Massey
www.massey.ac.nz News from Massey University I Issue 29 I February 2016
Turning heads on the global stage: Student athletes aim Massey students go the
distance
high for Rio distance Massey students go the
• Jobs and the age of robots • Commercial music degree creates different kind of buzz THE ENGINE Plus OF THE NEW • Comfort out of adversity – learning from the Canterbury NEW ZEALAND earthquakes | Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 1 MAKE THE NEW NEW ZEALAND YOUR LEGACY
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2 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University definingnz | February 2016
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Cover story Features
6 Dancing by degrees 8 Health and safety in the House A trio of ballet dancers balance their performance Cabinet minister Judith Collins used a period on art with studying from a distance. the backbench to study for a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health ahead of Distance learning changes to legislation in the sector. 21 It’s a Bachelor of Arts – but not as you This issue of DefiningNZ is themed on distance know it learning, including the experiences of some household names who have made any-time, The BA has had a make-over with core papers anywhere education work for them. in the degree producing a new generation of creative and critical thinkers. 3-4 Student athletes aim high for Rio 24 Commercial music degree blasts on to Tennis star Marina Erakovich, world champion kayaker Lisa Carrington and hockey player stage Gemma Flynn all have their games faces on for Programmes at Massey’s new School of Music some Olympian performances. and Creative Media Production encourage graduates fluent in the production, promotion 5 Talent pool and distribution of music media and live events. Paralympian swimmers Georgia Gray and Mary Fisher are set to make a splash at Rio 2016. 26 Accentuating the positive from earthquake adversity
15 Our man in Paris Staff from the Joint Centre for Disaster Research Contents New Zealand’s first military attaché in Paris, have interviewed nurses working with the Captain Shaun Fogarty, has fitted study for a recovery effort from the Canterbury earthquakes Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management who have experienced a phenomenon called around time serving in many of the world’s hot post-traumatic growth. spots and now representing the country at World War I commemorations in Europe. Opinion
10 Jobs and the age of robots Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Massey THE ENGINE Business School, Professor Ted Zorn, assesses job OF THE NEW security in the age of automation. NEW ZEALAND 18 Smart farming and climate change Professor Ralph Sims is confident that farmers Website: www.massey.ac.nz can not only adapt to the challenge of climate Editor: Kate Drury change but help prevent it too. Contributors: Sidah Russell, Paul Mulrooney, Jenna Ward, Diana Dekker, Ted Zorn, Mirjam Guesgsen, Jennifer Little, David Wiltshire Campus wide Designer: Grant Bunyan Proofreading: Foolproof 28 A round-up of news from Massey’s three campuses and further afield.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 1 First word Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey writes.
may be, as many the more flexible, outward-facing have predicted, model of the future. Buildings will be that we are about remodelled, organisational charts will to see the end of be rewritten and the very essence of traditional higher what it means to be a university will education. By be up for discussion. ITtraditional I mean, attend university Higher education, notoriously slow A new Student Management System full-time, sit in lecture halls, listen to to change, is entering the age of being developed will allow students lectures, go to the library, write essays experimentation. Where this will take to enrol from anywhere online. Massey and sit exams. is us is not yet able to be defined but was the first New Zealand university Change in university education has it is clear that by the end of this century to offer MOOCs (Massive Open Online been in the wind for more than 30 the traditional model will have all but Courses). Lectures are now recorded years without coming to much. Curricula disappeared. so that students can watch them in have been updated, new technologies Massey University aims to be one their own time. More courses are being adopted, classrooms reshaped, and of the universities that defines the taught online whether the students semesters introduced, and internal future. Founded in 1926 as an are on campus or somewhere else in assessment has lessened the import- agricultural college and granted full the world. Highly innovative staff ance of exams – but none of this has university status in 1964, Massey has are offering additional background fundamentally changed the way long been seen as an innovator. In material, as is commonly found in university education is offered. 1963 it began providing education the entertainment industry. The internet is changing all that. “extramurally” for teachers who were It is this spirit of innovation that Already other sectors have been seeking to lift their qualifications has led to Massey offering its food disrupted and transformed. Look at while remaining in their schools. The technology programme in Singapore, media, travel agencies, personal University became a “dual mode” its Master of Business Administration communication and retailing - all institution offering campus-based to pilots and engineers in Qatar, its have been turned on their heads by and distance education. postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Defence the internet. In the past five decades Massey and Strategic Studies) in Brunei and This is going to happen to higher University has led the way in teaching its One Health programme, funded by education. Learning will become innovations by adopting new tech- the European Union through the World separate from the classroom. Courses nologies as they have been developed Bank, throughout East Asia. will be created as they are needed and and constantly updating what is taught, This May, Massey’s Oiled Wildlife shaped around on-demand, any-time, how it is taught and how it is assessed. Response Team will be collaborating any-place delivery models. Academics These changes have allowed Massey with the University of California Davis will become independent and offer to provide education to New Zealanders to provide online learning for their expertise to many institutions. wherever they might be in the world. corporations such as BP and Shell. Textbooks, the ink-on-paper versions Today, some 200,000 students have Throughout the year, as sportspeople we use today, will disappear. gained part or all of their university prepare for the Olympics, they will be Even the granting of qualifications education through Massey’s distance thanking Massey for enabling them to will begin to fade away as students are programmes. train and study. confronted with a wide array of faster, But the possibilities offered by new But this really is just the beginning cheaper options that can quality assure technology alongside the changing of the massive changes about to take what they have been learning. expectations of students, the rising place. A new world of learning is Campuses, built over many decades cost of education, the demand for taking shape and as this edition of and centuries, will begin a difficult lifelong learning and Government DefiningNZ shows, Massey University transformation as they move from the policy have encouraged the University is leading the way. We hope you will “industrial” model of yesterday to meet to move in new and exciting directions. come with us.
2 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Distance learning
Court side and online with Marina Erakovich
By Jenna Ward.
knee injury may have plagued tennis champion Marina Erakovich last year, but the court’s loss is the textbooks’ gain. AThe 27-year-old tennis superstar is studying a Bachelor of Business Studies via distance at Massey University, and says it brings a nice balance to her life. “You will laugh but a lot of my study is done on the plane. I travel a lot and it is a great time to get out my book and get through some chapters on a long flight.” But business wasn’t Erakovich’s first choice. The tennis pro, who started playing As for life after tennis, Erakovich is things is great as well. I can be in touch with when she was just six, originally wanted a undecided, but says studying and finishing the paper coordinator from anywhere in the career in medicine, but her commitment to her degree is a definite. world.” the court meant a sacrifice. She says the greatest benefit of learning 2016 is a big year for Erakovich. Not only “I just couldn’t make it fit into my lifestyle. via distance is being able to go at her own will she stage a comeback after suffering an Ideally I would have moved into sports pace. injury to her right knee last year, it’s also an medicine but business has been very “I can organise my own schedule and Olympic year. interesting. It covers a very broad area, one make it fit into my training and competition “My studies will continue as normal, but that many people can relate to in anything needs. It does go very slowly, but little by Rio is definitely a goal this year and I will they do.” little I am getting there. The contact side of be working hard on making the cut.”
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 3 Distance learning
Student athletes aim high for Rio
lympic and world champion sprint kayaker Lisa Carrington Distance learning opens has already started on her latest challenge – a Graduate Diploma in Arts via distance learning at Massey University, world of possibilities having already completed a Bachelor of Arts. OAfter winning the K1 200m and 500m titles at last year’s world hether learning about construction or commercial music, championships, the 26-year-old has her sights set on defending her Wstudying by distance at Massey University opens up a Olympic K 100m title at Rio de Janeiro. world of possibilities, allowing students to gain internationally Then it’s back to the books as she thinks about life after the sporting recognised university qualifications and improve career options fast lane. - while still balancing work and family commitments. Gemma Flynn is in a similar frame of With more than 150 programmes to choose from, the curriculum mind. Engaged to former All Blacks captain offers the flexibility to make the most of your choice to pursue Richie McCaw, the Black Sticks hockey any-time, anywhere education. player is firmly focused on her goals for And that means you do not have to attend classes at times that the Games but also further plans for study. may not fit in with your lifestyle. As a distance student at the Massey University Academy of Sport she If you are already working, its convenience also enhances your has completed a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science, and has started career prospects and helps you to achieve your personal and a Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology. professional goals without having to leave your job. In some cases “We are privileged to represent our country and are grateful for all your employer may even cover course fees. the opportunities we get.” You can study wherever you live - rural, urban or overseas locations - with course materials being available online or delivered to your home. While studying at home you may also be able to “We do need to prepare for life after take advantage of the facilities we offer at one of our campuses sport, having a good balance is near you and thus make use of all the support and services important and giving everything you available to Massey students. So join more than 15,000 other Massey students each year have while you play is our focus.” who study by distance at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. – Gemma Flynn For further information go to www.massey.ac.nz/massey/ learning/distance-learning/.
4 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Distance learning
Public health master going for gold
Georgia Gray may only have moved to New Zealand in 2014, but the champion para-swimmer is on a mission to make her mark and qualify for the Paralympics. By Jenna Ward.
Georgia Gray says Massey University has been understanding and helpful in accommodating her sports commitments and training.
eorgia Gray is a talented 22-year-old, who graduated from the University Rio-bound Fisher of Oxford in 2014 with a degree in human sciences and made the move to Auckland after being head hunted by New Zealand’s para-swimming head part of talent pool performance coach Jon Shaw. GGray’s shift from study to swimming has been a big transition. aralympian swimmer Mary Fisher is “I moved here for swimming but I also really wanted to pursue a Master of Public Pintent on making a splash with her Health. Massey University was the most understanding and ‘athlete friendly’ uni in studies as well as her sport this year. New Zealand. And they offer a great course in public health.” Denied the opportunity, due to an Born in London to Kiwi parents, Gray grew up without the hand on her right arm. administrative blunder, to defend her title But the absence of her appendage hasn’t deterred her from dreaming of qualifying for of 2014 Disabled Sportsperson of the Year the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. at this year’s Halberg Awards, she is “This year promises to be pretty busy if I qualify, with lots of international camps, determined to defend her medal haul in but Rio is my aim right now. Swimming was very secondary to me during my first the pool. degree, and now it has sort of become the basis of my day, so it’s been a bit of a shock At theLondon 2012 Paralympic Games to the system, but everyone has been so supportive.” Fisher won a gold medal, two silvers and a Living in Auckland’s Browns Bay on the North Shore, where Massey University has bronze. She backed that up with consistent a modern campus, Gray has chosen to study via distance so that she can travel for performances that earned her three world training when needed. “Massey has been really understanding when I haven’t been titles at the swimming world championships able to physically attend, sending me lecture notes or posting lectures online. It’s been at Glasgow last August. a great experience.” The early part of 2016 has been spent Gray and her British partner, who also made the move from the UK, have set up a training as well as catching up on studies joint tutoring business called Oxbridge Tutors NZ - www.oxbridgetutorsnz.com. by completing summer school via distance “He’s an engineer, so he teaches maths and physics. I do more humanities, English towards a psychology degree and history, but also biology and health sciences.” at Massey University. Gray plans on ramping up her study time after Rio, but it won’t be her last time as Her focus will soon a student. switch full-on to the Rio “I would really like to do a doctorate. Something on reproductive health in a third 2016 Paralympics in world, developing world setting. That’s my end goal, my dream job really.” September.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 5 Cover story
Dancing by degrees
The Royal New Zealand Ballet keeps its dancers on their toes but Massey University’s distance learning programme is helping a trio of them to stand firmly on their feet once their dance careers are over, writes Diana Dekker.
Royal New Zealand Ballet dancer Alayna Ng says that distance learning while on the road is motivating.
layna Ng has been dancing for Her insurance against the inevitable “The time I spend studying does vary. more than 20 years, ever since end of dance is distance study at Massey Dancing, my full-time job, does take precedence. she was four years old in a tiny University. It’s a challenge, having a demanding job and tutu doing pirouettes. Fellow dancers Paul Mathews, 29, and studying on the run away from home, but AShe was taken to ballet classes once a Harry Skinner, 28, also know that age is it’s definitely motivating.” week and as time went on to five or six days their adversary and cart laptops on company When dancing does end for her, she’ll a week. tours around the world to link in to Massey go to Massey full-time. “Working away at “After high school I went to the New from wherever they are. papers part-time you have a feel for university Zealand School of Dance and we danced Mathews is doing a business degree life so it won’t be a big shock when I go pretty much all day, five days a week and majoring in finance and Skinner is aiming full-time. half a day on Saturdays.” for an arts degree majoring in communi- “Nutrition is very important. Our bodies She danced on into the Royal New Zealand cations. are the product of what we put into them. Ballet. And now she’s 28. She knows the Ng started a Bachelor of Science in human It’s very important for everyone and career won’t last forever and that injury can nutrition in 2012, with the idea of becoming something we all need to think about.” cut her dance career in an instant. a dietitian. She’s completed three papers. Ng has already trained as a pilates instructor.
6 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Paul Mathews is doing a business degree, Alayna Ng has been studying human nutrition and Harry Skinner is doing an arts degree.
Her post-dance future will probably “The wonderful thing about a programme although not at Massey. It was only in 2014 relate to her career in dance and that’s not like Massey’s distance learning programme that he took advantage of Massey’s distance unusual, says Kat Sprowell, the Royal New is that it offers young dancers the opportunity learning programme - in business. Zealand Ballet’s Artistic, HR and Corporate to develop new careers when it would “Massey has a better extramural set-up Services Manager. otherwise be incredibly difficult. It gives and I’m happy with the switch. Both papers “If you are a dancer it stays with you them an avenue to achieve that.” have had a lot better support than I previously always, no matter what.” Skinner is one dancer in the career- had [at other universities]. They’re well While some continue to work in studios development stage, but while he is committed organised and there are a lot of resources others pursue careers in business or to his distance study he also feels he is in like live lectures. They film the lectures and administration and marketing. It’s really “a good place” in dance. you can watch along with people sitting in diverse, she says. “Dancing into your mid to late 30s is rare the room. You don’t miss out on much.” She says the dancers doing distance so I’ve got to keep my options open,” he Now he’s older he knows how quickly studying at Massey “have proactively says, “and I don’t want to limit myself.” his dance career can end. sought out these opportunities with support At 15 he studied at The Australian Ballet “I’m hoping it doesn’t happen ‘til I’ve from the company. We give them study School and he later joined the Royal New done a few more papers.” leave when they need it and generally do Zealand Ballet. Communications evolved The Royal New Zealand Ballet is very what we can to make it as achievable as as his favoured subject. Post-ballet he might supportive of dancers giving thought to possible.” pursue public relations and that could, he what comes next and preparing for their No matter how supportive the company, says, keep him in the ballet community. eventual career transitions, whatever they dancers need their own individual drive to Distance study has been demanding but may be. keep up with with distance study. satisfying. “Being a professional dancer is a tough “The company tours a lot, up to six months “I find the lecturers good at understanding and often short profession, but I’m living my of the year generally, so a lot of time is spent that students have other jobs, full-time jobs. dream right now and loving it,” says Ng. travelling. It makes study very hard. People They’re very understanding. I’ve called You can see Mathews, Ng and Skinner dancing like Alayna, Harry and Paul have to be some a few times.” with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in the hugely motivated. They dance, and the job Mathews also keeps the fear of a company’s first season of 2016. Speed of Light starts on February 26 and runs to March 16 in is demanding, and they study alongside catastrophic ending to his dance career at Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and that. bay but sensibly began studying at 20, Dunedin. See www.rnzb.org.nz.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 7 Feature
From the House to health and safety – then back again
Judith Collins, now back in Cabinet, says there is always something new to learn – and distance study has worked for her. She talks to Jenna Ward.
inister of Corrections and I’m always suggesting that others do, so to come to grips with logarithms for the Police Judith Collins isn’t I thought I would take my own advice.” first time since I was 17 has been challenging just a parliamentarian. She’s Despite having studied a lot in her for the brain, but good for it. also an A+ student. earlier years, the mother of one says “MPs tend to know more about the law, M The 56-year-old found herself with a learning via distance takes more effort. because we make laws all the time. My little extra time on her hands last year, “I’ve never done distance learning study provides me with a far greater after resigning from Cabinet following a before. It requires a lot more discipline understanding of the social, psychological series of political headaches. She returned than attending lectures because there’s and scientific reasons around changes. in December. just not the same discipline imposed on It makes for better law-making in my Collins, who spent more than 20 years you. It takes a lot more self-motivation. opinion. The more you know, the more as a lawyer, is now studying for a Graduate you can contribute, and it has provided Diploma in Occupational Safety and me with more information to debate issues Health. in Parliament.” “I enjoy being intellectually challenged And despite juggling Parliament with as well as being busy. I’m used to also studying and family life, Collins is getting being a minister with very high-profile, “The more you know, A+ marks. challenging portfolios, so I really felt the the more you can “In April I had to get my first assignment need to be learning new things.” contribute.” in, and I thought, ‘Oh no, what have I She already holds three university done?’ It would be too embarrassing to – Judith Collins degrees - a Bachelor of Laws, a Master pull out, so I told myself I had better just of Laws with Honours, and a Master of keep going.” Taxation Studies. Now the Waikato-born So what does she enjoy about distance farm girl is up-skilling again. learning? “The health and safety legislation was But because of the strange hours I work “The best thing is if I get an A+. I am going to have major ramifications for at Parliament, I can make it work for me. a little bit competitive, so I get a bit excited New Zealand business and working I personally find it really enjoyable.” about that. The worst thing is having to cultures, and I thought it was a really This new knowledge fits in perfectly study for exams. That’s not so much fun.” good opportunity for me to learn something with her day job. Collins says you are never too old or new. “Studying makes me better able to too busy to study. “I am always telling others they should explain to people what changes in the “Even if you just do a paper a year, it keep up to date with law changes and health and safety legislation mean. It has is really good for you. I have felt really trends, and learn things that are different made me better informed. It’s just good quite rejuvenated by it all. You never from what they are used to. It was a chance for my brain, having to learn maths and know everything and you can always learn to be part of that continual improvement chemistry again, and even physics. Having something new.”
8 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University “I’m used to also being a minister with very high-profile, challenging portfolios, so I really felt the need to be learning new things.” – Judith Collins
Cabinet minister Judith Collins is studying occupation health and safety through Massey University’s distance learning programme.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 9 Future
Which jobs are safe in the new age of automation?
It has been predicted that by the mid-2020s artificial intelligence will have overtaken human intelligence. In this brave new world, which jobs will be safe? By Ted Zorn.
he latest news you read in this Neil Jacobstein predicts that artificial The impacts on the logistics and transport magazine could have been intelligence will overtake human intelli- industry of this technology could be huge, written by a computer without gence in the mid-2020s. affecting taxi drivers, couriers and pilots, your even noticing – one of the Experts nervously debate what this among others. Similarly, “big data” already signsT that we are in the midst of a revolution technological revolution will mean for the enables computers to carry out some potentially more transformative than the future. There is no question that there will activities faster and better than humans can. industrial revolution. be a heavy disruption to employment They can already identify fraud faster than That revolution moved humankind patterns as ever-increasing numbers of an accountant and diagnose illness better from manual to machine labour, and jobs face automation. Jobs that are routine than a doctor. One study predicts that 47 brought dramatic social changes and and repetitive are, of course, already being percent of jobs could become automated in higher standards of living. The current replaced. Retail checkout clerks, tax the next 20 years. revolution, driven by rapid advances in preparers, bank tellers and telephone New Zealand will not be exempt from information and communication operators are quickly disappearing. Many automation. Two of our most important technologies and biotechnologies, will other service and retail jobs could soon go industries – agriculture and tourism – will similarly bring massive changes in how the same way as manufacturing jobs. undergo significant change in the coming we live and work. While the benefits are What’s more, jobs that require complex decades. Agriculture and horticulture will potentially huge, so are the dangers. pattern recognition and non-routine increasingly see agricultural robots (or Machines churning out news stories, cognitive tasks are not immune from agbots) automating processes such as along with driverless cars, 3D-printed automation. Ten years ago, driverless cars harvesting, fruit picking, ploughing, weeding, human hearts and memory-recording were an impossible dream because of planting and irrigation, particularly on MRI scans, are just the beginning. computers’ inability to recognise and commercial farms. Hundreds of agbots The speed of innovation, particularly in respond to rapid changes in traffic and road equipped with microscopic sensors could chip processing and memory capacity, conditions. Today, Google’s independent potentially coordinate and work the land means a near exponential rate of development cars are already proving more reliable than with minimal human intervention within is ahead of us. Artificial intelligence expert human drivers. the next 10 years.
10 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University The dairying industry will also see the future. We must ensure that students changes in the pipeline, with robotic systems are tech-savvy and can work effectively that automate the entire milking process. with new digital tools. A willingness to Meanwhile, drones are already monitoring use technology to complement and enhance farm conditions as they are able to reach our effectiveness is critical. We must hard-to-access areas faster than a farmer ensure that graduates are also equipped ever could. to continually learn, innovate and adapt. While the possibility of automation Policymakers must also prepare for a might ring warning bells for many indus- future that could see at least temporary tries, agriculture may be an exception. A mass unemployment, by both preparing shortage of agricultural workers is foreseen, and agbots could provide much-needed labour. A recent report launched by Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy, highlights the need for 50,000 more workers in agriculture by 2025. Agbots could fill this gap, working longer and more quickly and without human injuries. The development of automation in agriculture also creates opportunities for New Zealand. A recent report commissioned by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise estimated that New Zealand’s agri-tech- nology exports are currently worth $1.2 billion per annum and there is great potential for this to increase. The report also showed that New Zealand is emerging as a leader in providing agricultural technology solutions – a strength we should build upon. Tourism, New Zealand’s second largest export earner, is also facing technological innovation – the airline industry being a frontrunner. The process of air travel - from reservations, to check-in, security, and baggage handling - is increasingly automated. The trickle towards the automation of jobs may be relatively slow for the moment, but the flood may not be far off. With this in mind, which occupations will be the most resistant to automation? High-skill jobs requiring creativity, social intelligence and decision-making are least at risk, at to retrain large numbers and preparing Professor Ted Zorn is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Massey Business School. least in the short to medium term. So for the possibility that technology will managers and social workers, for example, finally lead to what futurists have been repeatedly show up in the “safe” category. forecasting for decades – an economy that And some low-skill jobs – home-care and simply requires far fewer workers. Managed cleaning, for example – will also be largely well, this could mean enriched lives of unaffected in the near future. more leisure and fulfilment. Managed As a business school dean, I think a lot poorly, it could mean massive disruption about how we prepare our students for and social conflict.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 11 Future
Auckland leaders gathered at Massey’s Albany campus for the Grow North summit. Pictured from left to right in a Sealegs amphibious marine craft: Guy Haddleton, Takapuna-based software entrepreneur; Brett O’Riley, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Develop- ment Chief Executive; Professor Howard Armitage, University of Waterloo; Dr Rebecca Gill, Massey University; and Profes- sor Ted Zorn, Pro Vice-Chan- cellor and Dean of the Massey Business School.
Can Auckland North become the next Silicon Valley?
Massey University’s entrepreneurship researcher Dr Rebecca Gill has a vision for an innovation district in Auckland’s north. And she is not alone. By Sidah Russell.
arcelona, Spain. Boston, “These areas need to have mixed collaborate on development.” Massachusetts. Waterloo, development so they become hip, vibrant Massey University Vice-Chancellor Steve Canada. The creation of and diverse places. They also need robust Maharey called on everybody in the room innovation districts is an urban infrastructure, from high-speed broadband to play their part and outlined Massey’s planningB trend that has emerged in cities to public and commercial spaces for co- contribution. around the globe – and Dr Rebecca Gill working and shared services.” “We will soon start building our Sciences believes there is no reason why Auckland’s As the lead researcher for the “Grow Innovation Complex, which will house teaching north (“Auckland North”) can’t be next. North’’ research project, Gill outlined the and research labs and collaborative working The entrepreneurship researcher opportunities for and challenges to becoming spaces to connect the University with the local presented her ideas to more than 200 of an innovation district. She said that New community. We want this campus to be at the Auckland’s business, academic and local Zealand’s prevailing “do-it-yourself” mindset centre of this vision,” he said. government leaders at the end of last year. was one of the key things holding it back “There is no doubt that the smart, While the vision is still evolving, there is and true open collaboration was key to a innovative corridor from Auckland Harbour already a consensus emerging amongst successful innovation district. Bridge to Silverdale can make a contribution key stakeholders. “There are pockets of innovation all over to Auckland and to the country. “The district needs a heart and good Auckland North, but we really need to “But this is not someone else’s project. transport connections are a must, both mobilise open collaboration and connections The whole community needs to come between the key locations in Auckland between these existing groups,” she said. together. We need to make sure this is a North and with the central city and “We currently lack an R&D [research place not only where businesses want to Northland. A free light-rail link would be and development] capability database that come, but where people want to live because ideal so the multiple locations are strongly can easily be tapped into when firms want they can find purpose here as part of a networked together,” Gill said. to purchase each other’s innovation or smart, innovative community.”
12 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Feature
Warehouse chief becomes Massey’s CEO-in-Residence By Sidah Russell.
hen Mark Powell hands academia and business in a way that means at the helm of The Warehouse Group. over the reins at New important information flows both ways.” “We are extremely fortunate to have Zealand’s largest retailer someone of his calibre joining our team, this month he will take someone who understands Massey’s goal Wup part-time residence at the Massey of being an entrepreneurial university that Business School. “I am a big believer in is closely connected to the business The outgoing Warehouse Group Chief education – it gives community,” he says. Executive will become the University’s you the confidence to Powell is no stranger to the academic first CEO-in-Residence, a position that world, with two bachelor’s degrees and will see him serve as a liaison point between ask questions and not two master’s degrees under his belt. He the University and the business community, be intimidated by also plans to complete his third master’s a guest lecturer, a mentor for students and experts.” degree next year. a strategic consultant to the business “I am a big believer in education – it – Mark Powell school’s executive team. gives you the confidence to ask questions “I have always been interested in the and not be intimidated by experts,” he connection between ideas and practice, Professor Ted Zorn, Pro-Vice Chancellor says. and how one informs the other,” Powell and Dean of the Massey Business School, “At the same time it gives you humility says. “As Massey’s CEO-in-Residence I says the University developed a strong because you know there is always more hope to help bridge the gap between relationship with Powell during his years to learn.”
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 13 TALENTED MASSEY ALUMNI AND STAFF THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE OF BOOKS WRITTEN BY MASSEY ALUMNI AND STAFF VISIT OUR ONLINE SHOP TO SEE OUR FULL RANGE OF GIFTS AND BOOKS
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14 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Distance learning
His Massey supervisors, he says, were “fantastic”. He is grateful to Dr Paul Childerhouse, School of Engineering and Advanced Technology Professor in Logistics and Supply Chain Management, logistics lecturer Walter Glass, and Lincoln University’s Dr Mark Wilson. “For distance study there were all manner of support systems should I need them. I cracked on. When I needed online facilities they were readily available and excellent. The NZDF library and the Massey library were first class.’’ It was dicey eyesight rather than design that set him on an academic path and a career that, after his role as a military observer in East Timor, saw him become a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001. “In hindsight I’m so glad. I’ve loved every minute of it. Being in logistics opened doors Our military man that being at sea probably wouldn’t have done. The logistics area has been fantastic in Paris in terms of what I’ve been able to do.” He works out of the offices of New Shaun Fogarty is New Zealand’s first military attaché in Paris. Zealand’s ambassador to France, Dr James Behind him is a significant naval career and years of diligent Kember. His role was established by the distance study. He speaks to Diana Dekker. New Zealand Defence Force, and together with colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage they deliver on the here is an old naval saying: completed his Master of Logistics and WWI centenary objectives. “That’s life in a blue suit”. Supply Chain Management by distance “It’s been a huge privilege to represent Captain Shaun Fogarty is learning at Massey University. He had New Zealand at the many services that living that naval life of many earlier done Massey distance study for acknowledge the sacrifice our troops made changes.T his diploma in the subject as well as a nearly 100 years ago,” he says. “You tend to move every two or three plethora of other work-relevant and far- “On the flip side the Paris attacks in years by nature of the military.” flung New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) November last year and earlier with the He is, for the moment, New Zealand’s initiated study. Charlie Hebdo [magazine cartoonist] first defence attaché in Paris, focusing on His master’s thesis, far removed from killings have taken a huge toll on the World War I commemorations in France the concerns and cultural highs of Paris, French. However, in true stoic fashion and Belgium. focused on the response to Canterbury’s they have continued to live their lives as His blue-suited life has been more devastating earthquakes, exploring New normally as possible. It certainly hasn’t peripatetic and eventful than he could Zealand’s capability to manage logistical stopped their passion for rugby, which ever have imagined when he left school responses to major civil defence and lifted to new heights with the arrival of in Dunedin at 18 with a dream of sailing emergency events strategically. Dan Carter in Paris late last year. And the seas. For it he needed to arrange and conduct we’re all looking forward to later in the His Royal New Zealand Navy career has many interviews with people involved year when the All Blacks play in France taken him all over the world, from East with the Canterbury disaster. Self-discipline for the Dave Gallaher Trophy, named after Timor to Buckingham Palace. And he has was essential and easy access to academic the famous All Blacks captain of 1905 who studied in tandem with it. Last year he help crucial. died at Passchendaele in 1917.”
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 15 Distance learning
Elite rower turns adversity into success
Toby Cunliffe-Steel, who is studying sport and exercise through distance learning at Massey University, overcame a brain tumour to become one of the country’s top rowers. By Diana Dekker.
oby Cunliffe-Steel is at the top of international applause. “I’d like to row for Zealand rower to ever win a medal at the his game. the rest of my life, but lifelong high performance games in its 50-year history. The rower has represented his is not possible. You have to have other options.” So Cunliffe-Steel, based in Cambridge, is country and his university, Massey. In the 2015 World University Games, studying for a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise THe is, at 23, in that golden, invincible stretch Cunliffe-Steel won the silver medal in the at Massey and making provision for the of years when hard physical work, early men’s lightweight single scull, earning the inevitable, fitting in the intellectual work mornings and focus make for magic oars, title of the second fastest student lightweight with the physical as a distance learner. He immense satisfaction and national and sculler in the world. He was the first New trains at nearby Lake Karapiro.
16 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University “I’d like to row for the rest of my life, but lifelong high performance is not possible. You have to have other options.” – Toby Cunliffe-Steel
That’s not easy, says Professor Emeritus mined to succeed in sport and post-sport He has made the brain tumour a positive Gary Hermansson, a sports psychologist life as Cunliffe-Steel. His experience tells in his life. and for 30 years both a counsellor and an him that not only sport, but life, can end “I was honoured and grateful that I was put educator at Massey. People like Cunliffe- all too soon. A few years into his rowing in the position of head prefect in my last year Steel need to be disciplined to fit in study career, in 2007, he was diagnosed with a at school and was able to share a message with with their sport. brain tumour. He was treated in Auckland 1800 kids at school, a morbid one, that life can Professor Hermansson, who last year and Tauranga and by 2009 he was wearing end in an instant. You could have done everything became an Officer of the New Zealand the silver fern, representing New Zealand expected of you and that you wanted to do. It Order of Merit, has been at every Olympic in the under-21 rowing team. doesn’t mean you are less likely to be unfortunate. and Commonwealth Games as the country’s After six months study at the University “The message is to be aware of it and make team psychologist since 1998. of Otago he left for Cambridge, because the most of every moment. There’s no point He is used, in the last week of those it is the centre for rowing in New Zealand, in doing anything half-arsed when tomorrow games, to sitting with athletes and con- and decided to enrol in Massey’s distance you might not be there to do it. I have to sidering the “what now?”. Some will score programme. commit 100 percent to rowing. It doesn’t jobs because of their profiles but others “I decided it was the best option and I mean I let my study fall short.” can be helped to a planned post-compet- never looked back.” At any moment the study might pay off. As itive life in a world in which academic Having completed five years of part-time with all elite sports people, there’s the possibility qualifications seem almost mandatory. study, Cunliffe-Steel finished his degree an injury could propel him into post-rowing Not every elite athlete is quite as deter- in 2015. mode.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 17 Science
Smart farming needed in response to climate change
With global temperatures potentially rising by an average of 3.5 degrees Celsius in the next century if we carry on burning fossils at the rate we do now, New Zealand’s biggest industry – agriculture – is set to be hit hard. Professor of Energy at Massey University Ralph Sims says farmers can not only adapt to this climate change but also help to prevent it. By Mirjam Guesgsen.
limate change is more than just “The global supply chain needs to be as orchards using solar energy to power rising temperatures. unlinked from its dependency on fossil water pumps for their trickle irrigation. An assessment report from fuels. Think about all the tractors and Part of the solution is also to minimise the Intergovernmental Panel farm equipment that run on petrol or the third of all food that is produced Con Climate Change, of which Sims is a diesel for example, and all the heat used but not consumed due to losses and part, points out that change for New in food-processing plants.” waste. Zealand will come in the form of significant He envisions energy being used more A newly published Food and Agriculture shifts and rises rise in extreme rainfall, a efficiently through for example, the use Organisation of the United Nations tripling of the time spent in drought by of electro-technologies or woody biomass study, led by Sims, provides details on 2040, global sea level rises, and a 400 from forest wastes and the capture of how this can be achieved (www.fao. percent increase in days with “very high” local renewable energy sources, such org/3/a-i5125e.pdf ). or “extreme” fire danger and shifts in wind speed and direction. New Zealand seven-station annual average temperature, minus 1971-2010 normal (adjusted for Even if temperature rises are kept below site changes) 2.0°C, or even closer to 1.5°C as per the 1.0 recent Paris Agreement, more numerous Trend: 0.92+_0.26°C/century (1909-2015) and extreme weather events are likely. 0.5 The impacts of these changes on our dairy, sheep and beef industries will vary 0.0 widely, Sims says. “Some regions may actually benefit -0.5 from increased pasture production, but for most, an increased drought risk and uncertain changes in pests, weeds and -1.0 Temperature anomaly (°C) Temperature diseases, as well as the potential erosion of farmland, will wreak havoc.” -1.5 Sims says farmers are beginning to adapt 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 by planting drought-resistant varieties Mean annual temperature for New Zealand, calculated from the National Institute of Water like chicory or plantain, and planting trees and Atmospheric Research’s (NIWA’s) ”seven station” series. on erosion-prone hill country. However, This series uses climate data from seven geographically representative locations. The data is adjusted to take account of factors such as different measurement sites. The black dotted he says, they also need to become more line is the linear trend from 1909 to 2015 [NIWA]. “energy smart”.
18 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Science
Animals have a range of experiences that come from both external factors and factors reflective of their perceptions. The changing science of animal welfare
Mirjam Guesgen met two Massey scientists, Professor David Mellor and Dr Ngaio Beausoleil, to learn about an influential theory that has shaped how schools, universities, the livestock industry and zoos worldwide understand animals’ experiences.
model developed at Massey sickness (experiences resulting from external Massey University’s University of an animal’s factors) and frustration, anger, helplessness, Professor perception of its environ- loneliness and boredom (reflective of an David Mellor ment has been feted around animal’s perception of its environment). and Dr Ngaio Beausoleil. theA world. However, perhaps the biggest shake-up The Five Domains Model, developed by to animal welfare science was the scientific Mellor in 1994, could be described as radical validation of positive emotions, which for its time but it is just as important as Mellor then included in the model. The model and the field continue to meeting an animal’s basic survival needs. “We all knew that animals could have develop with the expertise of Beausoleil. “The health of an animal is not all that positive experiences but we needed to She has written a document for the constitutes welfare,” Beausoleil says. evaluate this scientifically. The thing that Department of Conservation about the When the model was first conceived, it convinced me as a physiologist was welfare implications and practicalities of included experiences of thirst, hunger, understanding the brain mechanisms marking and tagging wildlife. pain, anxiety, fear and distress. It soon behind the behaviour. Since then, she has made significant became apparent that the concept of animal “For negative emotions it’s easy. We had contributions to the field, now sitting welfare was changing rapidly through a good understanding of stress hormones on the Wellington Zoo Trust Animal scientific investigation. For example, the and their release in situations of fear or Welfare Committee and holding the catch-all term “distress” was unhelpful. pain, but these did not help us with positive position of Deputy Director of the Massey The model was therefore modified in emotions. What we have instead are particular University Animal Welfare Science and 2009 by the inclusion of breathlessness, brain areas activated when an animal Bioethics Centre, which Mellor established nausea, dizziness, weakness, malaise and engages in something it finds rewarding.” in 1998.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 19 Ma-ori visual arts
Acting head of Whiti o Rehua School of Art Emma Febvre-Richards; senior lecturer of Ma-ori Visual Arts Rachael Rakena; Director of Ma-ori Art, Associate Professor Ngataiharuru Taepa; senior lecturer Professor Bob Jahnke and College of Creative Arts Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Claire Robinson. Milestone for Ma-ori visual art
ew Zealand’s only degree in to learn te reo, tikanga Ma-ori and the Treaty They are part of an anniversary series Ma-ori Visual Arts fosters and of Waitangi, alongside other Ma-ori studies. of exhibitions - Toioho XX - which opened recognises the work of Ma-ori “I want students to walk out and be able in Palmerston North in December and artists, which have been ignored to use the cultural knowledge they have brings together works from 150 alumni in inN the past by art schools. gained from the programme and to work one of the country’s biggest displays of When Professor Bob Jahnke (Nga-i Taharora, wherever that maybe” says Jahnke. A contemporary Ma-ori art. Te Wha-nau a Iritekura, Te Wha-nau a Rakairo Master’s degree, the MMVA, was also Toioho XX celebrates the 20th anniversary o Nga-ti Porou) was at art school in the 1970s developed to cater for postgraduates and of Massey University’s Bachelor of Ma-ori he got to study every other culture but his established artists. Visual Arts. There are more than 150 works own and he dreamed of a course with Ma-ori You don’t have to be Ma-ori to study the from art galleries and private collections art and language at its heart. BMVA any more than you have to be Dutch displayed in six galleries, with some of the Today he’s not only one of the country’s to study van Gogh, but Jahnke delights in country’s best Ma-ori art on view. leading contemporary Ma-ori artists, but watching young Ma-ori discover roots they Jahnke says he feels enormous pride in also founder of its only degree in Ma-ori barely knew they had. “In order to create the national contribution that the pro- visual arts which late last year celebrated art that communicates, you certainly have gramme has made. its 20th anniversary. It’s a milestone of which to understand your culture, where you come “Sir Mason Durie always said the journey Jahnke is extremely proud, not for the from and how that culture has shaped you.” is not about the programme, or the staff, it programme’s longevity but for the long list Jahnke’s vision was not just to look back is the students.” of artists, curators and teachers it’s turned at Ma-ori artistry of the past but to shape its From the first graduate Huhana Smith out and the Ma-ori contemporary art move- future as well. to the latest PhD awarded late last year to ment it has nurtured. “This programme is really aimed at Terri Te Tau, the programme has produced The Bachelor of Ma-ori Visual Arts (BMVA) tracking down new visual ground, new visual an impressive array of artists. grew out of the Te Pu-tahi a Toi School of vocabulary based within kaupapa Ma-ori.” Te Manawa gallery in Palmerston North Ma-ori Studies at Massey University in He says evidence of the programme’s will house the core exhibitions along with Palmerston North and has its roots firmly success lies in its alumni. Artists like Sandy the Square Edge Community Centre and planted in Ma-ori culture. Unlike other arts Adsett, Huhana Smith, Shane Cotton and The White Room Co. The exhibition runs programmes, students go beyond studio art Ngatai Taepa are graduates. until April 17 this year.
20 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Feature
BA myth-busting makeover It’s a Bachelor of Arts, but not as you know it, writes Jennifer Little.
Actor Antonia Prebble says a Massey BA in English literature and French has enhanced her career.
new degree at Massey Uni- “That’s our job, that’s what we’re Massey’s “myth-busting” campaign has versity aims to produce a supposed to do – expose students to had a chorus of support, from celebrities generation of creative and things they would not otherwise have such as comedian and TV host Jeremy critical thinkers. known existed.” Corbett and Massey BA graduate and actor ACore papers in the new Massey University Employers will want to have people on Bachelor of Arts will explore issues ranging their payrolls who are confident in their from citizenship and identity to the impact own sense of identity and are comfortable of technology, the quality of political debate about other people’s ways of doing things, “Critical thinkers are and the influence of social media on he adds. needed for a healthy everything. “Society needs people with BA degrees democracy.” This new “intellectual kete” will expand – people who’ve studied politics, philosophy, people’s universes, says Professor Richard religion, history, sociology, anthropology, – Professor Richard Shaw Shaw, who is spearheading a “refresh” of languages, literature or media studies to the BA by Massey University, the first name a few – to help maintain a healthy university in New Zealand to do so. level of debate and dissension,” he says. Antonia Prebble. She talks in a short video The degree nurtures critical, creative An online equivalent of the degree will clip about how her Massey BA in English thinkers vital to a healthy democracy and be established for Massey’s growing distance literature and French has enhanced her economy, says Professor Shaw. student body. career and personal development.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 21 Feature
Creatively re-thinking the places we work
Nick Kapica, with Ilka, who was the first community manager, in the Kia Ora workspace that welcomes people to Te Whare Pukaka.
ow fitting that an institution how to create this aspirational and aesthetic discreet access, no windows and lounge- dedicated to creativity should use of space by suggesting how it should type furniture. devise a new and engaging look and work. Off to the side of the main workspace is work environment for its staff. Walking in, visitors are greeted by the the intriguingly titled “The Scrum” space. HThe name of the space is Te Whare words Kia Ora on the floor and find themselves It is simply furnished with large whiteboards Pu-ka-ka-, or the College of Creative Arts in The Forge part of the communal kitchen. and stools and can morph into a project Workplace, but that belies the sheer It takes its name both from the metaphor space, an extension of The Forge for eating inventiveness of a myriad of spaces that that relationships are forged over food and drinking, or an exhibition space. have the potential to redefine the way we and drink and by the presence of a large The activity most provided for is working work. extract hood. The Forge has an exaggerated at a computer – both sitting and standing. Located in an environment of industrial kitchen island, the Kia Ora joinery and Six large shared tables provide clear desk- chic, the floor plan is divided into rooms café furniture. top space for up to 76 people. and spaces of varying sizes to accommodate A community manager runs this space, If that all sounds a bit busy and potentially professional staff and academics from which was largely the inspiration of Kapica’s noisy, the Sanctuary provides a refuge from Massey’s Schools of Design, Art and Music wife Ilka. other spaces, where you can work in silence and Creative Media Production. It is complemented by the neighbouring and isolation. And one of them, senior lecturer Nick area Flux. This is an open working space Kapica concedes that not all staff were Kapica, is the brains behind the concept, where anyone from the university can come enamoured with the workspace environment which combines open plan with box-type and work at the long work benches. when it was first unveiled, but many of the office and meeting rooms, as well as workshop If privacy is required the space is populated academics who had held on to their existing space. with a series of box-type offices of varying offices have gradually integrated into Te Each area has been given a name to define shapes. The Flower Box has casual furniture, Whare Pu-ka-ka-. it and explain its function within the wider the Stand Box as the name suggests has College of Creative Arts Pro Vice- footprint of a space previously used by stand-up meeting tables and leaner stools Chancellor, Professor Claire Robinson, says engineering staff and students. and the Long Box has a more traditional the space is still evolving, with some staff Using the concept of activity-based seated meeting table. still adapting to the changes that are “a workplaces, college staff along with Athfield “It’s a workspace where visitors can see work in progress”. Architects representatives visited numerous staff working in a place outside the lecture One further consideration is the possible workplaces to help refine their thoughts theatre environment,” Kapica says. addition of smaller spaces to accommodate on how the space should look. The smallest of the rooms is called the the needs of other small groups wanting Staff were involved with discussions on Soft Box, and is described as having more to meet privately.
22 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Feature Doctors, poets and the language of medicine
Poets, like doctors, deal with the deepest concerns of existence – illness, suffering, ageing, mortality, and the related feelings and fears. Massey University doctoral graduate Dr Johanna Emeney has explored the power of poetry to illuminate and comprehend medical experiences. She talks to Jennifer Little.
n award-winning poet before While the field of medical humanities is throughout the year. We also do frequent she began her doctoral thesis well established in many United States and work for Auckland Council, running writing in creative writing through the British universities, it is still relatively new workshops for teens, migrant youth and School of English and Media to New Zealand. Emeney has been a guest older adults.” AStudies, Dr Johanna Emeney explored the tutor alongside Angela Andrews at the emerging field of medical humanities by University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical looking at the work of several New Zealand and Health Sciences for several years. Night Nurses appear at curtains poets writing on medical themes. The paper on comparative literature for in cameo profile, Emeney says the emergence of medical third-year medical students is part of a nod to obs sheets, humanities and its growing contribution to medical humanities programme at the faculty. tick boxes. health practices arose from a need to break Emeney says the opportunity for trainee The night nurses down communication barriers between doctors to study texts is hugely beneficial. pickpocket pulses doctors and patients resulting from complicated They get the chance not only to develop from bedsheets, medical jargon. empathy with patients, but also to process slide and turn whole bodies She says that the “language of medicine, their own feelings about and reactions to from pain if one has the time to acquire it, is, like all difficult or challenging medical situations. to comfort. languages, a source of power. By contrast, “Imagine after your first cadaver study In the light, not to know a word, or words, is to be outside – it can be very cathartic and creative to be their names knowledge and therefore, as a patient, or as able to write about that.” will be forgotten— a carer, impotent.” At the outset of writing her PhD, Emeney like the sound She’s also produced her own collection, came third in the British Hippocrates Prize of their kind shoes titled Family History, about her mother’s for Poetry and Medicine and last year was on linoleum, their answers cancer treatment, for the creative component shortlisted for the Montreal International to muddled of her thesis. The poems capture her intensely Poetry Prize and commended in the midnight questions, felt reactions to and thoughts about her Hippocrates Prize. She published her first the nightmare admissions mother’s cancer, along with her observations collection of poems, Apple & Tree (Cape taken in their stride. of hospital routines and clinical language Catley), in 2011. that can heighten patients’ and families’ She hopes to publish Family History later anxieties in an unfamiliar environment. this year. She is teaching a creative writing Lines Overheard at the Teaching Hospital In her research she examines, “the ways paper at Massey’s Albany campus this Today, I learned that heartstrings in which the poets draw attention to the semester, and continues to co-facilitate the are called chordae tendineae dehumanising effects of clinical language, Michael King Young Writers Programme I touched them. and to the need for lifeworld language and with her friend and teacher Ros Ali. In fact, I got to cut them imagery to communicate personal medical “We hold free writing events for talented in half. experience”. senior school students from all over Auckland
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 23 Feature
A new music degree at Massey University aims not only to foster musical talent, but to produce industry-savvy graduates. By Paul Mulrooney.
here is a brand new approach who is creative as well as strategic in a global Devin Abrams; Nicky Harrop, who has 18 to learning about creating and music industry.” years’ experience in the music industry commercialising music being To help that goal to be realised, new high- working for the BMG and Sony Music labels; driven by Massey’s new School tech industry-standard studio spaces and lecturer Oli Wilson, who just happens to be ofT Music and Creative Media Production. labs are being built for the school. keyboardist with renowned alternative indie The first intake of students in the Bachelor When they are completed the facilities act The Chills; and renowned pianist Dr of Commercial Music programme has started will include state-of-the-art recording, Norman Meehan, who has joined the team the course, which comprises three majors rehearsal, video and performance-capture to run the musicology courses. - music practice, music technology and facilities together with music, digital video, Other staff include emerging artist music industry. games, animation and web and mobile digital Bridget Johnson, who leads the music Head of School, Associate Professor Andre video studios with green screen web and technology major, which covers studio Ktori, says the full-time course is designed mobile media labs. production, music software and hardware to produce creative graduates who are fluent Ktori, who is a BAFTA award winner for development. The objective is that students in the production, promotion and distribution interactive enhanced music, has been joined will lead both technological and artistic of music media and live events. at the school by staff who are working development, Ktori says. It is this unique “It will take music into the digital worlds musicians, such as: producer and performer combination of technological innovation, and encourage the new emerging artist – one for internationally successful act Shapeshifter, performance creativity and industry-
24 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University Creating a “... creative as well as strategic in a global different kind music industry.” – Associate Professor of buzz Andre Ktori
Massey tutor Warren Maxwell performs at the Bachelor of Commercial Music launch last October. Devin Abrams, performing with his band Shapeshifter, is also a tutor on the new course.
savvyness that sets Massey’s programme apart, he says. The calibre of the school’s staff was emphasised at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards in November, when another staff member, Warren Maxwell, was presented with the Best Roots Album award for his band Trinity Roots’s record Citizen. He is also part of Little Bushman and is an ex member of Fat Freddy’s Drop. Massey University has announced a scholarship to help foster excellence in the New Zealand music scene. Worth $22,500, the scholarship, in association with the New Zealand Music Awards, will help a promising student with tuition fees and other costs in Head of School, Associate Professor Andre Ktori says the course is designed to produce creative three years of undergraduate study. graduates who are fluent in the production, promotion and distribution of music media and live events.
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 25 Feature
Accentuating the positive out of adversity
It seems unlikely that anything positive could come out of the Canterbury earthquakes but nurses working with the recovery have experienced a phenomenon called post-traumatic growth, writes Paul Mulrooney.
urses are at the forefront of health, there are few on the positive results of new possibilities, positive spiritual change care in the immediate aftermath for disaster response and recovery. and an increased appreciation of life. of any natural disaster. A The study by clinical psychologist, On the fifth anniversary of the fatal ground-breaking study by Associate Professor Sarb Johal, and Christchurch earthquake, Johal and NMassey University researchers explores researcher Zoe Mounsey, addresses the Mounsey, from Massey’s Joint Centre for how they have coped with the personal main aspects of what has become known Disaster Research, present their findings and professional effects of the Canterbury as post-traumatic growth. These are at the 2016 People and Disasters Conference. earthquakes. positive experiences arising out of disaster, It is being held in Christchurch to coincide While there is significant existing research such as improved relationships with others, with the week in which the city fell in on the negative effects of disaster on mental increased personal strength, the identification February 2011.
26 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University “Nurses do a lot but are not as well recognised as those in some other sectors.” – Associate Professor Sarb Johal
Two years after that 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed 185 people and caused massive damage to the city’s buildings and infrastructure, the researchers interviewed 11 nurses from across the city, including those working in community-based services, secondary care and residential homes. The interviews took place in October and November 2013, enabling the interviewers to cover both the initial aftermath of the earthquakes and the ongoing recovery process. Both researchers found differences from an earlier, similar study undertaken with Christchurch GPs. “While doctors appeared to have prepared for their interviews with us, for some of the Associate Professor Sarb Johal from the Joint Centre for Disaster Research and researcher Zoe Mounsey. nurses it was the first time they had sat down and talked about their personal “You have this realisation of what’s really “Several nurses recognised that they experiences,” Mounsey says. important. And it’s like an absolute had grown in confidence as a result of “They were very emotive interviews at clarification of your values. What really their experience, and that while traumatic times. Up until then they hadn’t had a chance counts is the relationships that you have it was also rewarding in other ways, to reflect on what the earthquake experience with your family, your friends and your while others felt that they were more meant for them.” colleagues”. able to express their emotions,” Johal All of the nurses interviewed were Another spoke of a change of approach says. “The words that the nurses used personally affected by the earthquakes and from how they had viewed life before the to describe their experiences, such as some continued to experience difficulties first earthquake in September 2010 and ‘incredible’, ‘proud’ and ‘privileged’ during the recovery phase. Many of the afterward. demonstrate the value that they placed nurses experienced significant impacts to “Our lives have changed and I always call on the experience.” their living arrangements due to damage it AQ and BQ after quake and before quake. The uplifting nature of the research’s or a loss of facilities to their homes. And it is different and I think a lot of people conclusion emerged spontaneously from Johal says one of the main questions asked are different in that they have different the conversations, he says. of the nurses, who were aged between 49 attitudes.” “Nurses do a lot but are not as well and 64, was, “Do you feel your relationships They also talked a lot about the stress of recognised as those in some other sectors.” with other people have changed?”. the recovery process in the immediate Johal suspects that the experiences of For many the magnitude of the disaster aftermath of the quakes. others working in the emergency services was thrown into relief by the realisation of One phenomenon arising from this was at the time of the earthquake may also what really mattered to them. the insistence of some traumatised people now emerge. “In a way they’ve become more detached on speaking only to health professionals “After the five-year anniversary a lot of from events and things, but more attached who had experienced the earthquakes too. people may suddenly come out of the to people,” he says. Since the earthquakes six of the 11 woodwork as the anniversary triggers One comment made that seemed to sum interviewees, who included one male nurse, previously suppressed emotions, thoughts up the attitudes of a lot of the nurses was: had changed jobs or their hours. and responses.”
| Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 27 Campus wide
New college head says Ma-ori science academy students can takes off change the world
“We might be in the business of graduating students, but Massey University with Te Puni Ko-kiri’s support launched the first science academy of its kind we are in the vocation of changing the world,” says Professor in New Zealand in January. Chris Gallavin, Massey University’s College of Humanities The Massey Science Academy – Pu-horo fosters 75 Ma-ori secondary school pupils from year and Social Sciences’ new Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor. 11 through to university and, ultimately, the workforce. Professor Gallavin believes that humanities and social The University is working alongside five Manawatu- secondary schools, and university academics sciences are central to achieving this. will engage with teachers, students and their families to foster students along their journeys Originally from Blenheim, Gallavin has spent the past 10 to science careers. years at the University of Canterbury, where he was Dean Support will be in the form of selecting appropriate qualification standards at school, providing of the School of Law. extra tutoring on a fortnightly basis, providing laboratory space for schools where this is not He completed his PhD in international criminal law and is available, offering field trips and showing students the varied opportunities available to them. now recognised as New Zealand’s expert on the law of Aerospace engineer Mana Vautier, pictured, who has previously worked with the United consent and culpable homicide, having written the book States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is the ambassador and Big Evidence, published in 2008. Brother for the campaign. Gallavin also has a passion for poetry and a gift for The Pu-horo programme is funded by Massey University and Te Puni Ko-kiri with support from memorising them en masse. Palmerston North City Council, Te Tumu Paeroa and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
Massey forum helps address Pacific health issues
A serious under-resourcing of the health workforce his embassy has a special interest in the issues as it in the Pacific Islands has been identified as one of is officially accredited to Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati, Tuvalu the greatest challenges facing the region. and Tonga. Academics, Pacific health researchers and leaders, Massey Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey described and members of the diplomatic community gathered the forum as a “unique gathering” of the diplomatic in Wellington in November to discuss the best way and Pacific communities. Solutions to the region’s to address health issues in the region. These issues myriad health issues lay with both securing more include high rates of cancer and the health and specialist support from outside the region and a environmental effects of uncontrolled use and misuse commitment from the Pasifika community to Dutch Ambassador Rob Zaagman (left), Tongan Minister for Health Dr Saia Piukala and Massey of fertilisers and pesticides. addressing areas of concern, guests were told. University Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey at the Numerous speakers at the event, hosted at the Centre Director, Professor Jeroen Douwes, hopes Pasifika Health Research Forum Dutch embassy and organised by Massey’s Centre the forum will lead to a wider call to action from the for Public Health Research, said that more health international community to get involved in addressing 2013-2020 proposes a series of targets, including a professionals and equipment are needed for the certain health issues in the region that have not had reduction by 25 percent of mortality from cardiovascular region too. the priority of others. A World Health Organisation disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory illnesses and Dutch Ambassador Rob Zaagman told guests that non-communicable diseases action plan for cancer.
A labour of love A Massey honours graduate has written rhyming of the stories inspired him to count on their back feet and their back and published a children’s book – inspired write a book of his own. feet only have eight toes. by his young daughter. After Massey Reeve went on to com- The book has received excellent Blair Reeve, a 2012 honours graduate plete a Master of Fine Arts in creative reviews and is available in 10 countries. in Japanese and English literature, came writing at the City University of Hong The illustrator, Chris Stapp, also a up with the idea of Hogart the Hedgehog Kong in 2014, where he still lives. New Zealander, is a friend of Reeve Turns Nine by reading Dr Seuss books Hogart is about an elderly hedgehog from Dunedin, who now lives in Auckland. to his daughter, who was born in 2013. having his ninth birthday, but he can’t Stapp is best known for his persona While reading to her, the rhythm and count past eight because hedgehogs and movies Randy Cambell Stuntman.
28 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University I AM A POST GRADUATE I AM A CHALLENGER Joe Harawira - NZRL/NRL Wellbeing and Education Manager | Massey University | February 2016 | definingnz | 29 I AM STUDYING BY DISTANCE I AM COURAGEOUS
30 | definingnz | February 2016 | Massey University