2025 Falling Walls Lab Aotearoa New Zealand Programme and Presentations
Hōtaka programme and participants for Falling Walls Lab Aotearoa New Zealand 2025.
Hōtaka Programme
Te Rā When: Rāpare Thursday 7 August 2025
Te Wāhi Where: Royal Society Te Apārangi, 11 Turnbull Street, Thorndon, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
| 9.30 am | Arrival and registration for presenters |
| 10.30 | Presenters briefing |
| 11.00 | Jury briefing |
| 11.30 | Mihi welcome and introductory remarks |
| 11.45 | Pitch presentations 1-10 |
| 12.45pm | Kai a te rānui Lunch |
| 1.45 | Pitch presentations 11-21 |
| 2.45 | Networking break / Kaiwhakawā Jury evaluation session |
| 3.45 | Award ceremony / Group photo and closing remarks |
| 4.15–6.00 |
Networking and connecting reception Karakia whakamutunga event closing blessing |
Participants
Pitch presentation order
| Order | Name | Organisation | Title |
| 1 | Priyanshi Negi | University of Waikato | Breaking the Wall of Unsustainable Dairy |
| 2 | Xinya Wang | Riddet Institute, Massey University | Breaking the Wall of Calcium Deficiency |
| 3 | Lizhao Zhu | University of Waikato | Breaking the Wall of Disability Isolation |
| 4 | Manochitra Loganathan | Unitec Institute of Technology | Breaking the Wall of Bias in AI |
| 5 | Cervantée Wild | The University of Auckland | Breaking the Wall of Land-bound Health Systems |
| 6 | Upulanka Premasiri | Human Interface Technology Lab, University of Canterbury | Breaking the Wall of Discomfort in VR |
| 7 | Sam Collins | University of Waikato | Breaking the Wall of Profit-Driven Gambling |
| 8 | Sachini Weerasinghe | Massey University | Breaking the Wall of Setting Carbon Budgets |
| 9 | Jacqueline Theis | University of Otago | Breaking the Wall of Nature for All |
| 10 | Kavishan Ranatunga | The University of Auckland | Breaking the Wall of Carbon-Intensive Concrete |
| 11 | Matthew Howes | The New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science | Breaking the Wall of Safer Cannabinoid Drugs |
| 12 | Indira Venkatraman | University of Canterbury | Breaking the Wall of Coastal Climate Risks |
| 13 | Ankit Parikh | Auckland University of Technology/ Exsurgo Ltd | Breaking the Wall of Chronic Pain |
| 14 | Ellie Johnson | He Kāinga Oranga, University of Otago, Wellington | Breaking the Wall of Housing-Related Illness |
| 15 | Catherine Mahima Singh | The University of the South Pacific | Breaking the Wall of Legal Inaccessibility |
| 16 | Asma Khan | Lincoln University | Breaking the Wall of Symbolic Green Financing |
| 17 | Zarar Rasheed | Robinson Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington | Breaking the Wall of Hydrogen Storage |
| 18 | Mindula Irugalbandara | Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland | Breaking the Wall of Gut Contractions |
| 19 | William Allouche | University of Waikato | Breaking the Wall of Circular (De)Construction |
| 20 | Erica Sue-Tang | Lincoln Argitech Ltd | Breaking the Wall of Biodegradable Bioplastics |
| 21 | Patrick Mazzocco | University of Otago | Breaking the Wall of Career Centrality |
Kaitautoko Partners
Falling Walls Lab Aotearoa New Zealand is hosted by Royal Society Te Apārangi with support from the German Embassy in Wellington, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and EURAXESS Australia & New Zealand.
