Horizons
T HE MAGA ZIN E O F TH E UN I VER SI TY OF WAI K ATO
TAMING
A TOXIC
CHEMICAL
Removing beryllium
from the environment
HEALTH
AND HIGH
PERFORMANCE
A multi-discipline approach
OLD METHODS
– NEW DATA
Preserving a keystone species
ISSUE 3: SUMMER 2016
Te Urukeiha Raharuhi is researching
something close to her heart – whānau.
With the help of an $85,000 Te Kotahi Research
Institute Scholarship, Te Urukeiha is working
closely with her whānau to gain insight into their
daily activity choices and better understand how
genealogy influences their wellbeing.
Te Kotahi is one of six University of Waikato
research institutes, each of which offer annual
scholarships worth close to $100,000.
Scholarship applications are now open. Visit
waikato.ac.nz/go/RIscholarships for more
information and to apply.
FROM THE
VICE-CHANCELLOR
17
T
his issue of Horizons continues our exploration of the
fascinating range and high quality of the research being
undertaken around the University of Waikato. From
the science of high performance sport to the development of
titanium products for industrial partners via work in health,
computing, and the translation of Alice in Wonderland into
te reo Māori, Horizons provides you with a summary of the
global reach and impact of our research.
what’s inside
Health and high performance
2-5
Technology for a safer workplace
Titanium Man
6
8-9
Devices in the classroom
10
Enhancing Māori wellbeing
12
Surf-break research in the pipeline
13
Taming a toxic metal
16
Shedding light on predators
17
More than a helping hand
19
GETTING IN TOUCH
If you are interested in working with the University of Waikato,
go to waikato.ac.nz/research, or email [email protected]
ISSN 2423-0545 (print)
ISSN 2423-0553 (online)
SUSTAINABILITY
This publication has been printed with vegetable-based inks
and environmentally responsible papers, supporting the growth
of responsible forest management worldwide. This document
is printed throughout on Impress Satin, which is FSC certified
and from responsible sources, manufactured under ISO14001
Environmental Management Systems. The University of Waikato
is committed to reducing its environmental footprint.
Key to our success is a very high level of engagement with
the application of academic knowledge to the solution of
practical, real-world problems. Our approach is exemplified
by the recent conference on the health of female athletes,
and by our work with elite athletes in cycling at the
Avantidrome in Cambridge, in the Chiefs rugby franchise and
at the Trust Waikato Hamilton netball centre. The University
has identified sport science as a growth area, with high levels
of student interest, numerous opportunities to undertake
applied research, and the opportunity to expand our work
with elite athletes through a new high performance sports
centre in Tauranga.
Other articles cover our research in titanium, ecology,
in this case kōura in the central North Island lakes and
toheroa, the effectiveness of predator-proof fences, and
research applications in computer science and uses of digital
technology in the classroom. The wide range of research
relevant to Māori is profiled through our work in Māori
health, in Māori perspectives on maternity and childbirth,
and in translation. In many cases, a key component in the
research effort involves working with external partners
on identifying interesting problems. That approach is also
reflected in the experience of our students, with almost
20% of our undergraduate students having some workplace
experience as part of the degree, and a very high proportion
of our Masters and PhD students following the lead of their
supervisors in engaging with organisations and problems
outside the University.
You will note the email address of our Research Office team
who manage enquiries from potential research partners. The
question “[Are you] Interested in working with Waikato?” is
a genuine invitation to engage with us and become part our
research agenda. While I am Vice-Chancellor, we will remain
committed to the highest levels of external engagement and
to quality research that has a real impact. We look forward
to your support in advancing this mission, and continuing
to build our national and international profile as one of the
great applied research universities.
PROFESSOR NEIL QUIGLEY
Summer 2016 1
horizons – research with impact
Health and high
Performance
Joe McQuillan and Associate Professor Holly Thorpe
2
University of Waikato
In September 2015 an international symposium organised and hosted
by the University of Waikato brought together experts in female athlete
health. It attracted almost 200 exercise scientists and researchers, including
sociologists, biologists, physiologists and psychologists plus health
professionals, clinicians, trainers, educators and coaches who work with
female athletes, parents, and the athletes themselves.
It was a world-first, bringing together
experts in a variety of disciplines
to discuss what’s called the female
athlete triad – bone health, nutrition
and disordered eating practices, and
amenorrhea (absence of menstruation
as a response to hormonal changes from
excessive exercise and/or a restricted diet).
experienced through my career but never
had the science to back it up,” she says.
Sociologist Associate Professor Holly
Thorpe was one of the symposium
organisers. She says these health issues
are crossing over to women who aren’t at
elite level, but doing a lot of exercise as
they try to stay thin, fit and healthy.
Dr Thorpe says the coach-athlete
relationship is all-important if a female
athlete is to retain good health.
“I think we sometimes forget that athletes
are not machines and for the female
athlete, they can be exposed to a unique
set of risks if they’re not aware of the
importance of good nutrition to fuel
their exercise, or if they develop body
image issues. Sportswomen are very
committed to their training and shortterm performance goals and some may
not have a long-term perspective on their
health and wellbeing. So it’s important
that those working with sportswomen
are aware of the signs and symptoms and
know how to support them properly.”
The symposium was held at the
Avantidrome in Cambridge. International
speakers came from Penn State University
where there’s a women’s exercise and
health lab. Professor Mary Jane De Souza
said the event was the “first in the world”
to focus solely on these important issues,
and was “particularly unique for its
interdisciplinary approach”.
Olympian Sonia Waddell says she felt
she was joining the dots with her own
career. “Listening to some of the speakers
and their research explained things I had
“One of the most poignant moments for
me, was after my speech, the number of
teenage girls who wanted to talk and ask
questions. Young athletes are the hardest
to reach, but the most in need.”
“Open and honest communication about
body image, health and performance is
very imporant. But I think there is often
too much focus on the technical and
tactical aspects of athletes’ performances.
“We need to work with athletes to make
sure they develop a positive relationship
with their bodies and develop a more
long-term perspective on their health.”
“Too often we’re correlating
health with slimness, and
that’s such a simplified view”
She says this involves a more social and
psychological focus on their sporting
experiences, and a team approach is
needed to develop a holistic support
network for elite and emerging
sportswomen.
“The situation isn’t helped by the constant
messaging that we have an obesity
crisis, and mixed messages about what is
healthy. Too often we’re correlating health
with slimness, and that’s such a simplified
view,” says Dr Thorpe.
Waikato University lecturer and Sports
Science Lab manager Joe McQuillan
is based at the Avantidrome and has
made the female athlete triad his recent
research focus. “We’re using state-of-theart equipment in the University’s Sports
Science lab to assess athletes’ resting
metabolic rates [RMR].”
Mr McQuillan recently led a pilot project
with High Performance Sport New
Zealand’s (HPSNZ) medical and nutrition
staff to determine individual athletes’
RMR profiles in an attempt to establish a
relationship between RMR and key triad
health markers.
“The RMR assessment is a reliable, noninvasive and time-efficient assessment
involving the measurement of a person’s
breathing at rest over a 15-minute period,
a bit like measuring the amount of
exhaust your car produces when it’s idling.
Essentially it’s telling us how much energy
the body is using at rest.”
Mr McQuillan says for most of us, RMR
is the biggest contributor to daily energy
expenditure. In elite athletes, exercise
tends to be the biggest contributor to
daily energy expenditure.
Over a couple of weeks, Mr McQuillan
assessed the RMR of a group of female
athletes to identify what factors, if any,
correlate with the triad.
“Age, gender and muscle mass can have
an impact on RMR so we used these
measures to predict an individual’s
RMR and then correlate this with their
actual measured RMR. We found a 100%
correlation with lowered RMR in relation
to their predicted and incidences of
chronic female athlete triad (greater
than three months loss of menstruation),
Summer 2016 3
horizons – research with impact
indicating we were on the right track with
this measurement technique.”
Mr McQuillan says using RMR appears
to be more accurate than other forms of
measurement. “And regular RMR testing
can assist with tracking change and
gives us the ability to adjust treatment
strategies as required.”
These strategies include an increased
energy intake and/or reduced exercise
component, however Mr McQuillan
emphasises that RMR measurement is just
one piece of a very complex puzzle which
requires a cross-disciplinary approach to
solving it.
As a result of his research, Mr McQuillan,
along with HPSNZ nutrition and medical
staff, recommended to HPSNZ that
those athletes already identified with the
triad have their RMR assessed every six
months. “Borderline athletes should have
assessments before departing for overseas
competition and all elite athletes on a
high performance programme complete a
comprehensive education, prevention and
management strategy,” Mr McQuillan says.
Not only did the Waikato symposium
focus on the health needs of elite
sportswomen, Dr Thorpe says it also
covered issues facing younger female
athletes, and everyday exercising women.
“But these issues are very complex and
they require an interdisciplinary approach
to understanding and responding to such
health concerns facing more and more
New Zealand girls and women.”
Dr Thorpe, a recent recipient of a Marsden
Fast-Start grant (see page 14), is also the
co-founder of an educational website, Fuel
Aotearoa, which helps athletes, coaches,
parents and recreational athletes and
exercisers understand health issues, and
know where to get the support they need.
“The 2015 symposium was just the
starting point for improving the health of
female athletes,” she says. “We still have
a long way to go. The aim is to create
a research network in New Zealand,
housed at the University of Waikato.
This network will be world-leading in its
interdisciplinary focus.”
4
University of Waikato
Booting into recovery
Inflatable recovery boots have been
used in the medical sector but their
effectiveness in sports is largely anecdotal.
In an effort to get more hard data on
the boots, University of Waikato Masters
student Ryan Overmayer is working with
a group of up to 30 cyclists, using the
recovery boots in the period between two
events in the Omnium, a multi-disciplinary
cycling event that takes place at track
cycling competitions and the Olympic
Games. The Omnium features six separate
events, and Ryan’s study will attempt
to follow the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
schedule to simulate two of these events.
The two events in the study include a
scratch race of about 20 minutes and an
individual pursuit of four minutes. Cyclists
wear the boots during the 30-minute
period between the two races. The boots
inflate in four sections from the foot up
and increase the removal of metabolic
waste from muscles and enhance blood
circulation following exercise.
“My aim is to see whether the boots
provide any benefits for the athletes,” says
Ryan. “If the boots successfully enhance
recovery, then it would indicate that
athletes competing in the Omnium at
the 2016 Rio Olympics should consider
wearing the boots between events.
“We believe the boots will increase
blood-flow thereby lessening the degree
to which an athlete would experience a
drop-off in performance,” he says. “We
hope athletes will perform better with
the use of the boots as part of their
recovery programme.”
Working with the Chiefs
The Chiefs rugby franchise and the
University of Waikato are working
together to enhance player performance
and increase the body of knowledge
around the intensity of playing the game
in the professional era.
The franchise is supporting two new
PhDs. Francisco Tavares from Portugal is
studying player recovery, including the
use of recovery boots, while Sebastian
Sherwood from the UK is researching onfield decision making.
Co-ordinator of the Chiefs’ knowledge and
innovation committee is Dr Brett Smith
from the University of Waikato who says
the two doctoral students are embedded
with the team. “That way they can work
alongside the coaches and ensure what
they’re researching has relevance and is
beneficial to the players and team as a
whole,” he says.
“Players are known to suffer from speedchaos fatigue on the field, which can
affect decision-making. Basically there’s a
moving picture in front of them, and each
week the picture changes as the players
come up against a different side. Players
are constantly trying to out-think each
other and make match-winning decisions.
We want to find ways for players to
better deal with new and fast-changing
on-field situations.”
It’s early days, but Chiefs manager
Stu Williams says the two students
are already proving valuable. “For us
it’s a good investment. They’ve settled
in quickly and are already having an
impact. We’ve had a lot of new players
join the squad and the students are able
to provide input on the spot, as well as
providing feedback to the coaching staff.”
The University of Waikato also provides
its undergraduate sport and leisure
students opportunities to work with the
Chiefs on summer internships for special
research projects.
Eminently suitable for every girl?
Waikato University doctoral student
Amy Marfell, under the supervision of Dr
Thorpe, has been taking a look at New
Zealander’s approach to netball.
In the 1920s, netball was promoted as ‘the
game eminently suitable for every girl’ and
it’s still viewed as very much a feminine
sport today. Amy was keen to explore the
feminine nature of netball in New Zealand
and to know if netball was in fact as
inclusive as this slogan claims it to be.
She joined a local club and started playing
the game after a break of seven years; she
observed, she analysed media depictions
of the sport and its players, and she
interviewed female recreational netballers
with varying backgrounds and abilities.
Media advertising and sponsorship
certainly reproduces the ideal, she says,
and women’s lifestyle magazines often
use glamourizing and even sexualizing
images of players, often with references to
their male partners or children.
Amy says despite loving the game, one
of her aims was to disrupt the uncritical
normalisation of it. “I wanted to explore
the opportunities as well as the challenges
netball presents to New Zealand women.
I was interested to explore lesbian
and pregnant players’ experiences of
participating in a space that prioritises a
particularly narrow feminine, heterosexual
athletic ideal, whether these players were
accepted or felt that they belong.”
Amy found that netball could be an
exclusionary space for lesbian women,
and that although Netball New Zealand
allows pregnant women to participate,
they often experienced significant social
backlash, dirty looks, and comments
about their condition if they chose to
continue playing.
Amy has had conversations with Netball
New Zealand about her research and
findings, particularly about how they
might be useful for developing netball
at the community level. She’s currently
working at the Trust Waikato Hamilton
City Netball Centre as their performance
co-ordinator, a position she says allows
her to share her knowledge of netball
and women’s experiences of this sport
with the aim of growing and sustaining
the game.
Interested in Working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Summer 2016 5
horizons – research with impact
Technology for a
safer workplace
F
orestry is known to be a dangerous
occupation but computer scientists
Dr Judy Bowen and Dr Annika Hinze
from the University of Waikato are
devising a way to keep forestry workers
safer on the job.
machinery for long periods of time,”
says Chris. “You can’t function properly
when you’re that cold. The impact of an
impaired reaction time can make all the
difference between a near miss and an
accident.”
To do that, they needed to know what
influences the performance of workers
and leads to their environment being
less safe.
But all participants indicated that
they felt the impact of working in a
hot environment more than a cold
environment, and so Chris was asked
by PF Olsen, a leading supplier of
independent forestry services, to return
to the forest this summer to monitor the
workers in hot weather.
They couldn’t give people video cameras
to carry around as they worked, nor could
they monitor one or two people if they
were to get accurate information, so
they fitted workers with activity trackers
and three times a day Tauranga-based
Master’s student, Chris Griffiths, joined
workers in the forest out the back of
Te Puke to collect data, measuring such
things as response times to different tasks,
heart rates in different situations, and how
temperature affected performance.
“There are times on winter mornings
that machine operators are literally
shaking because they’re so cold. They
are sometimes working in unheated cabs
and sitting in one place while operating
6
University of Waikato
“It is not uncommon for crew members
to hit step rates in excess of 15,000 steps
a day; in fact the largest recorded step
rate was over 40,000 that’s in excess of
30 kilometres,” Chris says.
Dr Hinze says they are now analysing
the data they’ve so far collected and are
looking for patterns.
“What we collect is too much for humans
to analyse, measure and detect the many
inter-relationships that we need to devise
programmes, but once we can see patterns
forming, we can develop a measuring
device or app that can be worn to alert
workers when warning signs appear –
what we call a technological intervention.”
Whatever the computer scientists devise,
it will have to be wearable, perhaps fitting
in a hard hat, or built into safety clothing.
The researchers say that they’ve had
fantastic support from everyone involved
in the industry. Not just health and safety
people, but PF Olsen in the first instance,
and others who work in the industry at all
levels – owners and contractors, and the
workers themselves. They have also used
earlier research by Dr Richard Parker from
Scion, which helped them determine how
and what best to measure.
Dr Bowen says there is big money being
spent on machinery that will one day
make the industry less labour intensive,
but that is still a long way off. “Right now
it’s a low-paid industry, with high staff
turnover, and it can be dangerous work.
We believe our research and what we
devise will make a real difference to the
safety of forestry works, so it’s important
we get it done.”
Old
methods
New
Data
Dr Ian Kusabs
O
ld fishing methods are providing
the raw data that modern
techniques can’t match in the
Rotorua Lakes.
University of Waikato alumnus Dr Ian
Kusabs is a fisheries adviser to Te Arawa
and Ngāti Tuwharetoa and is researching
the state of kōura (freshwater crayfish) in
the central North Island lakes.
He is examining the catch rates and plans
to use the data to develop a sustainable
management plan for the delicacy that is
currently restricted to 50 per person per
day and commercial sales are banned.
Dr Kusabs says kōura are a “keystone”
species, crucial to the health of the
ecosystem.
In 2006 the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement
Act allowed Te Arawa to manage the
fishery and Dr Kusabs says as they
looked to develop regulations and
management plans, found they needed
more detailed information.
“We needed to develop suitable
monitoring methods,” Dr Kusabs
says. “We tried spot-lighting, scuba,
underwater cameras and baited traps but
they all had problems.”
Traps had a low catch rate, caught
mainly larger specimens and mostly the
more aggressive males. They were also
susceptible to theft and needed to be
retrieved early each day. Scuba, spotlighting and underwater cameras also had
issues with things such as murky water or
being weather dependent.
Local kaumatua suggested using
traditional methods of catching kōura.
That included tau kōura, which are - in
effect - bundles of fern that sit on the
lake bed.The kōura move into the fern
fronds, which provide habitat for them.
When the bundles are removed from the
lake, a net is placed below it to ensure
kōura don’t escape.
Dr Kusabs says the tau kōura they worked
with delivered outstanding results. “We
got a wide size range – from 7mm to
50mm OCL (Orbit Carapace Length) –
an unbiased sex ratio, a good catch rate,
it is cheap to set up, it can be retrieved
whenever, it’s sustainable and actually
enhances the fishery.” Orbit Carapace
Length refers to the measurement of
koura, which is from behind the eyes to
the end of the carapace.
Dr Kusabs says to have a sustainable and
regulated market, researchers still need
more information about the state of the
kōura fishery to help develop rules for
the fishery.
Proposed regulations include tau kōura
being the only allowable means of
deep water harvest, a continued ban on
commercial sales, retaining the 50 per day
limit with a 28mm minimum OCL size,
restricting the harvest to December 1 to
March 31 to avoid breeding season, and
banning the taking of females with eggs.
Dr Kusabs used tau kōura on eight
Rotorua lakes and found three – Rotorua,
Rotoma and Rotoiti – had kōura in large
enough numbers to consider harvesting.
Further work will be carried out on the
other seven lakes in the region.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Summer 2016 7
horizons – research with impact
Titanium Man
Leandro Bolzoni
8
University of Waikato
Titanium isn’t exactly in Dr Leandro Bolzoni’s
blood, but he does spend a lot of time
thinking about it.
D
r Bolzoni joined the University of
Waikato’s School of Engineering
from the UK as a senior lecturer
in July 2015 to work in the titanium
programme. His work is a continuation
of the University’s development and
commercialisation of titanium-based
products obtained via thermomechanical
processes of powder metallurgy
components. The University has been
working with titanium since the late 1990s
when a first attempt at titanium metal
powder synthesis using aluminium metal
to reduce titanium dioxides was done.
Dr Bolzoni says he enjoys contributing to
this research project because the focus is
in both the study of purely fundamental
scientific aspects and the development of
commercial products in collaboration with
industry on the base of the analysis of the
scientific work performed.
“Eventually, we would like to have a
positive contribution to the growth of
New Zealand’s industrial sector as well as
a positive impact on the environment via
the implementation of our research. I find
titanium, and in particular its metallurgy,
interesting because it is both innovative
and challenging.”
He says compared to other metals such
as steel, titanium is a relatively new
industrial metal, and is characterised by
many peculiarities such as high reactivity
with atmospheric gases.
Dr Bolzoni earned a Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical Engineering and Master
of Science in Materials Engineering at
the Polytechnic of Turin in Italy, where
he is originally from. In 2006 he moved
to Spain to study at the Universidad
Carlos III de Madrid where he received a
Master of Science in Materials Science
and Engineering. In 2007 Dr Bolzoni was
awarded a competitive grant from the
Spanish Ministry of Education and started
to focus on his doctorate in which he
established collaborations with worldwide renowned research centres: Austrian
Research Centre (Austria), Waikato Centre
Advanced for Materials (New Zealand)
and Fraunhofer IFAM-Dresden (Germany).
“...we would like to have a
positive contribution to the
growth of New Zealand’s
industrial sector”
In 2011, Dr Bolzoni was awarded his
Doctorate in Materials Science and
Engineering for the PhD thesis titled
“Development and Processing of Titanium
Based Alloys Produced by Advanced
Powder Metallurgy Techniques”. Dr Bolzoni
spent the last three years at Brunel
University London in the United Kingdom
working on the development of efficient
and reliable grain refiners for Al-Si alloys.
Now at Waikato, he says his interest is
in teaching and sharing his knowledge
about the fabrication, processing,
thermochemical treatments and
properties of metals, and in particular of
light metals such as titanium, which is
currently considered a strategic material.
In 2014, the Titanium Technologies
New Zealand (TiTENZ) platform was
established, awarded $14.5 million over
a six-year period from the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment’s
science research funding. TiTENZ is a
world-leader in the development of
titanium powder metallurgy. Compared
with machining products from a solid
piece of titanium, using powder cuts
waste significantly.
This titanium research, led by Professor
Ian Brown from Callaghan Innovation
as science leader, in conjunction with
Waikato University research team project
leader Dr Bolzoni, is being undertaken by
leading applied materials research groups
at the University of Waikato, Auckland
University, GNS Science, Callaghan
Innovation and the Titanium Industry
Development Association (TiDA).
As each TiTENZ partner has a different
research topic, Waikato University’s
investigation is into developing new
high-strength, low-weight, high-durability
materials and products for export by
designing and transferring to industry new
processes to optimise the properties of
titanium-based materials.
The titanium and titanium alloy products
are being developed with industrial
partners including South Auckland
Forgings Engineering (SAFE).
Dr Bolzoni’s team is currently working
on two items: the development of
components for the breathing apparatus
of a deep-sea diving helmet, and a
deep-sea diving knife, both of which have
traditionally been made from heavier
stainless steel.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Summer 2016 9
horizons – research with impact
Leamington Primary School pupils in a BYOD classroom
Devices in the classroom
B
YOD – Bring Your Own Device – is
fast becoming commonplace in New
Zealand schools but knowing how
iPads in the classroom impact learning has
not been widely researched.
students learn important knowledge
concepts. We’re also finding out what
learning apps encourage new ideas and
creative thinking, and which apps are less
successful.”
Associate Professor Garry Falloon from
the University of Waikato is running a
TLRI-funded study to see how devices
such as iPads might be used to support
learning and facilitate children’s
thinking skills.
In a literacy module, for example, Dr
Falloon found that well-designed apps,
where children were able to manipulate
letters and sounds themselves using
the touch interface and then hear the
results, could effectively support phonics’
skill development. The more ‘gamey’
applications didn’t work so well.
He’s been working with Leamington
Primary School in Cambridge since 2011
with children as young as 5 and 6, tracing
how students use devices for learning
across the curriculum with an emphasis
on thinking and problem-solving skill
development.
He says what seems to work best is a
blend of more traditional, very active
classroom teaching, learning-task designs
where students need to engage higher
order thinking skills, and ‘hands-on’
scenario and problem-based learning,
supported by apps of various designs.
“Our goal is to discover effective blends
of curriculum and learning-task design,
teacher pedagogy and technology use,
to promote thinking skills and help
10
University of Waikato
Working with a group of 9- and 10-yearolds on a chemistry and energy topic,
Dr Falloon found apps blended well with
in-class hands-on experiments. “The
app could give instructions and provide
demonstrations, but the students still had
to do the science, for example looking at
static electricity, transmission of sound,
burning and basic chemical reactions.
They could then compare the recorded
outcomes of their own experiments with
results on the apps.”
Dr Falloon says the biggest challenge has
been collecting data because iPads are
portable, and students working in open
learning spaces can take their devices
anywhere while they work, including
outside. “We had to do a bit of ‘unlocking’
which sounds worse than it is, but with
the aid of a game developer in Sweden
and some help from the IT specialists at
the Faculty of Education, we were able
to find a way to collect display data and
store it on the iPad itself, and then get it
off each device when the students had
finished their work.”
He says as an academic he has gathered
“beautiful data” about how students
work collaboratively with the devices
on their tasks, both with and without
teacher input.
Dr Falloon believes new digital tools offer
considerable potential to reveal new
insights about how students work with
mobile devices across different places
and spaces.
“We’re being forced to rethink what
constitutes a learning environment, and
we must be innovative when thinking
about how to best research in learning
environments not defined by physical
space or time,” he says.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Tracking the thermal history
of old rocks
Having recently completed the research
programme aimed at developing a
new paleogeographic model of New
Zealand’s development over the past
65 million years, which is now being
used by hydrocarbon exploration
companies, Professor Kamp is moving
on to the next major unknown: the
character and origin of sedimentary
basins that formed during the Late
Cretaceous Period (100-65 Ma).
“The geological evidence to work with
is fragmentary because of subsequent
deformation and the degree of burial
by younger sediments,” he says.
Professor Peter Kamp
Shaping up the
North island
U
niversity of Waikato earth
scientists have developed a
new understanding about the
geographic evolution of New Zealand
during the past 65 million years.
“When we talk about past geography
we use the term paleogeography,” says
Professor Peter Kamp, who leads a team
that recently completed a six-year research
programme funded by the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment.
The work was done to inform hydrocarbon
exploration companies about the large
scale development of New Zealand to
enable them to better predict parts of
sedimentary basins where the elements of
petroleum systems have come together
in the right sequence, and Professor Kamp
says the research has provided numerous
new insights.
“One of those insights surrounds the
evidence and timing by which central
North Island has been uplifted above sea
level. The Taranaki Peninsula, the King
Country region and Hawke’s Bay were
submerged below sea level until about
four million years ago, evidenced by
the widespread distribution of marine
sediments in those regions in which the
current landscapes are formed.”
Professor Kamp says starting around
four million years ago, the central North
Island started to dome upwards forming
a land surface from which up to 3km of
marine sediments have subsequently
been eroded, reducing to zero 10 to 20km
seaward of the present coastlines on both
sides of the islands. “As the doming has
a long wavelength – the 400km width of
the North Island – its origin lies below the
base of Earth’s crust due to upwelling of
upper mantle heat.
“Doming of central North Island preceded
the start two million years ago of
extensional faulting and volcanism that
now characterises the Taupo Volcanic
Zone,” Professor Kamp says.
“The aim is to develop a tectonic
model or framework to explain the
development of sedimentary basins
during the Late Cretaceous to assist
exploration companies to find oil and
gas prospects.
“We broadly know that this period
involves the end of a long phase of
subduction and the start of crustal
extension that led to the separation
of the New Zealand subcontinent
from Australia and Antarctica,”
Professor Kamp says.
The research team will use a range of
radioactive dating methods applied to
apatite and zircon to track the thermal
history of rock sequences and this
will unlock the vertical movement of
blocks of crust and the redistribution of
sediments. This research programme is
being funded by a new MBIE research
contract of $2.5 million.
The occurrence of doming also impacted
the accumulation of natural gas resources
in the Pohokura Gas Field in North
Taranaki Bight. This field is located on the
western margin of the dome and tilting
by 2-3 degrees of the reservoir beds
caused migration of gas into the current
reservoir structure.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Summer 2016 11
horizons – research with impact
Enhancing
MAori
wellbeing
Associate Professor Leonie Pihama
A
senior Māori academic and health
researcher at the University of
Waikato has been awarded one of
two inaugural Ngā Pou Senior Fellowships
worth $300,000 from the Health Research
Council of New Zealand (HRC).
Associate Professor Leonie Pihama (Te
Ātiawa, Ngā Māhanga a Tairi, Ngāti
Māhanga) is Director of Te Kotahi
Research Institute at the University of
Waikato and has more than 20 years’
experience in Māori health research.
Committee, and I’m honoured to receive
this award from them,” Dr Pihama says.
“The research component ‘He Kare a
Roto’ is a scoping project exploring the
development of a cultural framework
which will inform Māori health providers
working in the area of family violence
prevention and intervention and work
alongside a range of Māori healers,
providers and counsellors.”
The three-year project will enable
her to develop a cultural framework
for understanding emotions from a
Māori perspective.
The Ngā Pou Senior Fellowship is a
new HRC award developed to advance
the work of mid-career to senior level
researchers with a proven track record and
prominent level of leadership in an area of
Māori health.
Dr Pihama says the Ngā Pou fellowship
provides an opportunity for Te Kotahi
Research Institute to support Māori health
research alongside hapu, iwi and Māori
organisations, which is a key part of the
fellowship focus.
The other award went to Dr Mihi Ratima
(Whakatōhea, Ngāti Awa) from Te Pou
Tiringa Incorporated in New Plymouth.
Dr Ratima’s research includes two
programmes that are focused on improving
health outcomes for Māori children.
“The Health Research Council is one
of the few organisations that ensures
they make a meaningful contribution to
Māori research, through the Māori Health
Jaylene Wehipeihana, Acting Group
Manager, Māori Health Research, HRC
says both researchers have clearly
demonstrated a commitment to kaupapa
12
University of Waikato
Māori and its important contribution to
the health and well-being of whānau,
hapū, and iwi. “Their programmes will
build a knowledge base that will have a
significant influence on health and social
service delivery to Māori,” she says.
Dr Pihama is also the 2015 recipient
of the New Zealand Association for
Research Education’s Te Tohu Pae Tawhiti
Award. It recognises researchers who have
made a significant contribution to Māori
education by conducting high quality
research over an extended period of time.
Dr Pihama principally works at the
intersection of education, Māori
immersion education, health and
whānau wellbeing. In 2012 she received
a $520,000 grant from Ngā Pae o
te Māramatanga to lead a study of
traditional Māori child rearing and
how it might be applied in a
contemporary environment.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Associate Professor Karin Bryan
Surf-break research
In the pipeline
N
ew Zealanders are known for their
passion for surfing, and tourists
come from all over the world to
visit our beautiful surfing breaks.
However, breaks can be threatened by
coastal activities such as dredging and
marina development. How? The problem
is that, although we have anecdotal
evidence, we don’t really know.
Associate Professor Karin Bryan from
Earth Sciences at the University of
Waikato is leading a consortium that
will carry out a three-year study of
seven popular New Zealand surf breaks.
Researchers will collect baseline data,
including wind and wave conditions and
underwater topography, and use this to
assess changes in “surfability”. This will
provide a baseline against which to assess
any changes caused by human activity.
Results will support the 2010 New Zealand
Coastal Policy Statement, which said that
coastal management should allow for
the protection of surf breaks deemed “of
national significance”, and their data will
be used to create a detailed description
of how the surfbreaks work from both
a physical and scientific viewpoint. The
breaks to be studied include Piha Beach
near Auckland, Manu Bay at Raglan, “The
Bar” at Whangamata, “Pines” at Gisborne’s
Wainui Beach, Lyall Bay in Wellington, and
Aramoana and Whareakeake, also known
as Murdering Bay, near Dunedin.
Dr Bryan says these breaks were selected
because they represent a range of break
types, and are either world-famous or
important to their local communities as a
recreational resource.
Research funding of $1.206 million was
awarded by the Ministry of Business
Innovation and Employment and partners
in the project with Waikato University are
the marine and freshwater consultancy
eCoast and Hume Consulting Ltd.
PhD candidate Ed Atkin says New
Zealand is the only country in the
world to recognise in legislation the
importance of surf breaks as important
social and economic resources that
should be protected.
“Yet there is essentially no baseline
quantitative information on which to
base any management decisions. This
project will change that and serve as a
model for others to follow in terms of surf
break protection and the protection of
recreational resources in general,” Ed says.
This research will help community members
and decision-makers to be better informed
about what is really important with regards
to how surf breaks work and serve as a
knowledge base and provide guidelines to
help managers with the challenging task
of sustaining other “famous” New Zealand
breaks into the future.
Other surfbreaks described as being of
national significance in the National
Policy Statement include “Peaks” in
Northland, “Whale Bay” and “Indicators”
at Raglan, “Waiwhakaiho” and “Stent
Road” in Taranaki, Makorori Point and “The
Island” in Gisborne, “Mangamaunu” and
“Meatworks” in Kaikoura, and “The Spit”,
Karitane and Papatowai in Otago.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Summer 2016 13
Marsden Fund grants
The effects of action sports in danger zones
I
n war and disaster, children and youth
are some of the most at-risk, but they
are also some of the most innovative
at finding ways to handle new and
unplanned situations.
With the support of a Marsden Fast-Start
grant, University of Waikato sociologist
Associate Professor Holly Thorpe will
be studying youth and social change
in spaces of war and disaster and how
youth engagement with informal sports
improves their own and others’ health and
wellbeing.
Other case studies will be Afghan
children and youths’ engagement with
skateboarding; post-Katrina
New Orleans; and a grassroots,
technologically savvy parkour group
in Gaza who find that running and
jumping from broken buildings and
training with their friends is important
for their everyday coping strategies.
“They have used the internet, cheap
mobile phones, and social media for their
parkour practices and for broader political
purposes,” says Dr Thorpe.
The research will examine the action
sport enthusiasts’ individual and collective
struggles, strategies, and ambitions in
particular contexts, and how broader
social forces influence each initiative.
One case study will be post-earthquake
Christchurch. Early research suggests
people who were involved in action
sports such as skateboarding, surfing,
mountain biking and climbing pre-quake,
had to find new ways to participate in the
sports they love and in so doing helped
rebuild networks and community, and
facilitated their resilience and coping
during the long process of rebuilding.
Research funding to assist deep learning
A
ssociate Professor Eibe Frank
is a computer scientist who
has been awarded a Marsden
grant of $410,000 to find ways to
make so-called “deep” learning more
accessible for mainstream use. Deep
learning refers to the way computers can
learn to recognise complex patterns by
implementing sophisticated algorithms
that manipulate large networks of
artificial neurons, arranged in multiple
layers, and feeding them with big
quantities of annotated data.
easy to use and efficient to train, but
don’t perform so well on the problems
where deep learning excels. “So what
if the benefits of deep learning can be
combined with the quick and easy treebased algorithms?” says Dr Frank.
Deep learning has proved highly accurate
for recognising spoken words, classifying
visual information, or recommending
products. “Some of the world’s largest
technology companies, such as Amazon,
Facebook, Google and IBM, are keen to
apply deep learning to their businesses,
but it takes a huge amount of time
and expertise to train deep networks
successfully,” Dr Frank says.
He and his associate investigator
Professor Bernhard Pfahringer from the
University of Waikato will develop fast
algorithms that extract complex patterns
with the help of tree-based models.
In contrast, machine learning algorithms
that employ a tree-based approach are
14
University of Waikato
These algorithms will be made publicly
available as easy-to-use features of the
tool WEKA, the Waikato Environment for
Knowledge Analysis, open-source software
developed at the University of Waikato
and used worldwide by researchers,
industrial scientists and teachers.
Scientist investigates a toheroa mystery
M
Moana, Dr Ross will combine archaeology
and molecular ecology with mātauranga
Māori. “By examining Māori oral histories
alongside archaeological records and
toheroa population genetics, we will be
able to gain a better understanding of the
extent to which early Māori manipulated
their marine environment,” Dr Ross says.
arine scientist Dr Phil Ross has
received a Marsden Fund Fast-Start
grant of $300,000 to investigate
the historical translocation of toheroa, a
traditional shellfish food resource.
The Tauranga-based researcher says
early Māori were prolific users of aquatic
resources and were also adept at food
cultivation and translocation. After
settling New Zealand, Māori domesticated
and translocated numerous endemic
species, says Dr Ross.
“Many cultures have managed their
ecological resources for hundreds, if not
thousands of years. But management
of natural resources might explain an
anomaly in the genetics of New Zealand
toheroa, which seems to indicate that
toheroa were translocated at some point
in their past.”
Initial data suggests that the toheroa of
southern New Zealand may be historically
derived from northern populations
Working with associate investigators Dr
Bruce McFadgen from Victoria University
and Dr Huhana Smith from Manaaki Taha
Toheroa were an important food resource
for Māori until their commercialisation
and increased popularity as a recreational
harvest saw the fisheries collapse in the
1960s and 70s. Despite the fishery being
closed more than 40 years ago, toheroa
have failed to recover, the reasons for
which remain unknown.
A number of relevant Māori groups in
toheroa regions (Northland, KapitiHorowhenua and Southland) will be
participating in the study.
Working to improve time-of-flight photography
D
r Lee Streeter, an electronic
engineer and teaching fellow at
Waikato University, is searching
for ways to improve and even measure
motion in time-of-flight photography.
He’s been awarded a $300,000 Marsden
Fast Start grant to assist his research.
“These cameras are used in gaming (such
as Xbox One) and more sophisticated
cameras are used at industrial level,
important to show extra depth of
information, telling us what things look
like and where they are. They provide
important information about the shape
of objects. We can see how big, how far
away they are, and how flat or how round
the sides are,” Dr Streeter says.
Time-of-flight cameras have been
designed to measure the distance within
static scenes but can’t interpret scenes
with complicated motion.
“So I’m going to try to re-engineer a
new camera concept that will transform
complex motion from a source of error to
an essential feature – trying to measure
distance despite motion, and measure
the speed and direction of motion.”
Dr Streeter will be drawing on existing
technologies and combining them with
some ideas of his own.
“I’m well aware what I’m setting out to do
is a lofty goal but this Marsden grant gives
me time to think really deeply about this
problem, to pull in ideas from other fields
and to come up with new ones.”
His associate investigator on the project
is Dr Gordon Wetzstein at Stanford
University in the USA.
Summer 2016 15
horizons – research with impact
Taming a
toxic metal
Onyekachi Raymond
B
eryllium is an indispensable but
toxic metal vital in hi-tech devices
such as aircraft components,
smartphones and other consumer
electronics. PhD student Onyekachi
Raymond is seeking to understand the
chemistry of beryllium to find a way to
remove it from the environment once
devices have been relegated to landfills or
are no longer in use.
Raymond’s experimental technique is
“simple, sensitive and safe” allowing
him to understand the interactions of
beryllium with potential chemical agents
at low concentration.
His research may also assist finding
therapies for people who have been
exposed to beryllium.
Raymond is stimulating these chemical
interactions computationally on the
University of Waikato’s high performance
computing facility (symphony) as well
as the New Zealand eScience
Infrastructure (NeSI).
The Nigerian chemistry student
outlined his research in the 2014 finals
16
University of Waikato
of the University of Waikato’s Three
Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. His
presentation was titled “The Beauty
Without the Beast: A Search for
Beryllium’s Partner” and he took out
first prize worth $3250 and the people’s
choice award of $500.
The Waikato win paved the way for
Raymond to take part in the 2015 TransTasman 3MT competition final in Brisbane.
Of the 50 participants from universities in
New Zealand, Australia and Asia, Raymond
was selected as one of 10 finalists, and his
research also won him $1000 in the 2015
AMP Ignite programme where students
pitch their PhD research in 150 seconds.
The University of Waikato’s 2015 3MT
winner was Neda Nourmohammadi from
the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
whose presentation was entitled “Shaping
the Future: Reconciling the Contemporary
Iranian Art with Dynamic Identity”.
From Iran, Neda is now nearly two years
into her PhD and is gathering data for
her research which intends to establish
broader insights into the significance of
contemporary Iranian art within local
and transnational contexts through the
process of thinking about, and creatively
responding to the art-making of women
artists. She will attend the Trans-Tasman
3MT final this year in Australia.
3MT is an academic competition
developed by The University of
Queensland, Australia for research
students doing higher degrees.
The competition challenges candidates
to give a compelling presentation on
their thesis in three minutes in language
appropriate to an intelligent but nonspecialist audience using one static
PowerPoint slide. The presentations
cover what is being researched, why it is
being researched, and what the values or
outcomes of the research are.
Through 3MT, doctorial candidates
gain experience in discussing and
communicating effectively to a wide
variety of audiences, both academic
and non-academic, including the wider
community. Presentations are judged
on comprehension, engagement and
communication.
Bridgette Farnworth
Following tricks
of the light
N
ew Zealand has a mammal
problem, especially with predators
– mice, rats, possums and the like.
In Europe where there are issues with light
pollution, scientists have found that native
species are deterred by light. Waikato
University doctoral student Bridgette
Farnworth’s research is proposing that light
could be used in New Zealand to deter
nocturnal rodents, mice in particular.
proof fence around 3400 hectares of
native forest.
Bridgette’s been awarded a University
of Waikato Research Institute doctoral
scholarship, worth up to $85,000 for three
years to assist her study into non-lethal
pest control.
Bridgette’s initial research included
working with mice in the lab, using
rodent-proof pens. “Early indications are
that mice will spend less time foraging
under illumination, but we needed to test
frequency, light strength, habituation,
etcetera, and how other species respond
to increased light.”
Mice may be small, but they can eat big.
There’s an island in the south Atlantic,
Gough Island, where common house mice
are eating large sea bird chicks. “And in
New Zealand, mice are harder to initially
eradicate from conservation areas and
also find it easier than larger pests to
exploit small gaps in sanctuary fences,”
Bridgette says.
Part of her research will be done at
Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in the
Waikato where there’s a 47km predator-
“But if a tree falls and breaks part of
the fence, or gaps are created through
flooding, then mice are the first to invade
the forest, and then there no mammals
to predate on them. At Maungatautari I
want to see if illumination will deter mice
from reinvading.”
Bridgette has now left the lab for the wide
open spaces to test and observe light and
rodent behaviour at Maungatautari.
“A previous study by another student,
Trevor Connolly, indicated that rats are
able to move within the roll along the top
of the predator-proof fence, so we’re now
planning to observe their behaviour under
light with infrared cameras.
“I’ll also be looking to see if mice also
move within the roll and whether they
make use of it when rats are absent,”
Bridgette says. “No one has yet studied if
mice are travelling within the roll in the
sanctuary or if light could deter them
from doing so.”
Her main doctoral supervisors are Professor
Joseph Waas from Biological Sciences at
the University of Waikato, and John Innes,
a wildlife biologist at Landcare Research.
Bridgette graduated from Waikato with
a BSc and worked and travelled before
“embracing my inner nerd” and returning
to Waikato in 2014 to complete an
honours year, studying behavioural
psychology and conservation. “When
I finished, I found I still had a lot of
unanswered questions, so I enrolled in a
PhD. I’ve decided that if you are nerdy,
don’t be ashamed of it. Embrace it. If you
have the skill-set, use it.”
Converting Predation Cues into
Conservation Tools: The Effect of
Light on Mouse Foraging Behaviour
http://bit.ly/Mouse-Foraging
Summer 2016 17
horizons – research with impact
Found in translation
W
hen Irish publishing company
Evertype asked Tom Roa to
translate Alice in Wonderland
into te reo Maori, the University of
Waikato senior lecturer remembered the
book with fondness and was happy to
give it a go.
equivalent, so I had to make up ways of
saying things in te reo that conveyed the
same meaning.”
It had been a favourite of Mr Roa’s at
primary school. “One of our teachers,
Mrs Luxton, read it out loud in class.
Most of my mates fell asleep, but I was
fascinated, and in the end she gave me
the book to keep.”
“I read it to him with appropriate sound
effects and he cracked up, rolling on the
floor and asking for more. The book is
so full of nonsense, and translating it
brought the wonder of the book to Māori
in Māori.”
Mr Roa says the most difficult thing was
translating the idioms. “Such as ‘much of
a muchness’. Muchness is a hard word to
convey the meaning of and has no Māori
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Māori,
Ko Ngā Takahanga i Ārihi i Te Ao Mīharo, is
available through Amazon at
evertype.com/books/alice-mi.html
To see if he’d succeeded in translating the
quirkiness of the story, Mr Roa tried it out
on his seven-year-old grandson.
Tom Roa
Looking after the kids
W
hen goat kids’ horns start to
grow they can hurt each other
and their handlers.
Melissa Hempstead, a PhD student at the
University of Waikato, is studying dairy
goat welfare and has been awarded a
stipend from AgResearch worth $30,000
a year plus payment of fees for the next
four years as she investigates ways of
reducing pain associated with disbudding
– the destroying of horn bud cells of
juvenile animals to prevent future horn
growth. It is typically performed using a
cautery iron.
Melissa says disbudding of calves and
kids is necessary, as it makes the animals
easier to handle and they’re less likely to
injure each other. “They fight, they head
butt each other, and their handlers, so I’m
working to find out less painful ways to
disbud them.
“I’ll be looking at different pain relief
methods, the best age to disbud kids,
different disbudding techniques and how
disbudding impacts the brain.”
Melissa’s PhD research supervisors are
Professor Joe Waas from the University
of Waikato, Dr Mhairi Sutherland from
AgResearch and Dr Mairi Stewart from
InterAg. The AgResearch stipend has been
made possible with funding from the
Dairy Goat Co-operative and Ministry for
Business, Innovation and Employment.
18
University of Waikato
More than a
helping Hand
Mahonri Owen
M
echanical engineering student
Mahonri Owen is developing a
brain-controlled prosthetic hand,
and has been awarded a major scholarship
to assist his research.
Mahonri (Ngāti Tuwharetoa and Ngāpuhi)
is the recipient of a Health Research
Council Māori PhD Scholarship worth
$111,550 to assist his work to develop
a prosthetic hand that can perform the
basic functions of a human hand. It’ll
involve mechanics and electronics.
“Life is never the same when you lose a
hand or any body part for that matter
– through injury, or warfare, genetic
dysfunction or illness,” Mahonri says.
“What I’m attempting is to design a
brain-controlled prosthetic hand that is
easy to produce, easy to adapt to and
affordable. One that can restore function
and quality of life in a better, faster and
cheaper way than we’ve seen before.”
To date, Mahonri’s research has seen him
make several different hands using an
Arduino micro-controller and off-theshelf components. His skeleton hand was
made using on-screen CAD (computer
aided design) to map out the mechanism.
He then created the 50 plus components
using an Objet 30 3D printer, which
lays the design down in resin 0.3 of a
millimetre at a time. As one layer
hardens, another is added until the
skeleton is built up. The first hand took
seven hours to print.
Using Electroencephalography (EEG),
the hands are able to execute basic
movements, such as open and close.
What Mahonri wants to develop is a
more sophisticated hand.
“I want to make my own EEG headset
specifically for hands. So when the brain
says ‘pinch’ or ‘grip’, that’s what the hand
will do.”
He says the use of neutral interface (brain
control) would also increase the rate of
prosthetic acceptance.
“The trauma and pain that accompanies
the loss of a limb is hard to overcome,
physically and mentally and if my
research can make recovery easier, then
I’ll be very happy.”
The idea to work on the electromechanical hand for his doctorate came
from a suggestion by Mahonri’s academic
supervisor Dr Chi Kit Au in the University
of Waikato’s Faculty of Science and
Engineering. The notion fitted perfectly
with Mahonri’s desire for his study to
benefit others.
Having spend his childhood watching his
mother care for and serve others in the
community, Mahonri knew that helping
others was this future.
“I’m also conscious of the number of
people, Māori in particular, who lose limbs
through diabetes. So if my research can
assist their recovery then it will have been
worth it.”
Mahonri says he’s had good support
from his iwi over the years, but with a
young family, he says he wouldn’t be able
to complete his doctorate without this
Health Research Council scholarship.
Interested in working
with Waikato?
Email [email protected]
Summer 2016 19
horizons – research with impact
PhD On the rocks
K
ate Mauriohooho is interested in
the changing nature of rocks and
for her Masters degree trialled
sophisticated methods, traditionally
used for mining, to characterise rocks in
geothermal areas.
“It’s been so exciting applying
geochemistry in this way,” Kate says.
“Whereas once you needed to take rocks
back to the lab for trace element analysis,
we’ve been able to test newer, portable,
advanced technology. Long-term, this
could have huge benefits, saving time and
money for geothermal power companies
as they can test and analyse on site, while
they’re drilling.”
It was her supervisor Dr Shaun Baker,
2014 young geochemist of the year, who
suggested the same techniques used in
the mining industry could be applied in
geothermal fields.
And there’s plenty of interest in Kate’s
work. She had support from GNS, Contact
Energy and an iwi trust during her
Masters study and, after presenting the
results of her research at a geothermal
conference, other power companies are
also interested.
Kate (Waikato, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti
Maniapoto and Ngāti Tuwharetoa) is
now embarking on a PhD and has been
awarded two doctoral scholarships – a
Waikato University Doctoral Scholarship,
which gives her $22,000 a year
plus course fees, and a Top Achiever
Scholarship of $5000.
She’s off to the big mountains of
Ngauruhoe and Tongariro where she
plans to attach hyperspectral sensors to
drones as part of her simultaneous study
into slope failure on stratovolcanoes and
mineral mapping over geothermal fields.
Māori birthing – a winning subject
D
r Naomi Simmonds’ PhD research
has been acknowledged by the
New Zealand Geographical Society
(NZGS), awarding her its 2015 President’s
Award for Best Doctoral Thesis.
Dr Simmonds is a lecturer for Geography
and Environmental Planning Programmes
at Waikato University and her doctoral
research investigated the experiences of
Māori women and whānau in relation to
pregnancy and childbirth.
She says that within Māori knowledges,
histories and stories there are powerful
ways to understand maternities that can
serve to empower women and whānau.
“The significance of whānau and the
importance of the collective is huge,
as is the role our female ancestors and
goddesses play,” Dr Simmonds says.
“Growing, carrying, birthing and nurturing
a child are profound and life-changing
20
University of Waikato
moments. Reclaiming uniquely Māori
knowledges and tikanga pertaining to
birth and mothering can significantly
transform the maternity experiences of
women and whānau. It’s not just the
physical spaces of birth that need to be
considered, but also the spiritual spaces.”
Dr Simmonds began her doctoral studies
in 2009 when she was awarded a threeyear Tertiary Education Commission Top
Achiever Doctoral Scholarship. She also
held the University of Auckland Medical
Trust Award.
Her thesis, entitled “Tū te turuturu nō
Hineteiwaiwa: a mana wahine geography
of birth in Aotearoa”, illustrates how
patriarchal and colonial ideas and values
are embedded in childbirth.
Using a mana wahine framework enabled
Dr Simmonds to offer an in-depth and
powerful critique of the numerous
discourses that continue today to
marginalise Māori women and their
families during pregnancy and birth.
Importantly, her thesis also demonstrates
potential within mātauranga Māori to
decolonise maternities and transform
the individual and collective experiences
of pregnancy, birth and mothering for
women, whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori.
events
what’s on at waikato
The University of Waikato links with
the community on and off campus
TEDx on campus
OPEN DAY FRIDAY 13 MAY
Applicant Day Saturday 17 September
On Open Day secondary school students from all over the North Island
descend on campus to get a feel for the University of Waikato and to find
out about the many and varied opportunities on offer. Applicant Day, held
later in the year is also for people interested in starting university in 2017,
including those who may have already applied, and would like more detailed
information about subjects and qualifications. Advisers and faculty staff will be
on hand to help prospective students choose their papers and complete their
application procedures.
The University of Waikato is again hosting TEDx,
at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts in
Hamilton on 30 July 2016. In the spirit of ideas
worth spreading, TEDx is a programme of local,
independently organised events that bring people
together to share a TED-like experience.
Visit tedxruakura.com for more information.
INAUGURAL PROFESSORIAL
LECTURE
Tuesday 15 March – Professor
Brendan Hokowhitu
Inaugural professorial lectures are
the University of Waikato’s way
of introducing new professors to
the community. The first lecture
in 2016 will feature the new Dean
of the School of Māori and Pacific
Development Professor Brendan
Hokowhitu. He has returned to New
Zealand after nearly four years as
Dean and Professor in the Faculty
of Native Studies at Canada’s
University of Alberta in Edmonton.
GRADUATION 2016
University of Waikato Graduation ceremonies
will take place in April and December this year.
The December ceremonies mark a change from
previous years, when ceremonies were held
in October. The change will allow students to
graduate in the same year as they complete
their studies.
The University holds ceremonies on its marae,
Claudelands Arena and at Holy Trinity Tauranga.
Summer 2016 21
WHERE THE WORLD IS GOING
TE AHUNGA O TE AO
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton 3240
New Zealand
Toll Free:0800 WAIKATO
0800 924 528
Email:[email protected]
Website:waikato.ac.nz
©The University of Waikato, February 2016.