Message from Academy Chair
Professor Charlotte Macdonald shares her foreword as Chair of the Academy Executive Committee.
On 29 April Pāenga-whāwhā, Royal Society Te Apārangi's building at Turnbull Street filled with people, all gathered to celebrate new Ahurei Fellows elected to the Ngā Ahurei Academy in 2020. It was a wonderful day of celebration.
The new Fellows gave riveting addresses spanning many fields of expertise from toxicology to Māori architecture, public law to Pacific studies, and much more. If you were not present, or were present but had to choose just one the three parallel streams, you can now watch the seminars online.
29 Pāenga-whāwhā April 2021 marks an important milestone in the history of the Academy. For several years, over the tenure of successive presidents and convenors of the Academy Executive Committee, work has been underway to make the Academy more fully reflect the rich composition and outstanding work of Aotearoa New Zealand’s research communities. In 2021 a large step was taken in seeing this work to fruition. It is a step that is just one on a longer path, but a highly significant one. This is a work to continue.
Fellows Forum
A forum for existing and new Fellows was held in the afternoon of 29 April. Minutes from the Forum can be read in full below. I do apologise for omitting to send an agenda and minutes of the 2019 Forum ahead of the meeting on 29 April 2021. In the many changes and disruptions of 2020 this was overlooked. These items will be available at the 2021 Fellows’ Forum.
Keeping in touch
This issue of the Fellows Newsletter marks the 5th issue in an initiative started by my predecessor, Professor Richard Blaikie, to encourage greater contact between members of the Ngā Ahurei Academy.
Is it working?
Please let us know what you think of the newsletter, we are always keen to hear from you. Are you receiving information and news of value? Is the newsletter proving useful to you in circulation of news and information amongst Fellows?
Communication is always something we can do better, especially in an era of information abundance.
What does the evidence tell us?
Looking at the Raumati Summer Newsletter, we can see that 190 Fellows who received the newsletter in their in-boxes, opened it (of a total of around 347). This compares with a total of 36 unique views of the Academy Annual Report (2019) and 56 unique views of the Academy Annual report (2020).
A separate Academy Annual Report?
At the December 2020 Academy Executive Committee meeting, the question of whether to continue publishing a separate annual report for the Academy, rather than including the annual activity of the Academy in the overall annual reporting of Royal Society Te Apārangi, was raised. The AEC was of the view that the Academy’s work was better included in the annual reporting of Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Fellows of the Academy also receive the weekly Alert, the monthly Link e-newsletter, daily updates from the Society's social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), and the Highlights Te Tau (most recent issue 29 April 2021).
Wearing my own subject hat
As a historian I had the pleasure to co-convene the independent Royal Society Te Apārangi Expert Panel providing advice and a response to the Ministry of Education on the curriculum for teaching of Aotearoa New Zealand Histories in all schools Years 1 – 10 (5-14 year olds) from 2022.
My co-convenor was Professor Michael Belgrave (Massey-Albany), while the panel included Companion Sir Tipene O’Regan, Fellows Emerita Professor Manying Ip, Associate Professor Damon Salesa, with peer review by Fellows Emeritus Professors Atholl Anderson and Margaret Tennant, and Professor Tony Ballantyne. My thanks to all involved. The Panel’s report was released on 18 May 2021. In addition, I provided a brief synposis for The Spinoff.
Finally
It is with a sense of great pride, tinged with some sorrow, that we heard the announcement of Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Chief Executive, Dame Cindy Kiro’s appointment as New Zealand’s next Governor-General. We will miss Cindy’s inspiring presence at Te Apārangi but look forward to seeing her shine in her future role.
No reira
Charlotte Macdonald