Alert Newsletter 722

Posted: Wed, 20 Jun 2012 under Alert Newsletter

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1. 2012 Rutherford Lecture Series – Christine Winterbourn

Christine WinterbourneChristine Winterbourn, winner of the 2011 Rutherford Medal, will be touring the country in July to give the 2012 Rutherford Lecture Series.

Entitled ‘Life with Oxygen, a battle against free radicals’, Professor Winterbourn’s lecture will discuss the development of knowledge on the sources and consequences of free radical production and the health problems that can arise when antioxidant defence is inadequate.

  • Nelson, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday, 10 July
  • Christchurch, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Wednesday, 11 July
  • Wanaka, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Thursday, 12 July
  • Wellington, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Thursday, 19 July
  • Napier, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday, 24 July
  • Auckland 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Wednesday, 25 July

Bookings for the lectures are recommended and can be made from the 2012 Rutherford Lecture page, which also gives lecture venues.

2. Transit of Venus celebration video

For those who missed the Transit of Venus celebration at Tolaga Bay, view the following clip produced by Nick Coombe for the Gisborne Herald that captures events of the day: The Transit of Venus 2012.

3. Postdoctoral and PhD opportunities from the Rutherford Foundation Trust, close 1 August

The Rutherford Foundation Trust has announced 2012 funding opportunities. These include Postdoctoral and PhD awards, closing 1 August. 2012

Rutherford Foundation Trust – PhD Scholarships at the University of Cambridge

Two PhD Scholarships are jointly funded by the Rutherford Foundation Trust and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. One further PhD Scholarship is available in conjunction with the Cavendish Laboratory for an applicant to apply to the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge.

These Scholarships are intended to provide full support to enable completion of a PhD at the University of Cambridge in pure or applied science.

See scholarship guidelines and application documents.

Rutherford Foundation Trust – International PhD Scholarship (a grant-in-aid)

The International PhD Scholarship (a grant-in-aid) will contribute towards a student’s full-time study for a PhD in any area of science, technology, engineering or mathematics at an eligible host research institution.

The award intends to provide a financial contribution towards the support of a PhD scholar at a prestigious international research institution in their chosen field of study.

The Scholarship is not intended to cover all of the costs associated with studying towards a PhD abroad. Applicants are expected to negotiate with the host research institution or other charitable funding organisations to reduce course fees or provide additional financial support to cover any shortfall in funding.

See scholarship guidelines and application documents.

4. James Cook Research Fellowships – reminder that nominations close 30 June

The James Cook Research Fellowships are administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on behalf of the Government. They are awarded to researchers who are recognised leaders in their respective fields, have the requisite qualifications and experience, and are able to demonstrate that they have achieved national and international recognition in their area of scientific or technological research.

Applications are now being sought in each of the following research categories:

  • Biological sciences (including biotechnology)
  • Physical sciences (including chemical sciences; geosciences, mathematical and information sciences)
  • Social sciences (including research of relevance to peoples of New Zealand and/or the South-west Pacific)

The primary intention for the award of Fellowships is the recognition of sustained excellence in research. The normal term of a Fellowship is two years and the stipend offered for those awarded in this round will be $100,000 plus GST per year. Reimbursement of relevant expenses to a maximum of $10,000 plus GST annually will also be offered. Those appointed will be required to take up their Fellowships by 1 April 2013.

View James Cook Research Fellowship page for more information.

5. Nominations close in 10 days for 2012 medals and awards

The suite of medals offered by the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2012 includes the new Mason Durie Medal for advances in the frontiers of social science.

Other awards and medals offered in 2012 are the Callaghan Medal, Cooper Medal, Dame Joan Metge Medal, Hamilton Memorial Prize, Hatherton Award, Hector Medal, Hutton Medal, Humanities Aronui Medal, Jones Medal, MacDiarmid Medal, Pickering Medal, Pou Aronui Award, Rutherford Medal, Sir Charles Hercus Medal and the Thomson Medal.

Nominations for all of these medals and awards close on 30 June.

For details about each of these and for nomination forms, please visit our awards page.

6. R. H. T. Bates Postgraduate Scholarship applications invited, closes 1 September

A single award of $6,000 is offered for one year in 2013. We are now calling for applications for this scholarship. The closing date for applications is 1 September 2012.

This scholarship was established by the Royal Society of New Zealand in memory of Professor Richard Bates FRSNZ. The scholarship, tenable at any New Zealand university for one year, is available to post-graduate students who are registered for a PhD. Students in the physical sciences and engineering will be eligible, with preference being given to those whose research aims to apply information/image processing to studies in medicine, the physical sciences, astronomy or engineering.

For more information, visit the R.H.T Bates Scholarship page.

7. Workshop: Writing Science – the What, the How, the Why, 20-22 October, Auckland

The Michael King Writers’ Centre are holding a residential workshop on writing science. Speakers will discuss how they turn scientific material into accessible and engaging prose. Complementary sessions will cover effective visual presentation, writing for the web, advocacy, ethics, and writing and publishing for different audiences.

Writers who have some publishing record, or are specialists in their field, are invited to apply for the Residential Workshop to be held at Vaughan Park, Long Bay, Auckland, 20 – 22 October, 2012.

The symposium style workshop, limited to 24 writers, offers a focussed, interactive environment in the company of fellow writers and respected professionals. Michael Corballis, Rebecca Priestley, Lloyd Davis, Alison Ballance, Simon Pollard, Bruce Hayward, Janet Hunt, Gary Raumati Hook, Peter Griffin, Raewyn Peart, Simon Nathan, Gordon Ell, Jane Connor, Dave Gunson, Roger Porsolt, Mary Varnham, Geoff Chapple and Sam Elworthy will speak and be involved in small group discussions.

Applications close 15 July and should include a writing CV. The cost, including two nights’ accommodation and all meals, is $480.00 (incl GST $552.00) twin share or $520.00 (incl GST $598.00) single.

The full programme, speakers’ profiles, application form and more information is available at www.writerscentre.org.nz.

8. Conference: ‘Adapting to a Changing World’, 2-6 September, Rotorua

Hosted by NZBIO, the New Zealand biotechnology industry association, ABIC (Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference) 2012, will attract industry leaders, researchers and scientists, investors and policy makers from around the world. The Ministry of Science and Innovation is a key sponsor of the event.

Dr Roger Hellens, Science Group Leader at Plant & Food Research, chairs the group which has drawn up the five-day ABIC programme. He says it is tailored to New Zealand’s unique strengths.

“To date, a lot of the justification for doing biotechnology has been about its economic benefits while social and environmental benefits were a secondary consideration. But that is changing as concern grows about issues like water scarcity and our environmental footprint.”

The programme will examines issues like bio energy, food security and sustainable production of healthy food from all three perspectives.

Early bird registrations close 30 June. Visit: www.abic2012.com/

9. Dark Sky Exhibition: ‘Matariki dawns’, 27 June, Wellington

Pauline Harris (Post Doctoral Fellow, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences and Chair of the Society for Māori Astronomy, Research and Traditions) and Takirirangi Smith (Researcher in indigenous knowledge, School of Māori Studies Te Kawa a Māui) will share understandings of Māori cosmology and the revitalisation of Māori star lore in response to a photograph by Wellington photographic artist Ann Shelton.

Details: noon, Wednesday 27 June,  Adam Art Gallery, Gate 3, Kelburn Parade, www.adamartgallery.org.nz/calendar/

10. Food exhibition open day, 27 June, Hamilton

The New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology is hosting a food exhibition open day and invites all food industry personnel to have a cup of coffee on them and see what is new and improved in the food manufacturing industry.

Details: 1-5pm Wednesday 27 June, Claudelands Event Centre, Hamilton, free, no registration required.

11. Science Express: ‘End of Oil? No Fraccin’ Way!’ Wellington, 5 July

Are oil prices driven by demand or supply? How big are the world’s oil reserves? And what have horizontal drilling and fraccing got to do with it? Kea Petroleum’s Dave Bennett gives this month’s Science Express.

Dave Bennett has 30 years of international oil and gas experience. Most recently, he was chief executive of Kea Petroleum, a London-based explorer focussed on New Zealand. Dave has been closely involved in several oil and gas discoveries in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He has a physics degree from Cambridge and a PhD in geophysics from Australia National University.

Details: 6.30 – 8.00pm, Thursday 5 July at Te Papa, Level 4 Espresso, 55 Cable St, Wellington.

12. Cafe Scientifique: ‘Does NZ have a future in Nanotech?’ 28 June,  Lower Hutt

The speaker is award-winning Dr John Watt from Victoria University, a familiar figure from TVNZ 7′s documentary series ‘Ever Wondered’.  He will give an overview of what nanotechnology is and why he finds it exciting to study. He will explain some of the work being carried out at Victoria University of Wellington and the MacDiarmid Institute, its possible applications and how New Zealand can harness nanotechnology for the future.

Details: 6.00 – 7.30pm, Thursday 28 June, Mediterranean Food Warehouse, 337 High St, Lower Hutt.

13. PechaKucha Night, Sea Session, Wellington, 29 June

The theme for the upcoming PechaKucha is ‘The Sea, Te Moana’ and speakers work in a range of professions, including oceanographers, historians, writers and designers.

Details: 7.30pm Friday 29 June @ Downstage Theatre. Tickets: $10 cash, no EFTPOS available – tickets on sale from 6pm.

14. Our Changing World, Thursday 9.00 pm, Radio New Zealand National 101FM

Presented and produced by Alison Ballance, Ruth Beran and Veronika Meduna.

A bumblebee is fifty times more efficient than a honeybee at pollinating flowers, and as varroa mite makes it more difficult and expensive to maintain honeybee hives a new research programme is aiming to work out how to establish bumblebee colonies in commercial orchards instead. Alison Ballance meets Plant and Food Research’s David Pattemore to find out more.

Using mini-seismometers which connect to home computers by a USB connection, volunteers in Christchurch are collecting a huge amount of earthquake data. GNS’s Anna Kaiser explains to Ruth Beran what this data can tell us about things like ground motion.

Twenty years ago Crown Research Institute Scion established a fire research group to better understand vegetation fires in New Zealand conditions. Grant Pearce tells Alison Ballance about the research, and about the tools developed to help fire managers fight fires more effectively.

Last year on Our Changing World, Maui Stuart described how he was diagnosed with sleep apnoea after spending the night in hospital. The experience was life changing and Maui now uses a CPAP machine every night. To see how Maui is faring, Ruth Beran catches up with him and the people who are helping him achieve his goals.

Two science and environment stories air during the week on Afternoons with Jim Mora at 3:35pm, Monday and Thursday. The complete programme is repeated at 1:10am on Sunday mornings.

Website for podcasts and live streams: http://radionz.co.nz/ourchangingworld
Contact: ourchangingworld@radionz.co.nz, 04 474 1910
Twitter: @RNZ_Science

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