Science Media Centre

UPDATED: A snapshot of New Zealand’s science and innovation system has laid out where we are doing well and where there is room for improvement compared to other small advanced economies. The Science and Innovation System Performance Report was published yesterday by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and is intended to benchmark performance […]

Following the Kaikoura earthquake, calls have been made for a 24/7 hazard monitoring system. Professor Shaun Hendy, author of Silencing Science, wrote about why he supported the call. An excerpt (read in full): Do you remember those golden-weathered days when city-levelling earthquakes were things New Zealanders learnt about at school in history books? Six years after […]

A stoush over comments made about the health of the Waikato River shows more scientists need to be heard in public, writes Professor Shaun Hendy at The Spinoff. An excerpt (read in full): Traditionally Kiwis worry less about whether their experts are dead than whether they left a forwarding address before they moved to Australia. […]

At a conference in Hamilton this week I heard the most articulate argument yet as to why scientists should actively communicate their science via the media and directly to the public. One of the keynote speakers at the International Symposium on Transforming Public Engagement on Science & Technology was Professor Shaun Hendy, the University of […]

Last night in Wellington Prof Shaun Hendy launched his new book Get Off the Grass, co-authored with the late Sir Paul Callaghan. The book argues that the key to economic growth in New Zealand is developing innovative, high tech niche markets rather than relying on our primary industries. An excerpt (via New Zealand Herald): Prosperity […]

Prof Shaun Hendy (Victoria University of Wellington and Callaghan Innovation) looks at the relationship between city size and smarts in an article for Unlimited. An excerpt (read in full here): Sex, (ideas) and the city Where are you most likely to have a good idea? On the train to work in the morning, or during […]

The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes, which combine recognition and prize money of $1 million, have been presented in Wellington today. The PM’s Science Prize recognises a transformative science discovery or achievement which has led to an economic, health, social and/or environmental impact on New Zealand, or internationally. This year the prize, worth $500,000, has been […]

The Dominion Post‘s  Hawke’s bay reporter, Marty Sharp (winner of the the 2012 Cannon Media Award for the Reporter – Science and Environment  category) is in Gisborne covering the Transit of Venus Forum – Lifting Our Horizons. An excerpt (read in full here): Environmental problems ‘now business problems’ Environmental problems are now also business problems, […]

An open letter signed by 560 researchers is calling on the government to provide better funding to keep young scientists in New Zealand. In the letter, addressed to Wayne Mapp, Minister of Science and Innovation, the authors express concern over the lack of research money available to young scientists beginning their careers. They pointed out […]

Radio presenter Kim Hill will be hosting a panel discussion, to be held in Canterbury, in which nanotechnology experts will discuss what it is, what its benefits and downsides are, and whether New Zealand is set to be a net winner or loser. The experts on the panel are: Hans van der Voorn, Georgia Miller, […]