Events

Up until 150 years ago, each New Zealand region had its own, different time zone.

It wasn’t until the arrival of the telegraph and the steam train network that the need arose for accurate regional and national timekeeping.

In 1866, the first cable across Cook Strait was laid and regions between Napier and Bluff became connected by telegraph. Variations in operating hours at the relaying and receiving offices along the line initially hinder the smooth transmission of messages. So, in 1868 the Telegraph Department proclaimed that all offices had to adopt Wellington time.

This move led to a parliamentary decree establishing a single time for the whole country – the first implementation of standard time in the world, which came into effect on November 2, 1868.

Today, the Measurement Standards Laboratory (MSL) at Callaghan Innovation is responsible for maintaining Official New Zealand Time. Read more about the unit of time, the Second here.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary, MSL is partnering with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the National Library to deliver a free public event at the National Library in Wellington on Thursday 1 November 2018, 5.45 – 7.30pm.

Join historian Gerard Morris as he takes us through the history of the adoption of New Zealand Standard Time. Also hear from Dr Bruce Warrington, Chief Metrologist and CEO of the National Measurement Institute, Australia, who will detail the science behind standard time and the technological innovations such as GPS it enables.

More information and register.

Presented by Professor Dorthe Dahl-Jensen
Annual S.T. Lee Lecture in Antarctic Studies 

The Greenland Ice Sheet is reacting to climate change, and is losing progressively more mass every year. One of our challenges in the future is to adapt to rising sea level. Looking into the past provides knowledge on how the ice sheets react to changing climate, and this can be used to improve future predictions of sea level rise. The deep ice cores from Greenland contain information on past climate that goes back more than 130,000 years, telling tales about past abrupt climate and sea level changes.

The last interglacial, 130,000 to 115,000 years before present, is a key analogue for future climate. At this time, climate was 5°C warmer over Greenland, and global sea level was 6-9 m higher than present. All the ice cores from Greenland show that the ice sheet survived, making only a modest contribution to global sea level rise of approximately 2m at this time. These findings imply that Antarctica was a major contributor to sea level rise during this past warm period, and may respond similarly in the future.

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Join the Otago Museum and Dodd-Walls Centre team to experience science like never before!

6.30pm (after dinner) All things science talk and Q&A session.

7pm Science exploration stations + planetarium with the Otago Museum and Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies.

6.30pm, Thursday 1 November Kopinga Marae, Chatham Islands

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Following the sell-out success of the July shows, timed to coincide with the New Zealand International Science Festival, Otago Museum is thrilled to host a return season of Anthonie Tonnon’s A Synthesized Universe.

Anthonie Tonnon has developed a one of a kind show, which combines both electronic and traditional instrumentalism with theatricality, a surreal sense of storytelling and physical movement.

In collaboration with the digital creative team at Otago Museum’s Perpetual Guardian Planetarium, this engaging, one-person show is expanded into a 360° experience, with the immersive digital environment an integral part of the performance. Because the planetarium is operated in real time, like an instrument itself, no two shows are ever exactly the same.

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Following the sell-out success of the July shows, timed to coincide with the New Zealand International Science Festival, Otago Museum is thrilled to host a return season of Anthonie Tonnon’s A Synthesized Universe.

Anthonie Tonnon has developed a one of a kind show, which combines both electronic and traditional instrumentalism with theatricality, a surreal sense of storytelling and physical movement.

In collaboration with the digital creative team at Otago Museum’s Perpetual Guardian Planetarium, this engaging, one-person show is expanded into a 360° experience, with the immersive digital environment an integral part of the performance. Because the planetarium is operated in real time, like an instrument itself, no two shows are ever exactly the same.


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Explore Te Papa's botanical treasures with curator Carlos Lehnebach

Join a small group of Friends and see botanical treasures up close on this behind-the-scenes experience at Te Papa, Cable Street.

Discover the botany collection stores which house over 300,000 plant specimens collected in New Zealand and overseas. You will find out how Te Papa stores and takes care of these valuable collections of historical significance, and the research they support. There will be a chance to see plants now extinct in New Zealand, botanical art and have a closer look at the very first plants collected by the European naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander almost 250 years ago during Captain’s Cook first voyage to New Zealand.

Our tour will be led by Te Papa’s botany curator Carlos Lehnebach. Carlos is a botanist who studies the diversity, evolution and conservation of New Zealand flowering plants. His main groups of interest are terrestrial and epiphytic orchids, alpine plants, and plants shared with other land masses in the Southern Hemisphere.

More information and booking.

Following the sell-out success of the July shows, timed to coincide with the New Zealand International Science Festival, Otago Museum is thrilled to host a return season of Anthonie Tonnon’s A Synthesized Universe.

Anthonie Tonnon has developed a one of a kind show, which combines both electronic and traditional instrumentalism with theatricality, a surreal sense of storytelling and physical movement.

In collaboration with the digital creative team at Otago Museum’s Perpetual Guardian Planetarium, this engaging, one-person show is expanded into a 360° experience, with the immersive digital environment an integral part of the performance. Because the planetarium is operated in real time, like an instrument itself, no two shows are ever exactly the same.

More information

Following the sell-out success of the July shows, timed to coincide with the New Zealand International Science Festival, Otago Museum is thrilled to host a return season of Anthonie Tonnon’s A Synthesized Universe.

Anthonie Tonnon has developed a one of a kind show, which combines both electronic and traditional instrumentalism with theatricality, a surreal sense of storytelling and physical movement.

In collaboration with the digital creative team at Otago Museum’s Perpetual Guardian Planetarium, this engaging, one-person show is expanded into a 360° experience, with the immersive digital environment an integral part of the performance. Because the planetarium is operated in real time, like an instrument itself, no two shows are ever exactly the same.

More information

In this lecture, Professor Bruce Clarkson will consider whether towns and cities could be a solution to New Zealand’s biodiversity decline and will remind us just how precious our native plants and animals are, and how we all have a stake in protecting them.

For a long time in our urban centres, nature has been fighting a losing battle. Perhaps those living in residential areas had been comforted by the fact that the Department of Conservation and its predecessors have been doing their best to save our native birds from extinction on offshore islands, or more recently, mainland eco-sanctuaries. But, these endeavours on their own, are not enough to reverse the ongoing decline in native biodiversity.

What if towns and cities were seen as a solution to the problem and what needs to happen?

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We inhabit a world in which knowledge and truth can be difficult to discern.

Traditional media outlets are denounced as enemies of the people. Academics and ‘experts’ are increasingly distrusted. More and more people turn to the echo chambers of digital media for their information. In this disturbing world, what is fake and what is real? And, perhaps more importantly, who decides?

This panel brings together scholars from around the world, to discuss where and how knowledge is generated and disseminated, and how it affects our politics, business, education, information systems and social wellbeing.

Avoid filter bubbles and learn about this important issue straight from these internationally respected sources:

Professor Rosa Chun (University College Dublin)

Associate Professor Val Hooper (Victoria University of Wellington)

Dan Maffei (George Washington University, Washington D.C.)

Associate Professor Michael Macaulay (Victoria University of Wellington)

Professor Leyland Pitt (Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki)

Linda Savoie (Library and Archives Canada)

Associate Professor Eugene Tan (Singapore Management University)

Associate Professor Werner Webb (University of South Africa)

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Food rescue is praised by advocates as reducing both waste and food poverty. However, critics argue that food rescue rarely challenges underlying structural inequalities.

In this presentation we draw on our research with Kaibosh, a well-known food rescue organisation in Wellington, to explore how everyday actions coalesce around notions of care. We argue that Kaibosh and food rescue enables volunteers, donors and staff to engage in material actions that address matters of concern. We draw on Cloke et al.’s (2016) framing of care that can happen 'in the meantime' to move beyond limiting notions of political action that is understood through the binary of reform or revolution.

More information.

Dr Miller is Head of the Division of Neurology and Centre for Brain & Mental Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Professor in the Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto.


About the talk: The rate of preterm birth is rising worldwide. In recent decades, improved neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) therapies have reduced the mortality and increased the survival of preterm newborns. Despite advances in NICU care, preterm birth remains a leading cause of childhood and lifelong disability. As such, it is an urgent priority to improve the health and developmental trajectories of these children. MRI now provides an unprecedented window on the developing brain in preterm neonates. In this lecture he will address three objectives, informed by recent insights from brain imaging:

1. To identify the contemporary spectrum of white matter injury in the preterm neonate

2. To recognize the importance of brain development in the preterm neonate

3. To identify opportunities to improve brain health of neonates through “everyday” interventions, including the management of pain

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 Join us for this exciting presentation from Jakki Mohr, Regents Professor of Marketing, Unversity of Montana, USA. Jakki will address challenges organizations face in harnessing the power of big data to add value. 

Dr. Jakki Mohr is the Regents Professor of Marketing and the Gallagher Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the University of Montana. Before beginning her academic career, she worked in Silicon Valley for both Hewlett-Packard's Personal Computer Group and TeleVideo Systems. 


Jakki studies challenges companies face in developing and commercializing break-through innovations, including a broad range of technologies ranging from scientific innovations to innovations in restoration and ecology. In research sponsored by the Marketing Science Institute, she studies how companies use biomimicry (innovations inspired by nature, based on underlying biological mechanisms) to solve technical and engineering challenges, the basis of her TEDx talks in 2011 and 2012.

An innovator in the field of marketing high-technology products and services, Mohr has achieved international acclaim for Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations (2010, 3rd edition, with Sanjit Sengupta and Stanley Slater), used by colleges and universities worldwide (translated into three languages) as well as by managers for executive training sessions.

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Dr Fiona Doolan-Noble | Department of General Practice and Rural Health
Hot Health_identifierMore men in New Zealand are overweight or obese than women, with overweight and obesity increasing more for men than women over the last couple of decades. The weight and weight management literature invariably focuses on women and their experiences of weight loss attempts and stigmatisation. Within weight studies the male voice is hard to hear. This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of New Zealand men living large, including their interactions in general practice.

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2030, placing increased spatial and environmental constraints on the urban forest. The area surrounding an urban tree is likely to change two or three times during its lifetime and modern trees must be able to be managed to fit the changing nature of their location.

In this presentation, arborist Mark Roberts will look at the reality of pruning practices, urban ecology and tree risk. Roberts is an ISA certified arborist with over 25 years of experience, and holds life membership of the New Zealand Arboricultural Association and the International Society of Arboriculture.

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Join us for a documentary screening and discussion marking the centenary of the 1918 flu outbreak ­– an epidemic that devastated New Zealand and Sāmoa.

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Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor adventure happening all the time, all around the world. Using a geocaching app or GPS device you can solve puzzles and navigate to hidden containers called geocaches. There are millions of geocaches in 190 countries waiting to be discovered – there are probably some near you right now! Geocaching offers something for everyone, it's a great way to find remarkable destinations you might not otherwise explore, to learn more about your surroundings – and provides an excuse to get off the couch. The Geocaching International Film Festival started in 2013 to share epic geocaching moments captured on camera. This year there are 16 finalists but only one can earn the Signal Award. Join local geocachers from 2pm to find out more about geocaching and how to get started. The films will show between 2.30pm and 3.30pm. Voting slips will be collected at 3.35pm and the Dunedin winner will be announced at 3.45pm. There is a virtual souvenir available this year to geocachers who attend this event.

Inspired by the memories of the director's grandmother Avea'i Fui, and the research of Dr. John McLane, 1918 is a response to the devastating Influenza Pandemic which swept across the globe, with terrible effects Sāmoa.

This devastating disease claimed the lives of almost a third Sāmoa's population and became a catalyst for Sāmoa's resistance against the New Zealand colonial government.

2018 marks the 100 year anniversary since this tragic and pivotal moment in Sāmoa’s history.

Written and directed by Tupe Lualua
Choreographed by Andy Faiaoga

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Victoria University of Wellington invites you to a public lecture by Professor of Psychology, Karen Salmon.

We draw on our memories of personal experiences (autobiographical memories) every day to help us navigate the world. Recalling specific, detailed memories can help us solve problems, connect with other people, and maintain our sense of who we are across time.

What might be the role of specific memories in mental health? In particular, are aspects of specific memories related to poorer mental health? Can they predict the dramatic rise in depression across the pivotal period of adolescence? If so, how? Exploring such questions about memory has the potential to give us a unique window into people’s psychological worlds.

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Space weather is a phenomenon few New Zealanders know about, yet in the increasingly technological world we live in, knowledge is power.

The University of Otago, in association with the Otago Museum and Victoria University of Wellington is delivering a series of talks throughout the country dedicated to this topic.

Leading New Zealand experts on space weather and its impact on earth will deliver presentations about the high impact, low probability events space weather can contribute to. Damage to electrical networks in extreme cases leading to power blackouts, disruption to GPS navigation systems and knocking out aviation radio systems, to name but a few.

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Preterm birth is a major public health issue affecting an estimated 13 million babies worldwide. Despite advances in NICU care, it remains a leading cause of childhood and lifelong disability.
For the final Liggins Institute public lecture of the year, we're delighted to welcome guest speaker Professor Steven Miller from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. Come along to learn more about the dramatic period of brain development that occurs in babies born preterm as they go through their medical care in a NICU.

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Having worked with sex workers and victims of trafficking for over thirteen years, join Dr Jill McCraken as she talks about her primary areas of research focusing on sex work and trafficking in the sex industry, women and incarceration, and more recently, the impact of sexuality education on marginalized communities.

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What is the impact of successful cyberattacks on target firms?

Presented by Professor Kang, Jun-Koo (NTU)

We examine which firms are targets of cyberattacks and how they are affected. We find that cyberattacks cause firms to reassess the risks that they are exposed to and their consequences, so that they have real effects on firm policies even when targets are not financially constrained. Cyberattacks are more likely to occur at more visible firms, firms with more intangible assets, and firms with less board attention to risk management. Attacks where personal financial information is appropriated are associated with a negative stock-market reaction, a decrease in sales growth for large firms and retail firms, an increase in leverage, a deterioration in financial health, and a decrease in investment in the short run. Firms further respond to cyberattacks by reducing CEO bonuses and risk-taking incentives and by strengthening their risk management.

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Across the political spectrum, concern is growing about the pollution of New Zealand’s rivers and streams. We all know they need fixing. But how do we do it? 

Join editor Mike Joy to celebrate the launch of Mountains to Sea: Solving New Zealand’s Freshwater Crisis – a new BWB Text that offers a way forward on one of New Zealand’s most urgent problems. 

Contributors Mike Joy; Tina Ngata; Nick Kim; Vanessa Hammond; Alison Dewes; Paul Tapsell, Peter Fraser; Kyleisha Foote; Catherine Knight; Steve Carden; Phil McKenzie; Chris Perley.

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Space weather is a phenomenon few New Zealanders know about, yet in the increasingly technological world we live in, knowledge is power.

The University of Otago, in association with the Otago Museum and Victoria University of Wellington is delivering a series of talks throughout the country dedicated to this topic.

Leading New Zealand experts on space weather and its impact on earth will deliver presentations about the high impact, low probability events space weather can contribute to. Damage to electrical networks in extreme cases leading to power blackouts, disruption to GPS navigation systems and knocking out aviation radio systems, to name but a few.

More information

Space weather is a phenomenon few New Zealanders know about, yet in the increasingly technological world we live in, knowledge is power.

The University of Otago, in association with the Otago Museum and Victoria University of Wellington is delivering a series of talks throughout the country dedicated to this topic.

Leading New Zealand experts on space weather and its impact on earth will deliver presentations about the high impact, low probability events space weather can contribute to. Damage to electrical networks in extreme cases leading to power blackouts, disruption to GPS navigation systems and knocking out aviation radio systems, to name but a few.

More information

Our annual conference takes place in Auckland on November 15. This year it combines the presentation of the NZAS medals and 2018 awards.


The conference focus is ‘Connections between science and policy’ - aiming to provide an environment for constructive discussions. 

More information.