND THE BIG QUESTIONS – Supports innovative efforts to address the deepest questions facing humankind. Why are we here? How can we flourish? What are the fundamental structures of reality? What can we know about the nature and purposes of the divine?  This area is divided into several subfields:

• Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Human Sciences
• Philosophy and Theology
• Science in Dialogue​

CHARACTER VIRTUE DEVELOPMENT – Supports research focused on the universal truths of character development and on the roots of good character in human nature, whether understood from a scientific, philosophical or religious point of view

INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM & FREE MARKETS – Supports research and education intended to liberate the initiative of individuals and nations and to establish the necessary conditions for the success of profit-making enterprise.

EXCEPTIONAL COGNITIVE TALENT AND GENIUS –  Supports research that assists to identify and nurture young people who demonstrate exceptional talent in mathematics and science.

GENETICS – Supports research in genetics that might serve to empower individuals, leading to spiritually beneficial social and cultural changes.

Grant Value:

• Projects are for a duration up to 33 months for a non-US based organisation.   
• The award for a Small Grant is up to USD234,800 (circa NZD335,000)
• Large Grants have a minimum award of USD234,801 (circa NZD335,002). 
• Overheads can be up to a maximum of 15% of the award value

Internal Deadline: 5pm Wednesday 11 August 2021

Further information can be found on the funders website

Publications

---

Hughes AC, Orr MC, Ma K, Costello MJ, Waller J, Provoost P, Yang Q, Zhu C, Qiao H. 2021. Sampling biases shape our view of the natural world. Ecography 44, 1–11. doi: 10.1111/ecog.05926

Costello M.J. 2021. Advice to my younger self: Happiness is a life directed by reason. PeerJ Blog https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284884281/advice-to-my-younger-self-5-tips-for-early-career-researchers-mark-costello/

Costello M.J. 2021. The 5th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity: on schedule and online. PeerJ Life & Environment https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284883552/wcmb-on-schedule-and-online/

Fa’aea, A. M., Fonua, S. M., (2021). Se’i lua’i lou le ulu taumamao: privileging Pacific notions of success in higher education, Higher Education Research & Development, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2021.1937954

Fa’aea, A. M., Fonua, S. M., Chu-Fuluifaga, C., Ikiua-Pasi, J. (2021). Navigating the digital va-vā: Centring Moana/Pacific values in online tertiary settings during COVID-19. Journal of Global Indigeneity, 5(1) February 10, 2021. Link

Tim Baice, Betty Lealaiauloto, Selena Meiklejohn-Whiu, Sonia M. Fonua, Jean M. Allen, Jacoba Matapo, Fetaui Iosefo & David Fa’avae (2021) Responding to the call: talanoa, va-vā, early career network and enabling academic pathways at a university in New Zealand, Higher Education Research & Development, 40:1, 75-89, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2020.1852187

Costello M.J. 2021. A Better Way to Manage Species Names in IUCN – What’s in a name? A great deal, it turns out. Conservation Frontlines

Health & Safety Committee

---

For more information about what was discussed at the last H&S meeting please click here. 

IT Committee

---

Please make sure to check that the software you need in S2 is working in the labs. or on FlexIT. There is not much time left for fixing any issues.

---

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadSup

---

At our recent School retreat day, I took a risk. Would it seem ridiculous? Would it not? A while back when I pondered aloud what to include in the day, Joe Fagan had said to me “ I’d love to know more about my colleagues and what they love to do outside of work….”. I gave it a go. It became a half hour exercise. In twos are threes we told each other something of what we enjoy getting up to when we’re not working. Then told the group at large. Gardening, pets, outdoor pursuits, and trying not to work seemed to feature prominently.

Just as scheduling this activity involved trust on my part (that it wouldn’t fall flat) so too each person needed to trust (that speaking about themselves out-of-role would be appreciated). I think it worked. We now know just a little more of what makes each other tick and what recharges our batteries so to speak.

In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times (June 10^th), David Brooks writes of the importance of trust in the workplace.  He suggests some practices that build trust including:

• “Assume excellence. The more you monitor your employees’ behaviour, the more distrusted they will feel;
• Discourage cliques. A team that has split into different subcultures is bound to become a team in which distrust thrives;
• Maximum feasible vulnerability. Screw-ups are, paradoxically, opportunities to build trust, so long as you admit error and are clear about what you’ve learned and what you’re doing to change;
• Give away power. Hierarchies of power are usually suspect. Leaders earn trust by spreading authority through the ranks”.

This all makes good sense. As I read on, I saw ways in which our School already enacts versions of most of these practices. However, the exhortation that spoke to me most in Brooks’ commentary comprised just three words: “Be more human”.

We clearly don’t need to know everything about each other (and horrors if we did!). Nonetheless I feel Brooks is onto something here. He says the conventional ‘old-school’ separation of personal life from professional life is outdated. Maintaining such a distinction risks us operating as cardboard cut-outs of ourselves in the workplace.

I experienced an example of trust in the last week. The prompt was exploring possible guidelines for research that might unintentionally cause offense, especially to Māori. For generations of western scientists, a rock or a river have each been simply what they appear to be: material, inanimate and potential ‘resources’. What’s been overlooked is that some see the world very differently: even rocks and rivers can be alive, embodying connection with ancestors. That day, four of us from different professional worlds within the School talked and listened to each other carefully and agreed on a way forward. A trusting of vantage points. Kanohi ki te kanohi: unremarkable but significant moments in the building of trust.

Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised. Historically the university as a concept is built on collegiality, defined as “companionship and cooperation between colleagues who share responsibility”. Certainly, trust can and has been corroded at times. Maybe that’s in the flawed nature of human institutions. But as I daily click ‘approved’ on travel and grant applications, I do so often in the absence of full insight into context or rationale. I trust. And, to an extent, we must trust if a functional community in the School is to continue to grow and thrive.

More specifically, on the horizon this week,

• This Friday is ‘last call’ for comments to JR on the School Review narrative draft.
• Exam-marking continues, so thanks for your forbearance with adapting to the new platform.
• The annual promotions round is approaching, so if you are planning to apply, please take advantage of advertised workshops and let me know of your plans.
• Nick Lewis assumes oversight of the Postgraduate portfolio as of 1^st July and Jenny Salmond passed the baton to Karen Fisher as Head of Geography at the same time.

I’ve doubtless forgotten something, but I trust you will understand. We are all but human. And, as those at the Retreat day will now know, at this mid-winter time, I’ve probably been distracted thinking of next season’s tomatoes. 

Robin Kearns

---

Whakawhanugatanga – Communities

---

RTEA Notice

RTEA just received university clubs funding for 22 A1 posters that display cool maps/images/anything interesting of student work. We will be displaying these around the SoE postgrad offices and wheeling them out for academic-focused events and for student outreach. If you have anything interesting you would like printed on an A1 poster and displayed (e.g. geologic map) of student work, please email us at rteauoa@gmail.com.

Rehoming greyhounds no sure bet for animal welfare issues

Emily Stevens (Geography PhD student), Tom Baker and Nick Lewis published an opinion piece questioning the greyhound racing industry’s reliance on ‘rehoming’ greyhounds. Rehoming is a key part of the industry’s social licence, but its shortcomings are not well understood. With a review of the greyhound racing industry set to conclude soon, the piece attracted significant attention, including an invitation to feed into the review.

Social media

Don´t forget to share your research stories with ENV Communications env-comms@auckland.ac.nz for diffusion on our social media! A new paper, workshop, seminar, appearance in the media, excursion, student success, new project, impact story etc… Just send a couple of lines and we will take care of the rest!
For those on Twitter: @envUoA

Events & Seminars

---

MBIE Endeavour – UniServices/ORSI Seminar series.

• Research Impact sessions – Tuesday 29^th June (12pm-1pm):

Research Impact Manager, Dr Faith Welch, will be hosting a webinar to give you practical advice on how to plan your MBIE Endeavour funding application to achieve maximum impact. She will cover how to describe the benefits of your research, and how to develop an implementation plan to ensure those benefits can occur.

Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/research-impact-sessions-with-dr-faith-welch-tickets-159046074089

• Government Engagement – 5 July (11am – 12pm):

Rebecca Adams, Director Government Relations, Auckland UniServices, will be hosting a webinar to give you a general overview and practical advice on how to plan for successful Government engagement in an MBIE Endeavour funding context and focussing on other funding opportunities in Government that might also be relevant. She will cover how to engage with Government, with tips on framing of opportunities, how to stand out in a crowded landscape and latest information on what MBIE people really want.  

Registration link:  https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/government-engagement-sessions-with-rebecca-adams-tickets-159081411785

• Responsiveness 2 Māori: Vision Matauranga and your MBIE proposal 1^st July (1pm-2pm)

This webinar will provide you with advice on ways to demonstrate how your MBIE Endeavour funding application is responding to the Vision Mātauranga policy.  

Registration link:  https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/responsiveness-2-maori-vision-matauranga-mbie-endeavour-proposals-tickets-159078356647

There are also a limited number of 1:1 sessions with Faith, Rebecca and Jaylene available.  If you wish to meet with them, please get in touch with your RPC.

2021 Smartphone video workshop

After the great success of last year workshop, we are planning another workshop to learn how to make and edit short videos with a smartphone. Please send me an email by 25th June (melanie.kah@auckland.ac.nz) to register your interest and your level (e.g. did you take the workshop last year or have previous experience?). The workshop will probably take place in July, it is free and open to all (staff, research fellows, PG students), but limited to 10 participants. Priority will be given to people who would like to produce a short video related to their research.
After the workshop, there is the option to be supported and mentored by a pro to finalize the short video. Ideally, all participants end up with a research-related video that is of sufficient quality so that it can be used for outreach activities (e.g. on your personal website page, our Facebook account etc.).

 

Soil Safe Exhibition 

 

Erionite Webinar Series – A Review of Commercial Erionite Testing – 13 Jul 2021

We are delighted to invite you to a lecture in the Erionite Webinar Series hosted by the research team from the MBIE Endeavour Funded “Assessing and mitigating the risk of erionite in New Zealand” research programme. In this series, we invite distinguished international speakers from a range of different fields to share their expertise and latest research on erionite, and aim to promote opportunities for further discussion about erionite within New Zealand communities.

For this webinar, which will be held on zoom on Tuesday 13^th July at 1300 NZST, we are pleased to present Will Riffe who will speak about “A Review of Commercial Erionite Testing, with supposed Parnell Volcaniclastic Conglomerate as Subject”. Will Riffe is from the International Asbestos Testing Laboratories in the USA, and is an expert in analytical methods for detecting erionite and understanding the challenges of identifying it in rock material.

Register: https://auckland.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUuceGrqjMoE9QKkpLFaWhnKgL8_5jzUosK

Please register for this webinar by clicking on the link below or pasting it into your browser. More details are also included in the attached poster. We look forward to seeing you!

If you would like further information about this webinar or others in the series, or would like to be added to our erionite mailing list, please contact Cody Lim (clim508@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

School of Environment Ball

The annual School of Environment Ball is happening again on Saturday 7th August 7.30pm onwards at Phoenix Cabaret. Online ticket sales (https://forms.gle/esnCQrBaMEt4X6se6) have just started and the event is open to all undergraduates (r18+), postgraduates, staff and partners from SoE.

Prices:
School of Environment Students Ticket = $45pp
School of Environment Staff = $55 pp
Non SoE Ticket for friends and/or partners @ $55pp. (Limited availability)

Please see the event page on Facebook for further information or contact us via Email 

 

---

Ako Innovation Committee

---

Using Videos for assessment with student teams/groups

---

ENV Ako Innovation Committee Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund Poster 2021 

---

Rangahau – Research

---

Research Funding Call

---

Our World and Universe Seed Funding – “Small Money for Big Ideas”

We invite applications from members of the Faculty of Science for seed funding to support research projects. A total funding pool of up to $10,000 is available, with a particular focus on supporting collaborations across disciplines, Schools and Departments. Further details are available in the attached application form.
Applications are due by 5pm, Friday 9 July 2021

Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral – Fellowships

Grant Value:

For 2 Years, the Fellow will receive salary support of NZ$75,000 and NZ$10,000 (GST exclusive) to support direct and indirect research costs.

Eligibility:

• Applicants are required to have had their PhD conferred no more than four years before the application closing date. For 2021, applicants PhD must have been conferred on or after 01 January 2017.
• Be either New Zealand citizens or applicants who have continuously resided in New Zealand for at least three months prior to their application and hold, or are deemed to hold, a New Zealand resident visa.

Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 27 July 2021

Further information can be found at the funders website, or from your RPC

If you are interested in applying for this fellowship, please get in touch with Robin Kearns initially as HOD support is required

 Kate Edgar Post-Doctoral Research Award

To assist women who have qualified to graduate with a doctoral degree within the last two years to carry out research on a specified, independent project at an approved Institute in the Auckland area

Grant Value: $16,000

Eligibility:

• Must be a woman who has qualified to graduate with a doctoral degree within the last two years (date from when you qualified to graduate);
• Must be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident;
• Must be affiliated with an Auckland research Institute and have access to the infrastructural support needed to complete the proposed project;
• Must not undertake more than 20 hours per week employment during tenure of the award;
• Must not currently hold a Kate Edger award of equal or higher value

Internal Deadline: 5 pm, Thursday, 8 July 2021

For further information, please visit the Kate Edgar Website

Cambridge-Rutherford Memorial PhD Scholarship

The Cambridge-Rutherford Memorial PhD Scholarships are intended to provide full support to enable completion of a PhD at the University of Cambridge in pure or applied science and the social sciences.

Grant Value: Successful applicants will receive a living allowance (maintenance) of approximately £14,777 per annum, and will have their course and college fees paid. In addition, they will be eligible for one, non-transferable, return airfare between the United Kingdom and New Zealand per annum. The funding is for a maximum of three years

Eligibility: Applicants must be either New Zealand citizens or have continuously resided in New Zealand for at least two years immediately prior to their application and hold, or are deemed to hold, a New Zealand resident visa. Applicants who hold, or are deemed to hold, a New Zealand resident visa are also required to have completed their undergraduate study in New Zealand to be considered eligible to apply.

Internal Deadline: 5 pm Tuesday 27 July 2021.

Further information can be found at the funders website, or from your RPC

Te Tahua Taiao Ngā Taonga – Lottery Environment and Heritage grants

Lottery Environment and Heritage grants are available for projects that will help protect, conserve or care for our natural, cultural and physical heritage, or allow us to better understand and access these resources. 

Grant Value:

• Small projects, where the grant requested is for less than $250,000.
• Large projects, where the grant requested is for $250,000 or more

Internal Deadline: 5pm Monday 26 July 2021.

For further information, visit the funders website here

BRAGATO RESEARCH INSTITUTE – NZ Wine Futures Fund

The purpose of the New Zealand Wine Futures Fund (NZWFF) is to benefit industry by encouraging new ideas, approaches and capabilities in winegrowing research.

Grant Value: Up to $150k per annum for up to three years.

Guidelines, assessment criteria and more information can be found on the funders website
Internal Deadline: 5pm Monday 5 July 2021.

---

Publications

---

Zhao, K., Lanzoni, S., Gong, Z., & Coco, G. A numerical model of bank collapse and river meandering. Geophysical Research Letters, e2021GL093516. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093516

Sriaporn C., Campbell, K.A. Van Kranendonk, M.J., Handley, K.M. (2021). Genomic adaptations enabling Acidithiobacillus distribution across wide-ranging hot spring temperatures and pHs. Microbiome 9:135, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01090-1

Kearns, R. (2021). Narrative and metaphors in New Zealand’s efforts to eliminate COVID-19. Geographical Research,1–7. https://doi-org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/10.1111/1745-5871.12 (published online May, 2021)

Lindsay N and Yoon H-K. (2021) Toponyms on the ice: The symbolic and iconographical role of Antarctic research base names. Polar Record 57(e22): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003224742100022X

Serjeant, E. Kearns, R. and Coleman, T. (2021) Home Tours: An approach for understanding dampness and wellbeing in the domestic environment. Wellbeing, Space & Society. (Published online 17 May) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2021.100039

---

IT Committee

---

Please make sure to check that the software you need in S2 is working in the labs. or on FlexIT. There is not much time left for fixing any issues. Thank you, Ingo

---

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

HeadSup

---

There’s a poster I pass on the final few metres on my walk to Building 302 each morning that says “Welcome to the University of Auckland. Please bear with us while we are under construction”. Of course it refers in the first instance to the massive and disruptive excavation that will eventually result in a new recreation centre. But that message always seems an ironic reminder of the profound social construction also afoot on and around campus.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the concept – whose stuff of investigation is substances rather than utterances, and perhaps tectonics rather than texts – social constructionism is “the development of jointly constructed understandings of the world that form the basis for shared assumptions about reality …..developed in coordination with others rather than separately within each individual” (Wikipedia 2021).

After the many layered deliberations and consultations that birthed Taumata Teitei , the strategic plan, we see the university under reconstruction in terms of ideas and aspirations . New shared meanings are being invested in terms like transdisciplinarity, sustainability and wellbeing.

To focus on the last of these, wellbeing has long been ‘joined at the hip’ with health in popular and policy discourse, despite Indigenous world views long insisting on a broader set of influences. Increasingly, however, most definitions settle on wellbeing involving the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy. In other words, being healthy in terms that medicine understands is a necessary but not sufficient state of being. If we are comfortable, we feel safe and secure somewhere. Our wellbeing is connected to both the places we occupy and the place-in-the-world (identity) we adopt or are given.

How does this construction of wellbeing relate to our School? Unlike perhaps Philosophy or English, we tend to be a more outward-looking bunch, researching what is to be seen and found in the world. Perhaps we have too readily taken for granted the need to nurture wellbeing in both our own lives and the workplace that is the good ship Environment.

A number of initiatives are underway. First, at the School retreat this Thursday, we will consider wellbeing at least implicitly through reflecting on aspects of our draft School Review document and the questions we are posing our reviewers. Second, the Whakawhanaunatanga committee is rolling out an opportunity for us to offer feedback on conversation-starting, wellbeing-related questions on a monthly basis. Third, in our evolving structure of co-navigating of the waka, colleagues are stepping up into new roles. Some have distinct well-being implications.

• Engagement with local communities, particularly iwi, is a clear expectation in Te Taumata Teitei, and something we have been wanting to prioritise for some time. Brad Coombes has agreed to take up this Community Engagement role and join the Steeping Group in association with Whakawhanaungatanga.
• We’ve been asked for a Sustainability Champion and Joe Fagan has agreed to step into be the champion he continues to be in that domain.

With broader implications for the wellbeing of the School and its constituent parts, two further changes soon to occur are:

•  Nick Lewis is assuming the role of Postgraduate Chair from Luitgard Schwendenmann with a brief to develop an Environment-wide ‘graduate school’

Karen Fisher is taking over as Head of Geography from Jenny Salmond.
And while on ‘hatches and dispatches’, we sadly farewell Samantha Huang who is completing her stellar work for the School this week, and congratulate Blair Sowman on the arrival of their wee one.

One last note about wellbeing. Last week was graduation with dozens of our fine young people crossing the stage. Some were among the many undifferentiated BAs and BScs we clapped for. Others were singled out by their advanced degrees or even their research questions in the case of PhDs. All, however, benefitted in some way from the manaakitanga many of us showed them over the years. They achieved what they did in no small part thanks to the affirmation and support offered by family and whanau. From the stage, I observed each person making only about a dozen steps, yet every person’s walk was a little different – in attire, in facial expression, in gait. This common purpose (to be capped) yet subtle variation in journey seemed to me to be deeply symbolic.

As the poster says, I reckon we are all ‘under construction’. In our vocation to promote wellbeing it is up to us to notice difference and offer affirmation along the way.

Robin Kearns

Whakawhanaugatanga –  Communities

---

AusIMM 2021 Minerals Industry Scholarship awarded to MEngGeol student Adil Hameed

Congratulations to Master of Engineering Geology student, Adil Hameed, who has been awarded the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (AusIMM) 2021 Minerals Industry Scholarship. This will support Adil’s thesis project at Maramarua open cast coal mine, where Adil will be working on some of the key environmental and land management issues at the mine, assisting the mining company, Bathurst Resources.

Welcome Pankaj Sharma

The school of Environment would like to extend a warm welcome to Pankaj Sharma, a new Research Fellow who started with us last week Monday. Pankaj will be working with Michael Martin on a two year Indigenous Data Sovereignty Prototype funded by the Biological Heritage Trust. 

Critical Worker Visas for Incoming PhD students – Tranche 2

The University is about to put submit is next round of candidates for incoming PhDs to be considered for Critical Worker Visas. If you have a student with a pre-visa enrolment and have not yet considered this next step done so please fill in the spreadsheet and return to sciencephdforms@auckland.ac.nz asap.

We expect that the criteria will be similar to the first tranche, i.e., students whose research is funded as part of a government grant or programme in “science”. Note that supervisors will need to indicate who will be paying MIQ costs before students will be added to the central list. The university is unlikely to contribute, but only students who are grant-supported are eligible in any case, and most grants are able to pay MIQ costs.

New Zealand Open Source Awards – nominations extended

Thank you to those that have already made nominations for the New Zealand Open Source Awards. Wonderful to see such great entries.

We have decided to extend the nomination deadline until Monday 21June as we believe there are other great projects or contributors, that could be nominated.

Nominations extended until Monday 21 June – make your nominations now!
https://nzosa.org.nz/nomination

Seminar & Events

---

Honours and Environmental Science 30-point projects presentations

Wednesday 9 June, 9.10 – 11.20 am

The Honours and Environmental Science (30-points) students will be presenting their research projects on Wednesday 9 June. These will be in the Ontology Lab, Room 551, between 9.00 am and 11.00 am. The list of presenters will be on the notice board outside the Ontology Lab, scheduled to avoid discipline clashes with the Masters’ presentations on the same day. Apologies for the short notice, please do come if you have time. Thanks, Gretel

School of Environment 2021 Staff Retreat Day

The Staff Retreat Day will be held on Thursday 10 June from 8:30am – 4:00pm at the Old Government House, followed by drinks & nibbles. Morning tea and lunch will be provided as well. Staff are expected to attend.

Below is the final agenda:

PhD Forum Movie Screening

All PhD students in the School of Environment invited.
We are screening Hunt for the Wilderpeople at 4.30pm on Thursday the 10th of June in the Ontology Lab. We will have a few snacks, but feel free to bring along something if you wish.

The role of communication research in social change and climate change

Jagadish Thaker
Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, Journalism & Marketing, Massey University

Climate change, health, and leadership during crisis are some of the top issues of the 21st century. Based on transdisciplinary theoretical framework of public engagement with climate change, health, and science, Dr. Jagadish Thaker (JT) will present a research agenda for the role of communication in social and climate change. JT will draw on a variety of research methods such as culture-centred community-led communication campaigns, national sample surveys, and computational content analysis to highlight the contribution of different research methodologies to understand ‘wicked’ issues. Finally, JT will share his students’ communication campaigns to help local community organisations.

10-11am, Friday 11th June, 2021
260-005 (OGGB, Case Room 5)

Master Student Research Seminars 

We will run a seminar series show-casing Masters thesis research on 9 June 20201 (9am to 3 pm Rm 303-130; lunch for presenting students & supervisors at noon in 4th floor tea room). The sessions will cover students who commenced thesis studies in semester 2 of last year. Each student will give a 10-minute oral presentation followed by 5 minutes of questions. This is designed to assist students with the direction their project is going in. Supervisors will be introducing their students. The topics will be grouped into disciplines allowing associated staff to attend and moderate the seminars. This is an on-campus event. It does not involve Zoom-style or digital presentations from off-campus sites.

Draft schedule:
Earth-Geology (Martin Brook chair) 9-11 am
Env Science (Luitgard chair) 11 am – 12 noon
Env Science & Management, Geog (Kevin Simon chair) 1-3 pm

EQC Biennial Grants Programme 2022 – EOI

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) promotes and supports research in disaster risk reduction in New Zealand. Every two years, EQC’s Biennial Grants programme invites experienced and emerging researchers to submit proposals for public good research (available for public use).

Grant Value: $50,000-$70,000 is the preferred range, with a maximum of $100,000

Timeline:
• Applications open 1 June, at which point further information and application guidelines will be available on the EQC website.
• Internal Deadline for EOI submission is 10am, Tuesday 15 June 2021

Submission Process:
Register interest in this funding scheme by emailing submissions@auckland.ac.nz cc RPC/RPM.
Registered participants will be sent the confirmed EQC submission information once this has been released by EQC.

Further details of the funding scheme can be found on the funders website.

Faculty of Science MBIE Endeavour Fund research ideas and collaboration hui

Are you thinking of applying to the MBIE Endeavour Fund? Come along to discuss your research idea and collaborate with others in the faculty. Hear from others who have applied for or received MBIE funding. Find out what resources and support are available to help you with your research idea and funding application.
When: Thursday 17 June, 1:30pm to 3pm
Where: 303-G14

Register here, or email Kathryn Howard

WUN Early Career Researcher International Network Development Series

The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), in collaboration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Education Section, is holding a series of free virtual networking workshops, each thematically focused on a UN Sustainable Development Goal. The workshops are intended to bring together early career researchers (ECRs) from all around the world interested in establishing connections to colleagues in their field.

Date: 22/23 June 2021

Further details, including local time and registration info can be found here

Faculty of Science Pacific Research Symposium

When: 6th & 7th September 2021
Where: The Fale 20-26 Wynyard Street City Campus University of, 1010

Please hold the date for this symposium. Further details will be provided when the plans are finalised and there will be a call for presentations. The symposium will target all current and recent research being conducted by Pacific staff or students, and by anyone in the Faculty involving Pasifika or the Pacific.

There will be an opportunity for researchers to make connections that could lead to future collaborations and a panel discussion on Pacific research protocols.

If you have any questions please contact either Jan Lindsay or Sina Greenwood.

Rangahau – Research

---

Survey on Engagement

Way back in pre-pandemic times, the Faculty of Science’s Working group on Science in Society asked staff researchers at the University of Auckland’s Centre for Informed Futures (https://informedfutures.org/) to undertake a pilot survey of how/whether scientists engage professionally beyond their academic communities. At the time, the School of Environment’s Head of School, Julie Rowland, agreed that SoE could be the pilot site. Fast forward to today: Much work has already been undertaken within the SoE by Melanie Kah and others to help identify and map specific external collaborators. Undertaking the pilot survey can now complement these data to gain a deeper understanding of the type of engagement and the challenges that researchers may be experiencing. We know that public research systems and researchers are under constant pressure. We also know that not everyone’s work immediately lends itself to public engagement. Our goal is to find out more about where we stand collectively as an engaged school and university. Results of the pilot work can inform the university’s implementation and support plans for the engagement intent of the new strategic plan. Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the survey which should take 20-30 minutes.

Follow this link to take the survey Please complete it by 1 July 2021

EQC Biennial Grants Programme 2022 – EOI – Tight deadline for applications

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) promotes and supports research in disaster risk reduction in New Zealand. Every two years, EQC’s Biennial Grants programme invites experienced and emerging researchers to submit proposals for public good research (available for public use).

Research must align with EQC’s Research and Investment Priorities Statement 2021 – 2023.

• Understanding how people perceive and manage risk
• Understanding and improving building performance
• Understanding, improving and managing land-use
• Understanding the governance and economics of disasters and disaster risk management
• Understanding the size, severity, and likelihood of hazards and their impacts for loss modelling.

Grant value: $50,000-$70,000 is the preferred range, with a maximum of $100,000

Internal deadline for EOI: 10am, Tuesday 15 June 2021
Further information and relevant documentation can be found on the EQC’s website.
For submission details, please contact your RPC.

National Science Challenge – The Deep South

Te Aho Fund
Recognizing the importance of the deep knowledge, skills, and experience that Māori communities possess to adapt to the changes occurring within our environment and communities as a result of climate change, this funding initiative is aimed to support action research with hands-on and on the ground approach.

Grant Value: The scheme will award up to $150k for each project.
Eligibility: Projects that support mātauranga and rangatiratanga in relation to changing climate. The Te Aho Fund aims at community-driven and -owned projects.
Internal Deadline: 5 pm, Monday, 23 August 2021

Further details can be found on The Deep South website

Te Taura Fund
Recognizing the importance of the deep knowledge, skills, and experience that Māori communities possess to adapt to the changes occurring within our environment and communities as a result of climate change, this funding initiative is targeted towards larger research collaborations between communities and research organisations and has a focus on impact at a larger scale: regionally or nationally

Grant Value: The scheme will award up to $250k for each project.
Eligibility: Projects that support mātauranga and rangatiratanga in relation to changing climate. The Te Taura fund aims at projects involving academic institutions and consultancies with the potential for multiple research partners.
Internal Deadline: 5 pm, Wednesday, 7 July 2021.

Further details can be found on The Deep South website

Early Career Researcher Grant (ECRG)

The Early Career Researcher Grant consists of a $10,000 payment given to persons in the first five years of their postdoctoral research career.

The grant can be spent on travel, accommodation, consumables and care requirements, subject to AINSE discretion. For more information, click here.

 

Catalyst: Seeding

• Catalyst: Seeding facilitates new small and medium pre-research strategic partnerships with international collaborators that cannot be supported through other means.
• Funding is for research exchanges, research activities, and expenses related to hosting workshops for new strategic research partnerships with international collaborators

Grant Value: A maximum of NZ $80,000 (excl. GST) in total is available per proposal for projects lasting up to two years.

Internal Deadline: 5pm Tuesday 6 July 2021.

Submission process: Please contact your RPC for submission details. See the funders website for further information.

Catalyst: Leaders Julius von Haast Fellowship Award

• Supports an internationally recognized researcher from Germany to undertake research in New Zealand for a minimum of 4 weeks per year, providing $50,000 per annum for 3 years.
• The Fellow must be a German national or permanent resident with an international reputation as an innovative researcher. He/she must be currently working within the German research/science sector and have been employed for no less than five years (in total) in public or private German research or academic institutions

Internal Deadline 5pm, Tuesday 6 July 2021.

Submission process: Please contact your RPC for submission details. See the funders website for further information.

Publications

---

Bates A. et al. (342 co-authors including Costello MJ). 2021. Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment.  Biological Conservation, in press.

Manes S., Costello MJ, Beckett H, Debnath A, Devenish-Nelson E, Grey K-A, Jenkins R, Khan TM, Kiessling W, Krause C, Maharaj SS, Midgley GF, Price J, Talukdar G, Vale MM. 2021. Endemism increases species’ climate change risk in areas of global biodiversity importance. Biological Conservation online.

Chaudhary C, Richardson AJ, Schoeman DS, Costello MJ. 2021. Global warming is causing a pronounced dip in marine species richness at the equator. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online.

---

IT-Committee

---

Software for teaching in computer labs. in S2: If you would like to have new software installed that is not already part of the lab. images, please let me know as soon as possible (same for FlexIT). Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz)

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday

 

HeadSup

---

Two documents will increasingly loom large for us all in the School over the coming months: Taumata Teitei (the University’s Strategic Plan); and our own School Review document. The first is now published after various deliberations that occurred last year. It contains new imperatives for us all to consider and take forward. The second is still being crafted, largely thanks to the herculean efforts of JR, despite her having vacated the Head of School office for the rest of 2021. Elements of both documents will be raised for discussion at our School Retreat day on 10th June.
One word that’s increasingly pervasive in such documents as we look forward as a community of scholarship is transdisciplinarity. What does it really mean? That reputable source, Wikipedia, is a quick and easy starting point: “ a research strategy that crosses many disciplinary boundaries to create a holistic approach”. This suggests both opportunities and tensions, always a good combination for widening our world view.

In one sense as a School we have always been provisionally transdisciplinary; in other ways, in the words of that old Carpenters song, ‘we’ve only just begun’. It strikes me, however, that if we follow the call of Wikipedia (2021), one can’t cross a disciplinary boundary without having a disciplinary identity or legacy. So, its not a case of being thrown into the blender, getting ‘switched on’, and coming out as environment soup. Rather the image I see is sitting around a table in a process of deliberative discovery: the sorts of horizon-widening conversations well-familiar to some who have spent time within the walls of the Ontology Lab. No doubt, we’ll all have varying comfort levels for such processes. But kanohi ki te kanohi is surely the key. The Lone Ranger is not a role-model for transdisciplinarity! And it takes time.

My most memorable experience of this process was an outgrowth of an MBIE-funded programme in which eight of us met over the course of three years at either university campuses or NIWA offices. We slowly talked our way into a collective view of what resilience might look like in new housing developments. Among this ‘group of 8’ was a mātauranga Māori expert, a water scientist, an air quality expert, a psychologist and me a geographer. The resulting paper in Frontiers in Sustainable Cities may not change the world, but it certainly changed our way of seeing cities and sustainability. And on the far side of that process, I am no less a geographer, nor no less inclined to publish in front-and-centre geography journals. In other words, the transdisciplinarity quest is, for me, a non-binary pursuit: its both/and, not either or. And, in my view, much of what we already do in the School is more transdisciplinary that some corners of this campus. To that extent, the Review may well offer endorsement as well as encouragement of the potential leadership we offer in this quest.

The ‘Blue Skies’ research supported by the Marsden Fund is one such platform of support for this work. Its therefore been a pleasure to hear that three colleagues in our school have been invited to prepare full applications: a big well done to Nick Lewis, James Muirhead, and Tara Coleman (who is joining us in a fuller capacity from this week). Others may be associated with bids as AIs (please let me know). I for one will be busy with what time HoS-ship allows developing an application led by a Waikato colleague researching coastal leisure practices. Congrats too to Larry Murphy who is part of an Endeavour bid led by colleagues at CAI. Commiserations to all those who were not successful with EoIs. Receiving ‘thanks but no thanks’ letters is always hard. Do consider reworking and resubmitting next year!.

Transdisciplinary potential is always enriched by the ebb and flow within a scholarly community. We therefore begin a series of welcomes (before some wistful farewells) this Wednesday 26th at the 1030 am morning tea. Please come along to the 6th Floor Shared Common Room to welcome Carolyn Lundquist, Anthony Gampbell and Tara Coleman.

We have a rich mix in this School. Let’s stir things up and consider new possibilities but not forget the scholarly whakapapa that leads us each to this space and time.

Robin Kearns.

---

Whakawhanaugatanga –  Communities

---

Flu Vaccination for Staff

All staff with a permanent or fixed term employment agreement are eligible for a vaccination, to be paid for by the University. For more information, click here.

Welcome to Carolyn Lundquist – Morning Tea, Wednesday 26th May

Come to meet Carolyn Lundquist on Wednesday, 26th May, a new member of our school who is part of our Joint Graduate School in Coastal and Marine Science with NIWA. Carolyn is a research scientist at NIWA and has a 0.2 FTE co-appointment to the university. She joined the faculty in 2012 and, until recently, was based in the Institute of Marine Science. Carolyn moved to New Zealand in 2000 after obtaining a PhD in Ecology at the University of California, Davis and the Bodega Marine Laboratory.

Carolyn is an applied marine ecologist, whose work provides scientific and social-scientific input to inform decision-making for coastal and ocean management at local, national, regional and international scales. Some recent projects include: spatial management of fishery impacts on deep sea corals in the South Pacific, ecology and management of mangroves and other coastal wetland ‘blue carbon’ habitats and impacts of climate change on the seafood sector. She is part of the science leadership team in the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge and leads the development of marine spatial planning tools for improving management of cumulative impacts in New Zealand’s marine ecosystems. She is also involved in the Nature Futures Framework, a new global biodiversity scenarios framework for IPBES (the biodiversity equivalent of IPCC), where she cochairs the IPBES task force on scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Tech Update

The Technical team is accepting expressions of interest from academics and professional staff to run tours of the facilities, please follow the link and let them know what spaces are you interested in seeing. https://auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bPdgSa2sz6Qq7z0

Some disruption to the normal approvals of Field Activity Plans is about to start, please send your plans well in advance.

3MT Workshop from Te Tumu Herenga | Libraries and Learning Services

Hey ENV postgrads, do you want to participate in the 2021 Three Minute Thesis competition, but need some support getting your presentation on point? We are running a 3MT workshop for you! We realized that our standard workshops we are doing for the School of Graduate studies are too close to the Science Faculty heats, so we are offering an extra one just for Science.

Keep an eye out on the Faculty communications, for the date and time (first week of June) or contact Donna MacColl at donna.maccoll@auckland.ac.nz and she’ll make sure you get sent the registration link.

Bring your idea and we’ll help you refine your structure, style, content and delivery. There will also be time to workshop your 3MT presentation in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

Still in the early stages? Check out the resources at Preparing your presentation.

RTEA Quiz Night Recap 

After a brief pandemic related hiatus, the School of Environment Pub Quiz made it’s triumphant return on Wednesday the 19th of May, hosted by the RTEA at new Shadows. A great turnout meant the teams were packed in like sardines, and the questions were hotly contested. In the end, the quiz was won by a group of Human Geographers – the team “A Time and a Place” (see picture attached), consisting of Jack Barrett, Nick Webber, Emily Stevens, Laura Bates, Ingrid Petersen & Angus Dowell. They were followed by Geologists “Daddy and his Henchman” and Environmental Scientists “The Hardest Question” . These teams won Prezi Vouchers worth $100, $50, and $30 respectively. A great time was had by all, and the event seemed to be a great success.

In terms of the JR Shield, Environmental Science actually won the night, with an average of 38.25 points per team! Geography came in 2nd with 37.63, followed by Geology with 31.5. GIS brought up the rear with 35.5.

Thanks to those able to come, keep tuned for the next quiz!

Integrated Ocean Discovery Program News

Call for scientists to sail: Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 390 & 393, South Atlantic Transects 1 (7 April to 7 June 2022) and 2 (7 June to 7 August 2022) – Deadline 31 May 2021

For further information, see: http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/expeditions/south_atlantic_transect.html
New Zealand participants need to apply via the Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC). Please contact Lorna Strachan (l.strachan@auckland.ac.nz) or Ingo Pecher (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) for more information.

Seminar & Events

---

Coastal Group Meeting/Seminar

The next Coastal Group meeting/seminar will be held on Monday May 24th at 12:00 to 1:00 pm in the Coastal Lab (302-460).
News will be shared and we will hear from Meghna Sengupta sharing some results from her recent PhD research exploring shoreline changes on coral reef islands.

All welcome to attend – please email Megan Tuck at megan.tuck@auckland.ac.nz if you wish to attend and don’t have the calendar invite already.

“TWO GEO-PHOTOGRAPHERS: Joseph Divis and Lloyd Homer”- an illustrated talk by Simon Nathan

Date: 25th  May 2021

Time: Arrive 5:30pm for networking, Tapas, finger food and light refreshments. Talk starts 6:00pm.

Venue: Astor Tapas Bar and Eatery, Shop 6/145 Quay Street, Shed 23 Princes Wharf, (before you reach the Hilton on harbour bridge side), Auckland CBD, Walking distance from ferry or Britomart

RSVP: For catering purposes, RSVP your intention to attend by email to ktstanaway@xtra.co.nz and OR vhbull@tenements.co.nz

H&S: Out of consideration for others, please do not attend if you are unwell.

Dinner 7pm at your own cost at the restaurant

Joseph Divis and Lloyd Homer both photographed aspects of New Zealand’s landscape and mining history. Divis was a working miner from 1909-39. Photography was his hobby, and he recorded life in mining towns where he lived, particularly Waiuta and Waihi. Homer worked for the NZ Geological Survey in the late 20th century, specializing in aerial photography before the days of drones and satellites. The work of these two photographers is now a valuable heritage resource, recording both the natural environment and the nature of past mining.

Simon Nathan has produced books illustrating the work of both photographers. He will have copies of the book about Lloyd Homer for sale on the night ($30 cash per book).

Master Student Research Seminars 

We will run a seminar series show-casing Masters thesis research on 9 June 20201 (9am to 3 pm Rm 303-130; lunch for presenting students & supervisors at noon in 4th floor tea room). The sessions will cover students who commenced thesis studies in semester 2 of last year. Each student will give a 10-minute oral presentation followed by 5 minutes of questions. This is designed to assist students with the direction their project is going in. Supervisors will be introducing their students. The topics will be grouped into disciplines allowing associated staff to attend and moderate the seminars. This is an on-campus event. It does not involve Zoom-style or digital presentations from off-campus sites.

Draft schedule:
Earth-Geology (Martin Brook chair) 9-11 am
Env Science (Luitgard chair) 11 am – 12 noon
Env Science & Management, Geog (Kevin Simon chair) 1-3 pm

School of Environment 2021 Staff Retreat Day

Dear Staff,

The Staff Retreat Day will be held on Thursday 10 June at Old Government House from 8:30am – 4:00pm, followed by drinks & nibbles. Morning tea and lunch will be provided as well. All staff are welcome to join. Please RSVP here by Wednesday 2 June for catering purpose.

Below is the tentative agenda. 

Faculty of Science MBIE Endeavour Fund research ideas and collaboration hui

Are you thinking of applying to the MBIE Endeavour Fund? Come along to discuss your research idea and collaborate with others in the faculty. Hear from others who have applied for or received MBIE funding. Find out what resources and support are available to help you with your research idea and funding application.
When: Thursday 17 June, 1:30pm to 3pm
Where: 303-G14

Register here, or email Kathryn Howard

Learning and Teaching Symposium – reimagined.

“Designing for learning – the new University of Auckland approach to Learning and Teaching”

Time : 9.00 am – 12.00 pm

Location : Building 109, Room LibB15

Date : 7th July , 2021

The Symposium will feature a Strategy Panel on Education, featuring Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater.

Register for the event here

Introductory R Workshop 2021

An introductory R Workshop is being run on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th of July. This will be led by Daniel Barnett, from the Statistical Consulting Centre, in the Department of Statistics.

As per our previous introductory R workshops, the cost is $300 for UoA students and staff.
You can pay using your PRESS account, research grant, or other UoA account.

You can also opt to use a debit/credit card (however we will have to also add GST for this type of payment and payment can only be made at the Student Resource Centre on main campus).

The payment authorization form for UoA participants paying from a UoA account is available here .

The cost for non-UoA attendees is $500 + GST. Please contact me for directions to the Student Resource Centre.

We will be sending out a pre-workshop information email the week prior to the course, however here are some of the details:

Location
We will be in room 302.190. Building 302 is on the corner of Symonds St and Wellesley St. The room we will be using is on level 1, room 190.

Time and schedule
The approximate schedule for both days is attached (since this is the schedule from our previous course, it may yet be altered very slightly).
We will start at 9am and finish at 5pm.
Morning and afternoon tea will be provided and there are cafes handy nearby for lunch.

Computers
We will be using a Faculty of Science computer lab.
You are also welcome to use your own laptop, however please make sure that you have downloaded R and RStudio onto your machine before the workshop (they are free to download).
We will also include some instructions re how to do this in our pre-workshop information email.

Access to computers and internet
We will arrange access to the lab computers for all non-UoA participants.
We will also have a guest wireless password for non-UoA participants who are bringing their own laptops.
UoA staff and students will be able to access the FoS computers using their normal UoA upi and password.

I hope you can make it on the 15th and 16th July, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Uni Services Commercialization workshops

The next UniServices Commercialisation workshops are coming up soon:
– General: 18 June
– Cleantech: 30 September

Please register on this page if you would like to attend.

The workshop will provide you with an opportunity to identify potential commercial value in your research and insight into how UniServices and the University of Auckland Inventors’ Fund can support this development.

At the workshop we use the Lean Canvas methodology to develop an actionable and focused business plan. This can be used to inform a development roadmap, and customer validation and intellectual property strategies going forward. A PDF of the Lean Canvas can be found here.

The sessions are also used to help you improve how you communicate your idea and its potential.

---

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee

---

On behalf of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee we would like to start an initiative to bring us closer to identifying and understanding the safety and wellbeing issues concerning staff and PG students from the School of Environment.

As a part of this initiative we will distribute ‘wellbeing suggestion/information boxes’ around the breakout spaces in the school. Then, once a month we will ask a question related to an issue affecting people’s wellbeing which anyone will be able to answer by dropping an anonymous message into a box. The boxes could also be used to express any other concerns not related to the monthly discussion topic. We hope that these Wellbeing boxes will encourage the employees and the students to submit their concerns related to the questions appearing in the P-cubed. These questions will be also printed and stuck to the Wellbeing boxes. Our boxes are marked with the attached graphic so should be easy to spot.

We hope this will give us a clearer indication of areas of concern among staff and students and a platform to take action if required.

Question of the month:

First question is concerned with a crucial aspect of people’s wellbeing. You can either indicate the existence of a situation or describe this situation in a bit more detail.

Have you been exposed to or heard of others being exposed to any type of harassment within the School of Environment?

 

---

Wahapū

---

A new support system for doctoral candidates

Wahapū is a comprehensive digital system for managing doctoral candidature. It will be used by doctoral candidates, supervisors, academic heads and all other parties involved in managing doctoral processes. Wahapū is currently being rolled out to an initial cohort of candidates and supervisors. All candidates under the 2011 or 2016 PhD Statutes are eligible for access and PhD students are encouraged to transfer to the 2020 PhD statue and go digital! Please note that there is a backlog waiting migration. Students expecting to go through the provisional year process in the next three months should stay on their existing 2016 statute until after confirmation to ensure they can use the existing process. For more information see : https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/information-for-new-doctoral-candidates/Wahapu.html

---

Rangahau – Research

---

PhD Outputs Award

Purpose: To support our recently completed PhD students to increase the impact of their PhD research by allocating financial support from the Faculty of Science to PhD supervisors to employ PhD students for a period of time after their submission date to work on publications and other research outputs.

Full details are included in the PhD Output Award guidelines and application form available on the Science Staff intranet https://www.sciencestaff.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/research/phd-output-award.html

The closing date is Monday 31st May

Impact Fund

Purpose: We want to provide strategic support to help our researchers in their impact and engagement activities. Research Impact is “The contribution that research and creative practice makes to society, the environment and the economy”.

Full details are included in the Impact Fund guidelines and application available on the Science Staff intranet https://www.sciencestaff.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/research/impact-fund.html

The closing date is Monday 31^st May

Early Career Researcher Grant (ECRG)

The Early Career Researcher Grant consists of a $10,000 payment given to persons in the first five years of their postdoctoral research career.

The grant can be spent on travel, accommodation, consumables and care requirements, subject to AINSE discretion. For more information, click here.

EQC Biennial Grants Programme 2022 – EOI

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) promotes and supports research in disaster risk reduction in New Zealand. Every two years, EQC’s Biennial Grants programme invites experienced and emerging researchers to submit proposals for public good research (available for public use).

Grant Value: $50,000-$70,000 is the preferred range, with a maximum of $100,000

Timeline:
• Applications open 1 June, at which point further information and application guidelines will be available on the EQC website.
• Internal Deadline for EOI submission is 10am, Tuesday 15 June 2021

Submission Process:
Register interest in this funding scheme by emailing submissions@auckland.ac.nz cc RPC/RPM.
Registered participants will be sent the confirmed EQC submission information once this has been released by EQC.

Further details of the funding scheme can be found on the funders website.

Catalyst: Seeding

• Catalyst: Seeding facilitates new small and medium pre-research strategic partnerships with international collaborators that cannot be supported through other means.
• Funding is for research exchanges, research activities, and expenses related to hosting workshops for new strategic research partnerships with international collaborators

Grant Value: A maximum of NZ $80,000 (excl. GST) in total is available per proposal for projects lasting up to two years.

Internal Deadline: 5pm Tuesday 6 July 2021.

Submission process: Please contact your RPC for submission details. See the funders website for further information.

Catalyst: Leaders Julius von Haast Fellowship Award

• Supports an internationally recognized researcher from Germany to undertake research in New Zealand for a minimum of 4 weeks per year, providing $50,000 per annum for 3 years.
• The Fellow must be a German national or permanent resident with an international reputation as an innovative researcher. He/she must be currently working within the German research/science sector and have been employed for no less than five years (in total) in public or private German research or academic institutions

Internal Deadline 5pm, Tuesday 6 July 2021.

Submission process: Please contact your RPC for submission details. See the funders website for further information.

---

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

---

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/postgraduate-students/postgraduate-support-and-services/vpn-service.html

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:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/identity-and-access-management/two-factor-authentication/download-authy-for-desktops.html​

To get a mobile account set up, log a service request or go to one of the service kiosks. It is unclear how this is being done remotely but I am sure this can be done. Please let me Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) know if you have managed to install FortiClient on their macs remotely.

---

FlexIT and Remote Access

---

FlexIT is straight-forward for remote access to computing power and programs. Alternatively, check if your project/group or so has a virtual machine. Remote desktop access to specific machines can be set up by IT but may note be reliable. Check the Staff Service Center https://uoaprod.service-now.com/sp.

Remote access is possible to some workstations in the geocomputational lab for research, and on a needs basis.  This may be a viable solution for specialized data analysis.  Please look into alternatives: It is unclear however, if/how on-site desktops can be maintained, if needed..

FlexIT access and requests: Use the FlexIT form in the IT Portal to request access as a staff member, to ask for an application be added, or to report any issues or faults.

FlexIT, Linux: Please check FlexIT link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it.html.  It does not have any information on Linux but should be useful for “translation”.

Depending on your browser (in particular, Firefox), you also need to do the following, from https://communities.vmware.com/thread/595554.

“…tested with the Horizon 4.8.x and 4.10.x clients and Firefox v64.0. Both are 64bit versions, running on Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the client from the VMWare Horizon Client for 64-bit Linux
In Firefox, open about:config and click through the warning.
Add a new boolean entry called network.protocol-handler.expose.vmware-view and set the value to false
Create a file called `test.html` somewhere on your computer and put the following in it: test
Open the file in Firefox and click on the link, which should prompt you for a path to open the link.
Select /usr/bin/vmware-view and it should work for future uses! “

(1) was provided by UoA but I think it works with generic software from VMWare as well.

Check with Ingo (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz) if you run into problems.

Software licenses: Software vendors have relaxed their licensing to allow students to install software at home, rather than relying on Flex IT. There is a running list here https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/flex-it/install-software.html

---

Please email content to P-cubed-content for next edition of P-cubed by Friday