Alert Newsletter 702

Posted: Thu, 2 Feb 2012 under Alert Newsletter

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1. Marsden Fund Council vacancies

Eminent scientists are sought to fill three vacancies on the Marsden Fund Council and to convene funding panels in their academic area. The three positions convene the following panels:

  • Mathematical and Information Sciences;
  • Humanities;
  • Cellular, Molecular and Physiological Biology.

More detailed descriptions of the subject areas covered by each panel are shown on the Royal Society’s website at:
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/funds/marsden/about/panels/

The vacancies have arisen following the completion of their terms by two incumbent members and the resignation of one member. The positions will commence from 1 March 2012 and are for three years. The appointments are made by the Minister of Science and Innovation.

For more information and a nomination form, please see the Ministry of Science and Innovation website at http://www.msi.govt.nz/update-me/. Please confirm that any person nominated is available and consents to being nominated, and is not planning to submit a funding bid to the Council.

Please send nominations to angela.vandam@msi.govt.nz before 5.00 pm on Wednesday, 8 February 2012.

2. Professor Chris Stringer: ‘Origin of our species, Neanderthals and the Early Human Occupation of Britain and Europe’, February 2012

Professor Chris Stringer answers some of the big questions: How can we define modern humans, and how can we recognise our beginnings in the fossil and archaeological record? How can we accurately date fossils, including ones beyond the range of radiocarbon dating? Has human evolution stopped, or are we still evolving? What can we expect from future research on our origins?

Professor Chris Stringer is in New Zealand by invitation of the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution and his public talks are supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Details for booking tickets are available at http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/events/origin-of-our-species/

  • Auckland, 6.00 pm, 22 February, Auckland War Memorial Museum;
  • Christchurch, 6.30 pm, 23 February, C1 Central Lecture Theatre, University of Canterbury;
  • Dunedin, 6.00 pm, 24 February, St David Lecture Theatre, University of Otago;
  • Wellington, 6.00 pm, 25 February, Embassy Theatre, Courtenay Place.

(Note: the Christchurch lecture commences at 6:30 pm as stated above, NOT 6 pm as advised in Alert 701)

3. Professor Robert Glennon visiting New Zealand in February 2012

Professor Robert Glennon, author and Professor of Public Law and Policy at the University of Arizona, is visiting New Zealand this month to raise public awareness on water-related issues and give a view on the problems that have arisen in the US.

He will be giving two public lectures in the coming week:

  • Wednesday, 8 February in Wellington, Rutherford House Lecture Theatre 1, Pipitea Campus, Bunny Street;
  • Thursday, 9 February in Christchurch, C1 Central Lecture Theatre, University of Canterbury.

Further are details available at http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/events/unquenchable/

4. 2012 Leonard Cockayne Memorial Lecture Tour

The Royal Society of New Zealand’s Leonard Cockayne Memorial Lecturer for 2012, Professor Kevin Gould, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, will be delivering his lecture “Ever green but seeing red? Deciphering the palette of New Zealand’s flora” at nine venues around New Zealand in March.

The itinerary is listed on the web at: http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/awards/cockayne-lecture/memorial-lecture-2012/

5. New Professor of Agribusiness at Waikato

The University of Waikato has appointed leading agriculture researcher and commentator Professor Jacqueline Rowarth CNZM CRSNZ. Dr Rowarth takes up the position of Professor of Agribusiness at Waikato Management School in March, where she will consolidate and develop links across the value-innovation chain in the wider agriculture sector in the region. Dean of Waikato Management School, Professor Frank Scrimgeour, says the appointment of Dr Rowarth to spearhead agribusiness continues the School’s tradition of innovation in management education. Jacqueline Rowarth is a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

6. Science Festival awards Life Membership

Professor Jean Fleming ONZM CRSNZ was awarded a life membership of the New Zealand International Science Festival at the festival’s annual general meeting held in Dunedin on Thursday 26 January 2012. Professor Fleming was nominated for the award in recognition of her outstanding services to the New Zealand International Science Festival since its inception as an incorporated society in 1997.

Jean Fleming is a professor of science communication at the University of Otago’s new Centre for Science Communication, where she currently supervises twelve Popularising Science MSciComm students. In 2011 she was elected as a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

7. Asia Pacific Science Policy Studies Research Conference

Final programme details are now available for this conference, to be held in Wellington from 8 to 10 February 2012, the first of its kind in New Zealand. The conference explores how science policy is developed and implemented, and how scientific knowledge is used in the policy process and decision-making by governments and industry.

The conference will consider the broad sweep of research on the relationships between science (including social science) and policy decision-making for national wellbeing through science, technology and innovation. Find out more at http://www.sps2012.org.nz/documents/Conference_Programme_final.pdf

To register for the conference go to http://www.sps2012.org.nz/registration.asp

8. FUSIONZ website for science, technology, humanities jobs

This week, Fusionz has 2 vacancies for jobs. The latest jobs are:

  • Aquaculture & Biotechnology Group Manager: Cawthron Institute, South Island
  • Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Committee Members: Environmental Protection Authority, NZ

For more information and to list your vacancy – http://fusionz.royalsociety.org.nz/

9. National Landcare and Catchment Management Conference 2012

NZ Landcare Trust will host a 2 day conference at the Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato Campus, Hamilton, New Zealand on 29 February and 1 March 2012. The event will celebrate the work of rural communities from all around New Zealand and provide an opportunity to explore the role that community leadership plays in sustainable land and water management.

The conference will include a series of keynote sessions plus presentations from representatives of Landcare and community groups, local government, research providers and agribusiness. Keynote sessions will examine New Zealand, Australian and international Landcare and river management. The conference will showcase leading national initiatives from the farm level to the catchment scale.

More information at www.landcare.org.nz/conference

10. New Zealand Computer Science Research Student Conference 2012

NZCSRSC 2012 will be held at the University of Otago, 11-13 April 2012. The conference provides a unique opportunity for postgraduate students to show the commercial potentials of their projects, meet key organizations in the ICT industry and explore career options after graduation. ICT entrepreneurs can explore opportunities for commercializing novel technologies, and to recruit graduates.

To facilitate commercialization of ideas developed in academic research, and to allow students to showcase their products, NZCSRSC 2012 introduces the Student Product Demo session. Students from around the country are invited to present their projects at the event. This is a platform for exchange of ideas but may also provide students with an opportunity to attract support from industry and realize their innovative ideas into products.

Each team (up to four members) should submit a one-page proposal about the product, and a CV for each member by 15th February, 2012.  Successful teams will be notified by 20th February, 2012.

More info: http://www.2012.nzcsrsc.ac.nz

11. Our Changing World, Thursday, 2 February 9.00 pm, Radio New Zealand National

Alison Ballance, Veronika Meduna and Ruth Beran http://radionz.co.nz/ourchangingworld; email ourchangingworld@radionz.co.nz; Tel (04) 474 1910.

Victoria University’s Brian Anderson takes Veronika Meduna on a walk on Franz Josef Glacier to monitor its retreat and Andrew Mackintosh explains the team’s effort to predict how New Zealand’s glaciers will change in the future.

The University of Otago’s Iso-Trace Research Lab has been dubbed ‘CSI South’ for its molecular forensic skills.

Justin Gregory joins a climbing team at Auckland’s Ark in the Park to help monitor the presence of rats above the canopy.

The University of Auckland’s Anne Gaskett and Nathan Camp take Alison Ballance into the bush to have a sniff of a very smelly moss – one that stinks like dung.

Shorter science, health and environment features also air during Afternoons with Jim Mora at 3.35 p.m., Monday to Thursday. The programme is repeated at 1.10 a.m. on Sunday mornings.

You can download a podcast or listen to streaming audio of programmes you’ve missed in the complete programme archive at: http://radionz.co.nz/ourchangingworld

12. Follow the Royal Society of New Zealand on Facebook and Twitter

Get timely updates from the Royal Society of New Zealand team via our Facebook and Twitter channels.

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