Issue 37- Monday 20th July 2020
HeadSup
Kia ora koutou
What a fantastic couple of weeks for ENV in the media. First up was Brendon on RNZ discussing the Government’s ‘jobs for nature’ package (see below), then Anthony’s opinion piece in Newsroom on ‘Fixing Auckland’s water crisis‘. Martin and Jenny were on RNZ’s nine-to-noon discussing erionite and how ‘Auckland earthworks could disturb cancer-causing dust‘, bouncing off a provocative paper just published in the New Zealand Medical Journal. Today, Shane hit the headlines with an RNZ Morning Report interview and article on the new volcano warning system he and David Dempsey from Engineering Science have just published in Nature Comms, which takes a machine learning approach to 10 years of data from Whakaaari White Island. Exciting stuff, thank you all for getting your work into the public arena and thank you to Anne Beston and the UOA Newsroom team for all the work behind the scenes.
As we find our place in a changed world, I think the % of work we do to share directly with the public must increase and our measure of research excellence must reflect this change in expectation. Now’s the time to influence the work of the University and the way in which we view and practice academic excellence into the future. The 2021-2030 UOA Strategic Plan Discussion papers on research and innovation, education, engagement, people and culture, and the sustainable university, will be available for consideration and comment from later this week. We are at a significant moment in human history and the strategic direction we take over the next 10 years needs to be appropriate for the times ahead. We know the size, shape and composition of the University will change. The financial impact of COVID-19 is intensifying due to the border control on international students and we will feel this acutely come 2021. The outcome of this engagement process will influence decisions that will impact each of us directly. It is important that each of us has our say, whether collectively or individually, via the submission process and various engagement fora. Please consider the discussion papers in your various platforms, disciplinary groupings, and student groups and seize your opportunity to influence the direction of this University.
Thanks to those who have been working on the ENV 3-year plan. You’ll see a new draft vision, mission and values statement below. Please feel free to send me comments if you have recommendations for further change.
I’m delighted to advise that Mélanie Kah has accepted the role of Chair, Rangahau, and will transition into the role over the next few months.
Lastly, please come along to the ENV welcome back function, Thursday 30th July – all staff and PG research students are welcome (see RSVP link below).
JR
Whakawhanaungatanga – communities
ENV 2021-2023 Strategic Plan
Our vision, mission and values will need to align with the new UOA 10-year strategic plan. Our development of the 2021-2023 ENV 3-year rolling strategic plan should be viewed as transitional. Here’s what we have so far. By the next edition of P-cubed, we will have pan-ENV projects for your consideration. All feedback welcome (send to JR).
VISION WAWATA An inclusive and vibrant place of learning and research that inspires a deep understanding of people, places and processes resulting in more sustainable environments and just futures.
MISSION KAUPAPA MĀTĀMUA: We will leverage our disciplinary strengths in Geography, Environmental Science and Earth Sciences to provide an outstanding, relevant and transformational education for our students; create knowledge to inform our future founded on a deep understanding of our past; and practice global leadership at the nexus of society, economy and nature that reflects our place, its peoples and processes, based on values of:
- Manaakitanga – Reciprocity of kindness, respect, humility, responsible hospitality, caring for others and the environment
- Whanaungatanga – fostering practices of care within our community of colleagues, students, and whānau, and instilling a principle of care for others and the environment.
- Resilience and courage in the face of rapid change and challenging circumstances, we will speak out.
- Kaitiakitanga – individual and collective responsibility for caretaking our environment and place, with respect for Te Ao Māori
- Whakaute – Respect for each other and for our shared commitment to excellence, collegiality, academic freedom, equity, and the principles of Te Tiriti ō Waitangi
DOC 3 forms
As an important correction to the last edition’s announcement on doctoral forms, please be aware that DOC 3 examiner nomination forms should not be submitted or handled by students, rather, their supervisors or supervisory teams. All other doctoral forms – DOC 6 (Change to Doctoral Candidate Registration), Doctoral Annual Report and Doctoral Provisional Review forms should still be sent to env-pgadmin@auckland.ac.nz for HoD approval.
IT Committee:
The IT Committee will meet soon. Please let us know if you’d like to request any teaching-related software for S2 – and of course, if there are any other points for discussion. (i.pecher@auckland.ac.nz)
Could the Government Nationalise ECE?
To view an interview of a recent MA Geography graduate on TVNZ, please click on the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1959502787518685
Notice: Changes in Some Labs:
The Cathodoluminescence Microscope has now moved to room 302-581a (darkroom), where it is co-located with the school’s photography equipment. This move means users only need to complete the school’s general induction to gain access to this instrument. We expect that with the knowledge of Drs Michael Rowe, Kathy Campbell, David Adams and the logistical support of Andres Arcila this instrument is going to be quite popular.
Please contact Andres Arcila/Neville Hudson if you are intending to use either photography facilities or CL microscope.
First Aid Courses
Announcement: We did not manage to get the numbers to run either the full course or the revalidation but we can run shorter courses provided all attendees complete the required pre-assessments. This means that for the full course you only need to do one class day, and for the revalidation, this is four hours. Please find attached instructions on how to do this.
Can you please choose suitable dates in the poll below AFTER you have completed the online assessments. There are still minimum numbers required to run the courses, so there is no guarantee we will be able to do this. If we can’t then I will try again during semester break.
Revalidation – https://doodle.com/poll/ds5bgntuk3k3h8pi
Full course – https://doodle.com/poll/2m4mt552ximsuqtr
Complete your First Aid Course through an M-learning (mobile-learning) Approach.
Mobile Learning
For details and instructions, please use the links below:
M-Learning Information Sheet 2016
Become an Open Day 2020 Ambassador
Volunteers are needed to help the university create a memorable Open Day experience with manaakitanga, (hospitality, generosity) in order to build whanaungatanga (a sense of family and belonging).
Open Day is one of the biggest events on the university calendar – where we open our doors and showcase our campus to potential new students.
If you would like to represent the University community and help build an unforgettable Open Day experience, we want to hear from you!
- Meet new people and make connections with the wider university community
- Build memorable shared experiences with your peers
- Learn something new!
- Add to your CV
Open Day 2020 Details
Date: 29th August 2020
Time: approx. 8am-3pm (single shift). Times may vary for different roles.
Location: UoA city campus
Lunch: Catered lunch included
*You will also need to be available for one (1) hour-long Ambassador training and briefing session 24 August 2020 at 1pm
Available Ambassador Roles:
| Roles | Responsibilities |
| Help Desk | Provide information and directions to all visitors on campus |
| Lecture support | Effectively usher visitors into lecture theatres, perform accurate headcounts and provide technical support |
| Roamer
(Welcome & Crowd control) |
To welcome guests, help direct and manage the crowd. To provide general support to fill in gaps where needed. |
| Mascot | Take on the iconic role of our mascot Ed the Kiwi and have fun getting silly, welcoming and engaging with guests |
| Mascot Minder | To assist and accompany Ed the Kiwi and ensure the safety of the mascot |
If you are interested in helping us to showcase the University of Auckland to potential new students, Apply Now!
Application closes 31 July 2020 5pm NZST
The outcome of the application will be notified by 5 August 2020
To show appreciation for your commitment and support, we will provide you with a Westfield voucher.
Meeting, Seminars and Events
ENV Welcome Back Function
Staff and PG Research students are cordially invited to the School of Environment welcome back function;
Time & Date: 4-6pm, Thursday 30 July
Venue: Level 6 Breakout Space.
Please RSVP here by Monday 20 July for catering purposes.
How tectonic and surface processes interact to shape the landscape
Time & Date: 7 pm, 18th August
Venue: Auckland Museum Auditorium
For more information, please click here
Just how on earth do we know what MARS is made of?
Two ‘Showings’ On Friday 31st of July
- 3.30pm University of Auckland, Rm 303-G16
- 7.30pm Epsom community Centre, 200 Gillies Ave
For more information, please click here
‘The first meeting’ of the School of Environment international Students
Time & Date: Friday 7 August 10am (the second week of Semester II)
Venue: Ontology room (B 302 – 551, 5th floor)Guest speaker: Mr. John Dorado (Career development and employability office)
Topic: How to prepare for employment in New Zealand or other countries.
Followed by Morning tea & Informal socialising session
Ako – Teaching and Learning
Thank You Note
As this semester draws to a close we can reflect on the many challenges faced by all of us delivering our teaching programme successfully this semester. We are delighted that together we have got most of our student cohort successfully across the finish line despite the very challenging and constantly changing teaching environment. This simply wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the wider academic community and we would like to extend our thanks to the postgraduate community of tutors who played a very significant part in keeping our courses running and students engaged with the course material. At the exam boards, we heard numerous stories of tutors who had gone well above and beyond the call of duty, reaching out extensively to the students they were teaching, often on an individual basis, providing both academic and emotional support to our undergraduate community. There were also many examples of tutors preparing extensive on-line teaching materials for tutorials and even coaching staff in the use of online resources! In a number of cases, this dedication was identified as the reason why so many students stuck with the courses and were able to pass successfully. We are very grateful to everyone who put in extraordinary hours of their time to ensure our courses could run as smoothly as possible and our students were supported as effectively as possible.
As discipline leaders, we would also like to acknowledge the hard work of David Hayward, Mel Wall, Murray Ford and the AKO committee as they navigated us through the challenges of switching to remote delivery. This was a steep learning curve for everyone, and the regular, friendly advice and extreme amounts of patience offered were essential for keeping (most of) us on the straight and narrow. We would also like to acknowledge the effective, efficient support provided by Alex, both in maintaining our community spirit with weekly virtual morning teas and in ensuring all the paperwork was completed. Finally, we would like to thank the teaching staff, for their flexibility, adaptability and patience in this strange environment. Here’s hoping we have a less stressful semester 2.
Jenny Salmond, Kevin Simon and Martin Brook.
Meeting, Seminars and Events
Pandemic, pedagogy and education 4: Teaching and learning remotely
Thursday 23rd July 2-3pm
Join Zoom Meeting: https://auckland.zoom.us/j/98222705004?pwd=Sk83YW5ENkhmOFZuMGlPellHMS9NQT09
The COVID-19 lockdown has posed considerable challenges and opportunities for educators. This zoom is designed to showcase pedagogies, innovations and tools to assist and enrich remote learning within the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland. We will begin with three short presentations (approx. 10 minutes) followed by the opportunity for audience participation. Ideally, this will spark a collective conversation that is ongoing, the second in an online series with future opportunities for staff to showcase pedagogical insights and innovations.
The presentations are as follows:
Title: Connectivity and collaboration with our teaching colleagues
Presenters: Caroline Aspden and Julie McIntosh
Lockdown focussed our attention on our students and caused many of us to reflect on the value we place on creating connections with our learners. In this new environment, there was a change in another key dynamic of teaching: connection and communication between teachers in our learning communities. Our ability as teachers to share experience and strategies through incidental conversations and opportunities was far more challenging in the zoom space. In this talk, we reflect on the strategies we implemented in lockdown and the value of what we learned from this experience moving forward.
Title: Stage 1 Psychology laboratories: What we learnt from our online experiences
Presenters: Andrea Mead and Michelle Burstall
Stage 1 Psychology students attend in-person laboratories designed to further their understanding of psychological theories whilst creating opportunities for our students to develop critical thinking, communication, teamwork and collaboration skills. Covid-19 gave us the challenge to rapidly convert in-person laboratories to online learning experiences. This presentation will share feedback from our tutors and students on what worked well for us and what we would change in the future.
Title: Remote teaching in Physics: reflections and future planning
Presenters: Tristan O’Hanlon, Anna Yang, and Miro Erkintalo
We survey the Physics Department’s response to COVID-19 lockdown, discussing pre-lockdown preparations, implementations and outcomes of remote teaching strategies, and initiatives designed to maintain a healthy community. Moreover, we will describe ongoing planning aimed at ensuring the resilience of Physics laboratory components against the possibility of future lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Please come along if you can make it and you’re interested. You are welcome to forward this flyer to anyone interested in attending. The session will be recorded for those who cannot attend. Please email Mel Wall (m.wall@auckland.ac.nz) after the session if you would like a link to the recording.
Creating an engaging online learning and teaching environment – Ako Innovation Seminar
Presenter: Dr. Ella Kahu
Zoom: https://auckland.zoom.us/j/97336580623?pwd=aXovOHFSYytpYzdpcWZGTWxHb3FwUT09
For many academics, successfully engaging students online has been a challenge in Semester 1 in our new COVID-19 reality. Ella Kahu from Massey University has kindly agreed to give a seminar on creating engaging online learning and teaching environment. For those who do not know of Ella’s work, she wrote a seminal article on student engagement in higher education and her subsequent work has only deepened our understanding. Ella currently teaches online and is the winner of multiple awards for Teaching Excellence. Do come along it you can make it. Ella intends to present for 40 minutes leaving ample opportunity for discussion. Her longer description and bio is here
Kahu, E. R. (2013). Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(5), 758-773. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.598505
Rangahau – Research
Critic says govt’s freshwater package doesn’t address the problem – pollution
Research Fellow Brendon Blue provided comments recently for an RNZ National story regarding the government’s ‘Jobs for nature’ package.
The reporter claimed she had never heard someone talk so enthusiastically about floodplains.
Meeting, Seminars and Events
MBIE Kick-off Workshop
UniServices are organising an MBIE kick-off workshop for Monday 27 July in OGH. It will consist of 3 separate sessions over the day (you can join for the whole day or chose a session to participate in):
9:00 – 10:30 MBIE Overview with Jane Shearer (also available on zoom)
10:45 – 12:45 Pitching session – 5-minute pitch to a panel of experts in front of other participants
1:30 – 3:30 Targeted discussions at tables with BDMs, impact managers, Vision Mātauranga advisors etc.
Spaces are limited and some additional information will be required from those wishing to participate in the pitching sessions and table discussions. More information will be provided directly to those who register.
To register, please follow this link.
Climate Science Rendezvous
Tuesday 21 July, 2-4pm, 303-G16. This one-off theme event aims to bring together researchers focused on climate and climate science from all disciplines, hosted by the new Climate Science Research Centre, and the Our World and Universe research theme. See the flyer here.
Research and Funding Opportunities
Social Science Research Council – Just Tech Covid-19 Rapid Response Grants
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), as part of its Just Tech program, seeks proposals from across the social sciences and related fields that address the risks, opportunities, and challenges posed by public health surveillance stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Just Tech Rapid-Response Grants will thus support innovative research projects that deploy remote research methods to shed light on both the short and potential long term implications of public health interventions for a range of rights, liberties, and public goods. Subjects may include, but are not limited to:
• Contact tracing and public health surveillance.
• Voting access and rights amid “lockdowns” and widespread social distancing.
• Disparities in the collection, representation, and use of health data.
• The digital divide in remote work and learning, education, and public health.
• Precarity of labour and work in the tech industry or gig economy.
• Remote organising, campaigning, and social movements.
• The impact of predictive algorithms on the provision of social welfare and policing.
Awards will range from USD $5,000 to $10,000. The typical research project duration is 6 months.
The first internal UoA deadline is August 24, 2020 (The funder has currently planned a rolling deadline)
For more info please see the funding guidelines and resources page
The Biosecurity Technology research project
The Biosecurity Technology mission is one of several new topics being explored by SfTI for the next stage of this National Science Challenge with our National Science Challenge partner, New Zealand’s Biological Heritage | Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho. The focus is on employing cutting-edge physical sciences and engineering to create new processes and tools that will better protect NZ from harmful biological elements such as non-indigenous flora, pathogens, insects and mammalian species.
SfTI has now released a request for Expressions of Capability (EoC).
We are seeking interest from physical sciences and engineering researchers based within New Zealand organisations who are willing to be part of a team to bring their relevant capability to the mission. Please note, we are not accepting investigator-led research ideas and proposals.
The EoC provides a summary of the process and what to expect, and the Application form asks for a summary of where your research interest lies, your expertise and experience.
Selected researchers will be invited to attend a research development workshop. Due to the impacts of Covid-19, we explored both physical and virtual options for the workshop. We are now pleased to confirm a physical workshop will be held in Wellington, Wednesday 9 September 2020.
The application form and EoC can also be downloaded from our website https://www.sftichallenge.govt.nz/news/biosecurity-technology-mission-calling-for-expressions-of-capability/
Send your completed application form and CV, to SfTIChallenge@callaghaninnovation.govt.nz
Applications close Monday 10 August 2020.
New publications
- Bedford, R; Kearns, R; Kennedy, D; Le Heron, R; Longhurst, R; Mansvelt, J; Pawson, E; Peace, R; Roche, M. The New Zealand Geographer reaches 75. New Zealand Geographer. July 2020 DOI: 10.1111/nzg.12266 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300057406/cancercausing-dust-beneath-auckland-stirred-by-construction-scientists-say
- Garnett ST, Christidis L, Conix S, Costello MJ, Zachos FE, Bánki OS, Bao Y, Barik SK, Buckeridge JS, Hobern D, Lien A, Montgomery N, Nikolaeva S, Pyle RL, Thomson SA, van Dijk PP, Whalen A, Zhang Z-Q, Thiele KR. 2020. Principles for creating a single authoritative list of the world’s species. PLoS Biology 18(7): e3000736. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000736. A Blog post and UoA media release associated with this publication are also available.
Copy deadline for next edition of P-cubed: Friday 31st July to Bizza: b.zainab@auckland.ac.nz
