Events

Decolonising animals is an academic conference hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies.

The latest programme is available here: https://aasa2019.org/programme/

Ticket cost variable - please see the conference ticket site for full details.
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Matariki is a time rich with custom and tradition but also has much to tell us about our changing world today. Māori understand that changes to the environment and ecology at this time may be due to climate change. Join astrophysicist Dr Pauline Harris, of Victoria University of Wellington, as she unpacks Matariki and maramataka – the Māori traditional calendar.

What can Māori knowledge and science add to our understanding of how to predict and mitigate climate change?

Part of ZEALANDIA's 2019 Matariki programme

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Decolonising animals is an academic conference hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies.

The latest programme is available here: https://aasa2019.org/programme/

Ticket cost variable - please see the conference ticket site for full details.
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How do our eyes see in 3D, even when we’re looking at a flat screen? Why does the world appear still when we move our eyes? The mysteries of human vision have long been explored by University of Waikato vision scientist Professor John Perrone.

He’ll be talking about his discoveries at a public lecture on 2 July, the sixth in the University of Waikato Hamilton Public Lecture Series. His lecture is titled Why the world does not look flat to Cyclops or one-eyed pirates: The role of visual motion in human depth perception.

Professor Perrone is based in the School of Psychology at the university and his research fits within the general area of visual perception and visual neuroscience. He says knowing how humans and animals use vision to navigate through the world (self-motion) is an important topic within psychology and in the general field of neuroscience. It also has many important practical applications, for example in robotics, aerospace and driving research.

In his public lecture, Professor Perrone will explain how the eyes and brain work together to automatically enable us to judge our motion through the world and to see the position and distance of obstacles in front of us.

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The 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing offers an opportunity for reflecting on the history of the Cold War space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The space race was one of the arenas in which the two superpowers battled for global dominance. It propelled both nations to pursue rapid scientific research and technological advances and demanded massive economic support and political commitment.

Jennifer will consider the connections between Cold War politics and superpower science during the 1950s through the 1970s and engage with the question of whether the US or the Soviet Union 'won' the Cold War space race. By bringing a historical perspective to this topic, we see the answer is not a simple one. Challenging national myths and popular memories requires questioning assumptions about how we analyse and understand the past.

About Dr Jennifer Frost
Jennifer Frost is a historian of 20th century United States society, politics, and culture at the University of Auckland. She is the author of several books, most recently Producer of Controversy: Stanley Kramer, Hollywood Liberalism, and the Cold War (2017). Her focus now is on the campaign for youth voting rights in the United States, which culminated in the 26th Amendment to the Constitution in 1971.

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Dr Nicki Jackson, PhD
Honorary Academic, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Auckland

Alcohol use is a wicked problem, causing significant social, health and financial harm to individuals and society. In the current context of increasing hazardous drinking, evidence-based policies are urgently required to curb the harm from our drinking culture. However, alcohol policies remain unpopular even in the presence of an abundance of national, high-quality evidence and public support.

This presentation will showcase the policy arguments favoured by the industry versus public health bodies and suggest areas of action to enhance political will.

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Decolonising animals is an academic conference hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies.

The latest programme is available here: https://aasa2019.org/programme/

Ticket cost variable - please see the conference ticket site for full details.
More information

Food tells a story. A story about where it came from, who produced it, and its journey from source to plate. We all share in the experience of food: it connects a diversity of people, places, and ideas. But what is our Aotearoa New Zealand food story? Who eats what and why? How does food shape culture and culture shape food?

Matariki is time when tangata whenua traditionally celebrated the harvest season, so it is an apt time to discuss feasts, food fundamentals, and identity.

Join contributors from Freerange Press’s Kai and culture: Food stories from Aotearoa in discussion with Erin Harrington (University of Canterbury), as they explore some of the current issues involved in the growing, making and eating of our food.

Before the panel discussion, visit the Teece Museum’s Fantastic Feasts. The exhibition explores food in the ancient world, examining what the ancient Greeks and Romans actually ate, the connections they believed existed between food and the gods, and the feasting traditions they developed both to bring their communities together and to set them apart. Doors open at 5.00pm - Teece Museum’s Fantastic Feasts exhibition is free to view, talk begins at 5.45pm.

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What is the role of education in a world where ‘foundational givens of thought are on the move and… the cosmology that has framed experience in Western societies is unravelling?’ Former school teacher and principal, now teacher educator, pedagogy and curriculum critic and researcher Graham Jackson shares his insights into the nature of education – its rationale and relevance in a rapidly-changing era. He explores perceptions and positioning of education as somewhere between stagnation and disintegration, between a need for security and a demand for transformation.
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Decolonising animals is an academic conference hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies.

The latest programme is available here: https://aasa2019.org/programme/

Ticket cost variable - please see the conference ticket site for full details.
More information

Presented by Karen Fifield

What will the future hold for organisations, like zoos, which have animals in human care?

Over 700 million people visit zoos or aquariums every year. Zoos are the most visited cultural organisations in the world. But have they changed since the inception of a zoo as a public facing menagerie in the 18th century?

Progressive zoos and aquariums around the world have been through a number of iterations from menageries to powerhouses for conservation outcomes. As the world changes how will this influence the next iteration of zoo development and growth in the profession? How will progressive zoos lead their communities in behaviour change for positive effects on our planet?

Over the next 100 years the world will face immense species loss and ever threatening climate change consequences. This seminar will examine how zoos can be a positive influence on human reactions and approaches to these problems which will ultimately affect the future of our planet.

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Overview

In this seminar, Joreintje will share some of her recent insights into the relationships between aspects of the social (e.g. income inequality, social cohesion) and physical environment (e.g. recreational areas, food environment) with lifestyle behaviours and mental and physical health. Joreintje uses geospatial analysis to link environmental factors to behaviour and health outcomes and investigates the mechanisms through which environments influence these outcomes.
Speaker


Dr. Joreintje Mackenbach is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Amsterdam UMC. She has co-authored over 45 publications and is the recipient of a grant to investigate the impact of unhealthy food environments. She is also co-founder of the Upstream Team, a network of researchers and policy makers focused on the upstream environmental determinants of lifestyle behaviours and disease outcomes.

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Inaugural Professorial Lecture - Professor Lisa Ellis

To make progress on problems like climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental injustice, people need to coordinate their actions. Lisa is a political theorist who investigates the conditions of possible human coordination in challenging contexts. She began this work as a PhD student at UC-Berkeley, focusing on philosopher Immanuel Kant’s ideas about interaction among limited rational beings. Now Lisa applies Kantian insights to problems like the collective ethics of flying (with Otago colleagues James Higham and James Maclaurin), the human value of biodiversity, the principled distribution of the risks of sea-level rise, and the challenge of protecting New Zealand’s endemic species.

Lisa has been a member of the School of Social Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), and her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities among other funders, including most recently the Deep South National Science Challenge.

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The Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, Professor Grant Guilford, invites you to a public lecture by Professor of Wellbeing and Public Policy, Arthur Grimes.

Several countries around the world have embraced ‘wellbeing’ as a guide for public policy. New Zealand has recently joined France, the United Kingdom, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and others in this quest. But what do we mean by wellbeing? Is it the same as welfare? Haven’t these ideas been around for centuries (or millennia)? What is the future for policy based on wellbeing?


Informed by recent research in the field of wellbeing economics and policy, Professor Grimes addresses these questions that are at the heart of current policy-making in New Zealand.

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Presented by Associate Professor Mike Hannah

Blood from a stone: A fossil history of life, death and the mayhem in between

Kamala's theatre, Wellington Zoo

Over the past 600 million years, the Earth has experienced a series of massive extinction events.

They’ve caused—amongst other things—the end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and the extinction of 95% of marine species 250 million years ago.


Palaeontologist Associate Professor Mike Hannah will explore these events, which have forever changed the course of life on Earth. He’ll ask questions like; how many mass extinctions have there been? How devastating were they? What triggered them? And are we living through one today?

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"There can be little doubt that this will be a revolution. The choice, really, is about how we bring it upon ourselves."

Climate change is happening and the potential long-term costs are incalculable. But how do we manage the short-term costs of mitigation?

Join authors David Hall and Maria Bargh as they discuss whether a revolution can be ‘careful’, and how to ensure a tika transition in true partnership with Māori.

A Careful Revolution features essays by eleven authors on the challenges and opportunities of the low-emissions transition. Please join us in celebrating the publication of this latest addition to the BWB Texts series.

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The science of early childhood education has recently been dominated by neuroscience and economy, illustrating the crucial importance of the early years and arguing for high “returns on investment”. I critically analyze this “dominant discourse”, looking back at how different sciences have produced different truths in the history of early childhood education: eugenics and prophylaxis in the 19th century and developmental psychology in the 20th century. In so doing, I look at the relations between science, education and politics. This may throw another light on the question of why, today, the neurosciences are so popular and why that may not be such a wonderful advancement after all.

Michel Vandenbroeck is head of the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University in Belgium. He teaches Early Childhood Care and Education and Family Pedagogy. His research focuses on early childhood policy and practice and parent support, with a special interest for diversity and social inclusion. He authored several international publications on these issues.

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A major review of the NZ Health and Disability System was launched last year, described by Health Minister David Clark as a “once in a generation opportunity to improve equity and outcomes for New Zealanders”. Can it make a difference? Panellist Professor Peter Crampton is a member of the Expert Review Panel on this, with an interim report expected soon.

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Get ready to tell the big cheese to say cheese.

Photographing the Moon requires a different approach than other night sky photography. This session is an opportunity to improve your technique when photographing the great globe in our night sky.

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The gospel of kindness: Animal welfare and the making of modern America
Lecture by Professor Janet M Davis, University of Texas at Austin

Janet M Davis is Distinguished Teaching Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Texas at Austin and is 2019 Hood Fellow at the University of Auckland.

She has written extensively in the areas of United States cultural, social, and environmental history, popular culture, and animal studies. Her public lecture is drawn from her most recent book, The Gospel of Kindness: Animal Welfare and the Making of Modern America (2016). Published on the 150th anniversary of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), this prizewinning book is the first transnational history of animal protection in the United States and internationally. This “original and thought-provoking work” examines the interconnections among humanitarianism, moral reform, and empire.


Professor Davis reveals the historical and political significance of animal welfare advocacy and the profound challenges of global animal protection.

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Nuts just take up space where the chocolate ought to be: food complexity and oral breakdown

Oral processing incorporates all the movements and transformations of food from first bite to the point of swallow. Food texture is the combination of the mechanical and rheological properties of food experienced by the senses before, during and after oral processing. Texture contributes to flavour, to enjoyment, to health and drives food choice.

Both product-specific and consumer-specific factors influence the perception of texture, as fracture dominated properties transition to those dominated by rheology, and chewing action and efficiency alters the breakdown pathway of food materials.

This talk will present some of the current work related to food texture and oral processing and you might not look at chocolate the same way again.

Professor Bryony James, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, is a materials engineer who has strayed from the true path of metals, plastics and ceramics and now studies food.


She has developed an internationally recognised research programme in the structure and properties of food, particularly what goes on when we chew.


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Dr. Chris Bathurst, awarded his PhD in 1966 from the University of Canterbury, is coming to the University to present and discuss a process he has engineered for efficiently and economically producing Crude oil from waste organic products. The DIAGEN process can convert tyres, plastics, organic effluents and emissions into traditional crude oil. The aiming to energise a zero-emissions world. Providing for the operation of trucks, tractors, mobile machinery, aircraft, and cars. The technology promises to fit-the-gap so existing equipment and infrastructure, heavily reliant on fossil fuels, can be used in a more environmentally friendly manner, by utilising burdensome waste otherwise destined for landfill. After a commercial set-back due to the earthquake, the DIAGEN unit was relocated to a Sydenham factory where further development has continued to tune the process for more types of toxic organic compounds and waste. The DIAGEN team is now confident in the technology and are marketing industrial units internationally.


Come join us for a presentation on the process, it’s history and plans for the future. To be followed by discussion and debate.

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Climate secrets buried beneath the Southern Ocean

University of Otago staff, paleoceanographer, Dr Christina Riesselman, and paleoclimatologist, Dr. Chris Moy, are among 30 researchers currently in the Southern Ocean on board the JOIDES Resolution, a scientific drilling research ship, operated by the International Ocean Discovery Program.

The overarching aim of the research voyage is to figure out how ocean circulation behaved during earlier, and warmer, climates. They are focused on seven different locations in the central South Pacific Ocean and off the coast of southern Chile. During this two month voyage, scientists on board will use special technology to drill down and gather core samples from the seabed, in some cases through water more than five kilometres deep.

Join them for this ship-to-shore live stream, and hear first-hand about Expedition 383, DYNAPACC: Dynamic of Pacific Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

During this time, they’ll take you on a tour of the ship, starting outside with a view of the drill rig floor, then moving into the shipboard lab spaces. You‘ll see the team processing cores, hear about their latest discoveries, and learn more about ship life on board the JOIDES Resolution.

This event is in support of the Dare to be Wise exhibition currently open in the 1877 Gallery.


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Professor Eibe Frank

Machine learning has many applications in the real world, from medical diagnoses to detection of contaminants in soil samples. And now, researchers are investigating whether it can be used to protect New Zealand’s biosecurity.

Pest species are a particular threat to our unique biodiversity, but how do we identify what is a pest and what is a harmless member of the local fauna and flora? University of Waikato Professor of Computer Science Eibe Frank, together with Dr Varvara Vetrova at Canterbury University and Associate Professor Michael Cree at Waikato, is working on a program to help everyday Kiwis identify pest species using their smartphone.

Professor Frank will discuss some of the underlying machine learning technology at an upcoming public lecture on 16 July, drawing connections to work on statistical species identification that pre-dates the computer age. He will address how we can use machine learning to identify species automatically, by learning from photos that have been labelled by experts.

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Like some confused migratory bird, a NASA jumbo jet leaves its sunny home in the California desert every year to spend the winter in Christchurch. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a heavily-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft with a 2.5 metre telescope located inside the rear-half of the fuselage.


Join astronomer Stuart Ryder as he explains why making astronomical observations from 45000 feet is worth the effort, and experience what it's like to fly with NASA on board SOFIA.

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Lead by Ottilie Stolte this discussion will consider;

The mental health and stress levels of students are a significant concern, and there is increasing demand for on-campus health, counselling and support services. The current student mental health crisis is not an isolated phenomenon, and the situation raises a number of questions. Are the challenges of student-life primarily a matter of individual stress levels and coping skills? Are millennials less resilient than previous cohorts? Or, are there deeper questions we need to ask about the purpose, functioning and delivery of university education in the 21st century and the wider societal context? In this discussion series session, we will draw on the framework of the social determinants of health (WHO, 2008, 2012) and the notion of the precariat (Standing, 2011, 2014) to provide alternative ways of understanding and addressing the issues and challenges of student health and wellbeing today.


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From 5:15 PM for a 5:30 PM start.

Pascale Michel will present the principles behind the reforestation strategy of a 225ha predator-proof-fenced eco-sanctuary at the heart of Wellington City. ZEALANDIA (previously Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) is the head water of the Kaiwharawhara water catchment and was once covered by mature broadleaved-podocarp forest. Today the area is managed for the restoration of regionally endangered forest ecosystems.


Pascale Michel's biography:
I have a 20+ year experience in conversation biology. I started my working experience as a ranger in two Birds Australia’s nature reserves (Broome Bird Observatory-Western Australia and Gluepot Reserve-South Australia), before studying ecology at the University of Aberdeen-Scotland (MSc) and the University of Otago-New Zealand (PhD). Since, I have worked in research and nature conservation at Landcare Research Ltd, the University of Bergen (Norway) and currently ZEALANDIA eco-sanctuary. My research mostly focuses on plant and animal responses to environmental changes, and conservation/restoration management.

In English - Some French may occur!

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Cannabis is under the spotlight like never before. The Government introduced the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act last year to increase access to medicinal cannabis and in 2020 the country will vote at the election referendum on whether to legalise personal use. Before you make up your mind, learn what the experts know.

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In this seminar Deborah Woodley will provide a reflection on her first 5 months in her role as Deputy Director-General, Population Health and Prevention, and offer her thoughts on how the Ministry of Health should fulfil its role as kaitiaki of the public health sector. Deborah will use the challenge of Smokefree 2025 as a case study to elaborate on her points.

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In this three-hour session we will hear from a broad range of speakers about how kindness figures in economic and scientific thinking, research and practice. These presentations will serve as a springboard for discussion and reflection from attendees. We welcome participants from all disciplines.

Speakers

Invited guest: Alan Johnson, “There is a greater truth.”

As the American political philosopher has said, 'love matters for justice'. If we wish to build a fairer and more just Aotearoa we have to build institutions based on empathy, kindness and love. To do so we need to have a clear moral basis and a commanding narrative around what it means to be a New Zealander.

This paper will attempt to offer some ideas around how we might build these institutions and this narrative.

Author, analyst and activist, Alan Johnson was behind the Salvation Army’s State of the Nation reports, and currently works for the Ministry of the Environment.


Mike Webster, Faculty of Education and Social Work, “The challenge of housing affordability: Kindness to people and the environment?”

Chris Hipkins has observed that “too many of our kids are living in damp, squalid rentals” as a result of New Zealand’s affordable housing crisis. The increase in housing costs has occurred in the context of New Zealand’s endorsement of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit Declaration reversing the tendency to treat the environment as a “free good” by passing costs on to other parts of society or to future generations.

This presentation offers a brief analysis of the factors contributing to our affordable housing crisis, and asks: Can we be kind to the environment and simultaneously meet the human right of affordable housing?


Molly Mullen, Faculty of Education and Social Work, “The ‘community economies’ of arts in communities.”

From the perspective of The Community Economies Research Network (CERN): “Community economy names the ongoing process of negotiating our interdependence. It is the explicit, democratic co-creation of the diverse ways in which we collectively make our livings, receive our livings from others, and provide for others”.

In this presentation, Molly will briefly outline the ways in which this conception of community economy informs her research into community-based theatre and arts organisations and the ways in which they are funded, or otherwise resourced.


Dan Hikuroa, Faculty of Arts, and Kate Hannah, Te Pūnaha Matatini, “Kindness kanohi ki te kanohi – Kindness as practice”

Dan and Kate will introduce some of the thinking and approaches from the Kindness in Science Network, which is a diverse collective based in Aotearoa New Zealand with a focus on cultural changes in the science community to embed kindness as theory and practice. They’ll also both briefly explore how kindness-as-practice looks within their own research.

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