SPRING 2005

MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

THE ART OF THEDOCUMENTARY

A DROWNINGPACIFIC ISLAND

MATHEMATICS IN EMERGENCIES

INSIDE THE TAMAKI CAMPUS

BAD NEWSABOUT NOISE

MAKING MOVIES

CALENDAR

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1SPRING 2005

CONTENTS

4 PROBLEM SOLVERS

Operations research is the answer to anyone who thinks that mathematics has no application to the real world.

8 EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

Film studies teacher Annie Goldson is also a prolific andacclaimed documentary film-maker.

10 DROWNING ISLAND

A University of Auckland anthropologist is documenting theculture on a Melanesian atoll that will soon disappear beneaththe waves.

13 EYE ON THE FUTURE

The Vice-Chancellor explains the thinking behind the StrategicPlan that charts the University’s course for the next sevenyears.

16 CUTTING EDGE

The Tamaki Campus, site of collaborations with private andpublic partners, is a new model for a research-led university.

21 ART CLASS

Distinguished artist Max Gimblett is the inaugural VisitingProfessor at the National Institute of Creative Arts andIndustries.

28 THE BAD NEWS ABOUT NOISE

A scientist who explores the workings of the inner eardescribes it as an exquisitely developed structure.

284

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ALUMNI MAKING WAVES

This sixth issue of Ingenio coincides withthe release of The University ofAuckland’s Strategic Plan, which will bethe basis of development over the nextseven years.The guiding plan of thecountry’s premier university – which is,not incidentally, a $650-million-a-yearinstitution – emphasises the importanceof boosting numbers of graduatestudents and maintaining the research-ledfocus that sets The University ofAuckland apart. But, surveying the piecesin the pages that follow, it is impossiblenot to be struck by the breadth anddepth of research expertise thatUniversity staff are already undertaking.

The work our writers describe isremarkable for its direct engagementwith the world we live in: mathematiciansdevelop ways to make ambulanceservices more efficient; an anthropologistrecords a drowning culture; a physiologistis looking at how to protect hearing in anincreasingly noisy world. Meanwhile, twonew research institutes being formed atthe Tamaki Campus under thePartnerships for Excellence schemeunderline the status of The University ofAuckland as the country’s foremostresearch-led university; five of the ninePFXs so far established are at thisuniversity.

The magazine provides an opportunity tocelebrate the generosity of donors whohave made substantial contributions andbequests to the University.The world inwhich universities operate is changing fastand the importance of research to createnew knowledge, as opposed to simplyteaching the knowledge we have, cannotbe overstated. Changes in the models ofpublic funding reflect an awareness of thisat Government level but New Zealanduniversities are still funded at much lowerlevels than their international competitorsand private donation makes anenormous contribution to maintainingThe University of Auckland’s position inthe front rank.

PETER CALDEREditor

N E W S

R epeated accolades at university level for his teaching prowess have translated intonational honours for senior tutor Dr Colin Quilter. He was one of 10 winners in this

year’s Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards established by the Government in 2001. Quilter has taught for 23 years in the Department of Anatomy with Radiology in the

Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Students andcolleagues describe him as an inspiration, but he says helearns as much from his students as they do from him.

“Students are intelligent people who know what kind ofteaching helps them to learn and what doesn’t. All you haveto do is ask them.”

He tries to find an “angle” which will engage their interest“whether it be a poem, an anecdote, an image, a video, music,an historical incident or an unusual pathology”. In front ofclasses sometimes numbering more than 1000, “the lecturehas to be in some ways a performance, a semi-theatrical eventdesigned not just to transmit information but also to engage,motivate, and to provoke curiosity.”

The Auckland Medical Students Association has givenQuilter more than a dozen awards over the years, and in 1993he won his faculty’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Students at the Law School are running apro bono legal service.

The Equal Justice Project (EJP), as it iscalled, aims to provide legal service to peoplewho would not otherwise have access to it.

It is modelled on similar initiatives in lawschools in the United States, where students,supervised by qualified lawyers, offer legalinformation and advice.

More than 120 students in the final twoyears of their law degree are involved. Theproject has three main thrusts: partnershipswith community law centres, legal educationin schools and the wider community, andtargeting the needs of new migrants andrefugees.

It was conceived by two final-year Lawstudents, Eesvan Krishnan and PeterWilliams. They want the project to benefit

those in need of legal services “currently outof their reach”.

The project’s patron, Justice Ted Thomas,sees it as bringing the Auckland legalprofession a step closer to making a pro bonoethic an essential element of the legal system.

Ingenio – a magazine of The University of Auckland

Spring 2005ISSN 1176-211X

EditorPeter Calder

Art directionRichard Hesom-Williams

DesignNick CollinsPeter Watson

Contributing writers

Camille GuyJason KingBeth MillerJoanna WaneBill Williams

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© The University of Auckland 2005

ACCESS TO JUSTICE: Justice Ted Thomas withEesvan Krishnan and Peter Williams.

2 INGENIO

TOP TEACHER: Quilterreceives his award fromChancellor Hugh Fletcher.

Scheme improves access to justice

Thirty years’ research into French missionaries in the Pacific has earned an accolade forAssociate-Professor Hugh Laracy (History).

He won the John Dunmore Medal, awarded by the Federation of Alliances Françaises ofNew Zealand. It recognises major contributions to knowledge and better understanding of thepart played by the French people and French culture in the scientific, economic, historicaland cultural development of the Pacific.

Laracy’s research and publication have added considerably to knowledge of the extensiverole played in the Pacific by the Société de Marie (Marist Fathers), a Catholic congregationfounded in France in 1836.

His work has taken him across the Pacific Islands, from New Guinea to the Cook Islands, andalso to Europe to access archives of the Marists’ writings. He has written two books about Frenchmissionary activity in the Pacific as well as more than 50 articles and other publications.

Medal honours distinguished historian

Tutor scores top tertiary teacher award

N E W S

Legal pioneer stands downJudge Mick Brown, former Chancellor of

the University, a staunch defender ofinstitutional autonomy and lately Pro Vice-Chancellor (Maori), has retired.

He has been associated with theUniversity since starting law studies in the1960s, and carved out a distinguished legalcareer as a lawyer and District Court Judge.As the first Principal Youth Court Judge, hepioneered the use of restorative justice foryouth offenders.

As Chancellor from 1986 to 1991, Brownpresided at graduation ceremonies withenormous aplomb. He was instrumental inthe University’s joining with CanterburyUniversity to challenge the Governmentover sweeping changes which would haveeroded university autonomy.

While Pro Vice-Chancellor (Maori) –responsible for enhancing the contributionmade by Maori students, staff andresearchers – he took on other major rolessuch as chairing the board of Nga Pae o teMaramatanga, one of three Centres of

Research Excellence awarded to theUniversity in 2002.

The University has twice recognisedBrown’s enormous contribution bybestowing on him an honorary Doctor ofLaws and a Distinguished Alumni Award.He is also a Companion of the New ZealandOrder of Merit.

LONG ASSOCIATION: Judge Mick Brown.

3SPRING 2005

Trail bringspast to lifeThe Business School has established a

University heritage trail to mark itscentenary this year.

The walkway, which the school gifted tothe City of Auckland, incorporates historicand architecturally significant buildingson the City Campus. It follows a clockwisetour around 29 sites, finishing at AlbertPark’s floral clock.

Among the sites are the Princes Streetmerchant houses, Old Government House,the Old Barracks Wall and the site of thenew Business School, the Owen G. GlennBuilding, formerly the Phoenix Foundry.All are detailed in a 34-page illustratedguidebook, part of the school’s ongoingBusiness History Project which featuredin the last issue of Ingenio.

Early next year the Business School willpublish City of Enterprise, a book onAuckland’s business history.

The heritage trail booklet is availablefrom External Relations, UniversityHouse, 19A Princes Street (phone 377-7599 ext 85885, i.singh@auckland.ac.nz)and at Tourism Auckland outlets.

The Confucius Institute, a newlyestablished national centre to promote

and popularise Chinese language andculture will work with schools and otheruniversities.

New Zealand is one of the first countriesinvited to establish such a centre – one ofonly 20 worldwide – in partnership withthe Chinese government. The Universityof Auckland has the country’s largestgrouping of scholars teaching andresearching on China.

The institute will be jointly staffed bysenior University of Auckland andChinese academics. It wants Chinese to belearned in all New Zealand schools as thesecond international language of choice.

It also aims to recruit and train teacherswho can teach Mandarin in the NewZealand context, and promote the learningof Chinese language and culture in thebusiness sector.

Around 260,000 people of Asian originlive in New Zealand, and more than 40 percent of these are Chinese.

For the second year in a row a Business School team has won an international business casecompetition. Competing against 16 teams from some of the world’s top business schools, it

became the first in the seven-year history of the Global Business Challenge to successfullydefend its title. Auckland defeated Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley and Universiteit Maastricht (the Netherlands) in the final round.

Teams were given 48 hours to solve a problem scenario about how and where a NorthAmerican timber giant should expand operations to capitalise on the Kyoto Protocol carboncredits that forests would give the company. Judges praised the Auckland team of fifth-yearstudents for delivering a presentation most similar to a board’s in real life and fordemonstrating good understanding of company culture, and world timber and carbonmarkets.

PROBLEM SOLVERS: Richard Hellaby, Anna Chan, Rochelle Scanlon and Paul Ryan with coach BrendonPotter behind.

Business team world-beaters

Centre promotesChinese culture

A University of Aucklandmathematician once thought he couldnever use his knowledge to solve real-world problems. Now he knowsbetter.JOANNA WANE explains.

On the wall of Professor David Ryan’s office hangs aposter listing the typical characteristics of a Virgo, hisastrological birth sign. Among them are a great

intellect and a predisposition to scientific subjects. “Detail isforemost,” it says. “You are painfully accurate in your work.”

Such unscientific whimsy is hardly what one would expect tofind among the accoutrements of a mathematician distinguishedenough to have been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society ofNew Zealand in 2003. Ryan laughs at the comment and explainsthat it was his wife, not he, who was taken by the poster. “Sheread it and said: ‘It’s so like you’.”

Ryan has made his life in the precise science of numericalanalysis but when he did his PhD in the subject, the idea that itwould have any application to the “real” world simply didn’tcross his mind.

“I’d never seen a practical application for maths in my wholelife,” he admits. “It was so far removed from anything I couldever imagine people using it for that it was just irrelevant. As astudent I loved maths, but I didn’t think it actually had any use.”

Now, as Professor of Operations Research in the Departmentof Engineering Science, he heads a group that devisesmathematically based solutions to practical challenges asdiverse as yacht design, forestry harvesting, radiation treatmentfor cancer patients and setting the market price for electricity.

His pioneering work in the 1980s, creating computerisedflight planning and crew rostering systems for Air New Zealand,set an international benchmark and saved the airline more than$15 million a year in operating costs.

Now the Operations Research Group (ORG) that Ryan leadshas developed a piece of sophisticated software that drives anadvanced simulation system being used by ambulance servicesin Australia, the UK and Canada to improve emergency responsetimes (see box).

Operations Research takes a scientific approach to analysingproblems and making decisions. The team is acknowledged as aworld leader in the field and The University of Auckland nowranks first equal in the world (alongside the University of Chile)for the number of publications on the application of OR.

The technique dates back to World War II, when it wasdeveloped to determine the most effective positioning of radar

4 INGENIO

BEYOND THEORY:The Siren system finds real-life solutions to practicalproblems, says Andrew Mason. PHOTO: Geoff Dale

NO PROBLEM

• TO PAGE 6

5SPRING 2005

SIREN GIVES SERVICES AN EDGETrauma experts talk of the “golden hour” – the period of

time in which a severely injured person must receivespecialist treatment to stand a chance of survival.

Having an ambulance stuck in rush-hour traffic while otherparamedic crews may be sitting idle at a base on the far sideof town could mean a potentially fatal – and utterly avoidable– delay.

Efficiently resourcing and deploying emergency services ina metropolitan centre is a logistical challenge of enormouscomplexity. But in the Canadian city of Toronto, soon allthey’ll need to do is switch on the Siren. The name given tosophisticated software developed by the Operations Researchgroup at The University of Auckland, Siren stands forSimulation for Improving Response-times of EmergencyNetworks.

Its creator, Dr Andrew Mason, is asenior lecturer in the Department ofEngineering Science and a founder ofOptimal Decision Technologies(ODT), a spin-off company exploringglobal markets for research-ledsoftware.

Winning the contract with TorontoAmbulance Services ahead of fierceinternational competition is a majorcoup for the team. Once fullydeployed, the new system will make itpossible to keep a “live eye” on theentire emergency network, providingdata that can be analysedinstantaneously to ensure ambulancecrews get to where they’re needed assoon as possible.

Fire up Siren on the PC and it lookslike a cute computer game: little flashingambulances navigate their way through adense city grid, picking up patients and depositing them inhospitals before returning to base.

However, thanks to the skills of simulation expert ShaneHenderson of Cornell University near New York, Sirenillustrates – quite literally – how complex mathematicalmodels and a technique called optimisation can transcend therealms of pure theory to find real-life solutions to practical,everyday problems.

Originally used by Mason and Henderson in a one-offanalysis for St John, Siren has been given a new lease of lifethrough its licensing to ODT. The first-phase software, SirenPREDICT, an advanced simulation system, has been adoptedby the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) in Victoria andenhanced to be an integral part of the service’s day-to-dayoperation in Melbourne.

With the volume of callouts in the city growing by eight per

cent every year, the ambulance service wanted to find out howto improve operational efficiency – and how to eliminateineffective strategies before wasting a lot of money imple-menting them. Siren, says Mason, made this possible byallowing different “virtual” scenarios (such as closing ormoving a base) to be plugged into the simulator and analysed,while decisions such as where to target resources and the idealmix of crew can be based on the pattern of historical calls. Adetailed profile of the road network is also created byevaluating emergency response times – providing invaluabledata on traffic congestion on specific routes at varying times ofthe day and even calculating seasonal variations. With thecost of one 24-hour ambulance response unit estimated at $1 million a year, the potential savings are enormous.

“Siren has given MAS huge capability toinvestigate the response time impacts ofchanges in operational practice,” saysAlex Currell, general manager of strategicplanning at MAS. “The advantages ofbeing able to simulate what-if scenariosbefore the ideas are implemented are veryobvious.”

Siren LIVE, which will be deployed inToronto, takes the concept to another levelby allowing live interaction to improveemergency response times. By trackingambulances using Global PositioningSystems (GPS), data can be analysed onthe fly to recommend redeployment,identify “coverage holes” and calculate thequickest routes based on the time and day.

“You can sit there monitoring in realtime where the vehicles are and newpatterns of emergency calls, then useoptimisation to work out where they shouldbe relocated to,” explains Mason. “The

simulation aspect plus its capabilities for graphical andstatistical analysis is a combination that is unique. No one elsein the world is doing that.”

The system has huge potential for use by other emergencyservices such as the police and fire service. Siren has alreadybeen chosen by St John in Perth to improve performance andalso by the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service inthe UK as a planning tool.

Siren continues to benefit from a research programmewithin the University. “The close links we now have withambulance operators give a strong practical focus to ourwork,” says Mason. “The continuing collaboration with ODTalso helps bring in valuable research dollars, and gives ourstudents ready access to real-world problems on which they canhone their engineering science skills.”

– JOANNA WANE

SIREN:The software keeps track of all theambulances in Melbourne.

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6 INGENIO

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stations, and then to maximise the kill rateon enemy submarines by analysing theideal depth at which bombs should explode.But the advent of powerful, high-speedcomputers expanded its capabilityexponentially, allowing solutions toterrifyingly complex problems to becalculated in a matter of minutes.

“Without computers, we would not bedoing what we do,” says Ryan. “We simplyapply [OR-based software programs] incircumstances where the number ofpossible solutions is so astronomically largethat human beings could never possiblywork out what the best solution would be.”

In contrast to pure mathematics, OR putsthe problem itself first: solutions, unlike

those to pure equations, are not absolute,but aim to seek out the best-possiblescenario based on the principle ofoptimisation.

It’s something we all do subconsciouslyhundreds of times a day, Ryan explains. Gointo a supermarket and you might pick froma range of products by selecting thecheapest, or make a more sophisticatedchoice on the best value for money, basedon cost per unit of weight or volume. Otherconstraints or influences may also beautomatically factored in, such as personaltaste preference or the desire to buy NewZealand-made products. What eventuallyends up in your trolley is the optimumoutcome based on specific criteria. And oneday you might have a personalised com-puter program that works it all out for you.

The ORG system works by an intelligentprocess of elimination and forwardplanning. For example, if you’re drivingbetween Auckland and Wellington, theshortest route won’t necessarily be thequickest. So if your need is for speed, thatwill determine the decision made at everyjunction where there’s a choice over whichway to turn – creating what’s known as alinear program.

Real-world problems are formulated asan optimisation model, and then analgorithm or formula is used to find the bestpossible solution. Dr Andrew Mason, asenior lecturer in the Department ofEngineering Science who developed theSiren software (see page 5), describes it asadding intelligence into computer programsso that they can “think smarter” thanhumans can.

“The first linear program – a really smallone – took 120 hours of manual calculationsto solve back in 1947,” he says. “We nowsolve problems thousands of times larger inseconds.”

Like Ryan, Mason takes an interest not inpure mathematical theory but in itspractical application. “We’re lucky herebecause the focus on real problems issomething that’s recognised and valued,which is what makes it so exciting.”

Ryan’s personal conversion came in the1970s when he spent three years at theAtomic Energy Research Establishment inHarwell, Oxfordshire, working on acomputerised system for the Seabridgeshipping consortium to schedule trips bybulk carrier ships transporting wheat, oil,coal and iron ore.

“It was the first time in my life I wasinvolved in a practical problem wherepeople were paying money to use math-ematics,” he says. “It was a huge transform-ation in my life.”

Back in New Zealand, his ownbreakthrough came when he worked with afourth-year student on a project to crack aproblem that had been confounding airlinesthroughout the world – the complexlogistics of crew scheduling. The prototypesolution they developed so impressed AirNew Zealand that Ryan took a six-monthleave of absence from the University towork for the airline implementing a systemfor planning “tours of duty” by domesticflight crew.

In the late 1980s, Ryan moved on to asecond-phase system which saw Air NewZealand become the first airline in theworld to use optimisation methods to solverostering. The airline is still a world leaderin the field: both domestic and internationalmodels not only satisfy a complex set oflegal requirements (the need for on-the-ground time, meal breaks and so on) but

also minimise costs by making the mosteffective use of staff time.

The system, which can respond to staffrequests for certain destinations, hasimproved the quality of rosters from a crewperspective while a “language-assignmentoptimisation step” ensures that flightattendants with relevant languagequalifications are assigned tours of dutyrequiring those skills.

Amanda Day, an Operations Researchanalyst at Air New Zealand who did herPhD under Ryan, says both planning androstering systems have proved invaluable.Tailored specifically to the airline’s needs,they can also be used to run an analysis ofhypothetical scenarios – such as the impactof a change in flight-crew conditions or thecost benefits of establishing a long-haulcabin crew base in London (a proposal thatsubsequently went ahead).

The potential applications of optimisationin both the commercial and public sectorare virtually limitless. A current ORGproject is using optimisation principles todetermine the most effective radiationtreatment for cancer patients by working outthe best angle and intensity of radiation toemploy to ensure that it targets the tumourrather than the healthy surrounding tissue.Another area of research focuses on theforestry industry, balancing the maximumdollar value of harvesting trees againstecological, conservation and aestheticconcerns.

Professor Andy Philpott, who heads theDepartment of Engineering Science, hasspearheaded the development ofoptimiser-based software for designingoptical fibre networks for TelstraClear.Other projects have included analysingyacht design for Team New Zealand’sAmerica’s Cup campaigns; determining anoptimum rowing route for ourTransAtlantic Challenge crew; andanalysing a model, which runs every fiveminutes, to provide information used to setmarket prices for electricity.

In September, Ryan was in Germany,investigating the possibility of creating amathematical model to optimise thepassage of trains through a railway junction– a prospect that could have significantimplications for the design of rail networksand train timetabling throughout Europe.

“Success in OR isn’t judged simply onthe basis of how many publications you’vehad in which class of journal, but on howrelevant the work is,” he says. “Success issomeone saying, ‘Wow, this is suchimportant work that I want to use it to solvea practical problem.’ It’s that real-worldapplication which gets everyone hooked.”

DAVID RYAN:The number of possiblesolutions is astronomical.

• FROM PAGE 4

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8 INGENIO

STRANGER THAN FICTION

The rich, textured sound of the cellois possibly the most moving in theorchestra. That’s the strong

impression conveyed by the openingsequence of a powerful film by AnnieGoldson, an Associate Professor in theDepartment of Film, Television and MediaStudies.

The camera zooms slowly in onrenowned American solo cellist, LynnHarrell, as he plays the great cello concertoof English composer Edward Elgar. Mixedemotions contort his face, conveying boththe power of the deeply elegiac music andthe joy the musician feels in making it.

Elgar’s Enigma: The Story of the Cello

Concerto is being produced and directedby Goldson with funding from TV One andwith the assistance of research grantstotalling $30,000 from The University ofAuckland. It’s the fascinating untold storyof Helen Weaver, who broke off herengagement to Elgar and, after contractingTB, emigrated to New Zealand.

The piercingly poignant concerto, one ofthe finest in the repertoire, isacknowledged to be a requiem to theuntold fallen in the First World War, butthere is also a theory that Elgar composedit in memory of Weaver’s New Zealand-born son who was killed on the WesternFront in 1916.

Goldson was fascinated by the storywhen she was first alerted to it by PeterWalls, the New Zealand SymphonyOrchestra’s chief executive. But telling iton film proved a challenging assignmentthat took the filmmaker to Gallipoli,Flanders, the UK and the US.

“There isn’t a lot of footage from thatearly era and what footage there is hassteep copyright costs,” she says “You haveto start thinking of alternative strategies tocreate the narrative.”

Goldson is a prolific and acclaimedfilmmaker whose documentaries have

included Punitive Damage, about amother’s attempt to solve the murder of herson by Indonesian soldiers in East Timor;Georgie Girl, about trans-sexual MPGeorgina Beyer; and Sheilas: 28 Years On,which revisits the subjects of agroundbreaking feminist documentary ofthe 1970s.

More recently she produced PacificSolution: From Afghanistan to Aotearoa,which examines the refugees who came toNew Zealand from the Tampa. It screenedat the recent inaugural DocumentaryFestival (DOCNZ) in Auckland andWellington, an event Goldson helpedorganise and which emerged in part out ofa biennial documentary conference thatGoldson, her colleagues and their studentsbegan in 1996.

Goldson’s first degree was a BSc but shelater trained as a journalist and went on toget a Masters degree in Film andTelevision Studies from New YorkUniversity. In 1993, she was the firstacademic to be employed full-time as aFilm and Television studies lecturer. This

Film studies teacher Annie Goldson practises what she preaches.BETH MILLER meets her.

BOY ON THE BUS: A still from the Goldson-produced Pacific Solution: From Afghanistan to Aotearoa:“Truth is always contestable,” says the film-maker.

PHOTO: James Frankham

“Some totalitarian governmentsdocument the abuses they inflict, butmany do not, so a filmmaker may be tryingto reveal what’s going on without materialto draw on. How then do you inform anaudience?”

Goldson plans to revisit Helen Todd, the key subject of Punitive Damage. In

Moris Rasik: A Life of One’s Own, she will follow Todd’s efforts to sue anIndonesian general over the murder of her son, Kamal. Today, as Timor Leste, the nation is independent and Todd is running an aid programme in the volatile, impoverished border area ofSuai.

was an era when film and televisionstudies were yet to be taken seriously, sherecalls.

“It used to be thought that we were prettyflaky, using research money to dodemanding things like watching television,and that film and media could never beproper subjects for academic consider-ation. And if it was hard for Film Studies tobe accepted, it was even harder for film-making, because that was seen as ‘trade’.But those times have passed – it seems thatfilmmaking is largely accepted as researchnow.”

This year, Goldson, whose teaching andresearch traverse both production and thedevelopment of critical theory, was awardedher PhD. Her thesis, called “A Claim toTruth: Documentary, Politics, Production”,explores the emergence of what she callsthe “human rights documentary.”

This subgenre has arisen in the post-Cold War era as human rights rather

than political ideologies became thedrivers of political change. Goldson iswriting a book on the subject which will be published next year. Called After theFact: Documentary, Human Rights andInternational Law, it will also look at thequestion of authenticity. “If you ask theaverage punter the difference betweenfiction and documentaries, they saydocumentaries are about the truth,” shesays. “But truth is always contestable, notonly in terms of biases, but in terms of thevisual language the documentary makeruses.”

As with Elgar’s Enigma, the docu-mentary maker is often working withoutfootage.

FILM-MAKER ANNIE GOLDSON:Those who can, do. And

they teach as well.

SPRING 2005

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9SPRING 2005

BEFORETHEFLOODA University of Auckland anthropologist is racing against time and tide to record a

drowning culture. JOANNA WANE talks to him.

10 INGENIO

On a tiny Melanesian atoll barely as big as two footballfields, a unique Polynesian culture is facing extinction.

The island of Takuu lies 200km off the east coast of Bougainvilleat the intersection of two shifting tectonic plates, which are causingthe atoll to sink. Sea levels rising at a rate of 20cm a year havesavagely eroded the coastline, threatening its fragile ecosystem andcontaminating traditional taro gardens with salt water. The highest

point is now a mere metre above the high-tide mark and soon therewill be no safe place to store canoes used for fishing, the cornerstoneof the islanders’ simple diet.

Some 600 people live on Takuu, a remote Polynesian island whichis under the political control of Papua New Guinea but whosenatives claim ancestral links with Samoa. No plans have yet beenmade to resettle them but eventually the entire population will beforced to evacuate.

The loss of their island home and the inevitable scattering of thecommunity will be its death knell, believes Associate ProfessorRichard Moyle, a specialist in ethnomusicology at The University ofAuckland’s Department of Anthropology.

“This is a unique place where traditional Polynesian religion isstill practised openly,” he says. “It is reflected in their songs, theirlanguage and everyday way of life. But in the next decade they willexperience rapid cultural change which will see much of thisdisappear.”

Moyle predicts the sea’s relentless advance will extinguish theatoll’s ability to sustain life within the next two or three years. “Acouple of years ago, I would have said five. Takuu families livingelsewhere in Papua New Guinea will take in as many as they can,but with no single resettlement location, I can’t see Takuucontinuing to function as a community.”

One of only a handful of international researchers permitted onthe isolated atoll since the first contact with the outside world,

Moyle has been entrusted as guardian of Takuu in a race againsttime to document and preserve its distinct cultural heritage.

He has already produced two books, one recording the island’srich traditions of song and dance, the other a bilingual collection offables. His latest project is a multi-media dictionary capturingTakuu’s unique language both in book form and on DVD-ROM, drawing from hundreds of hours of audio recordingsand video clips.

“I want to give not just definitions to the words, but alsoillustrations and explanations, to show how they fit into theislanders’ cultural practices,” says Moyle, who hopes to publish thedictionary in 2007.

Adopted as a son of the island’s Ariki [chief] (whosegranddaughter was named after Moyle’s wife), he has beenaccepted by the islanders as one of their own. In the past 10 years,he has made seven visits to the atoll, where he’s been grantedpermanent sleeping quarters in the chief’s converted cookhouse. RICHARD MOYLE: A race against time.

PHOTO: Geoff Dale • CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

HUNGRY TIDE: Rising sea levels are eroding Takuu’s coast.PHOTO: Richard Moyle

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• CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

Crowded rows of traditionally thatched huts stand so close together that the eaves touch.Apart from coconut palms, there are no trees on the island, and the main street doubles as amarae for ritual ceremonies.

Only the most basic facilities exist on Takuu, says Moyle, whose packing alwaysincludes such essential supplies as multi-vitamins, toothbrushes, soap powder, malariatablets and an extensive medical kit. Last year, he found himself stranded there for fivemonths after the sole supply boat was grounded, and managed to leave only through thechance visit of a naval patrol boat.

Adentist comes to the island once a year with pliers and painkillers which he dissolveson gums around diseased teeth before extracting them. When a local fisherman was

bitten in the hand by a shark, Moyle used a needle and dental floss to sew up the wound;when he returned a year later, he found that it had healed well with no permanent damage.

Music is an integral part of daily life on Takuu. A body of songs pre-date Europeancontact, which occurred in the middle of the 19th century, and tell stories of inter-islandvoyaging, while dance performances fill 20 or 30 hours a week.

No one knows exactly how the first arrivals came to settle on such a remote site or fromwhere their ancestors came. Moyle, who has spoken Samoan since he first visited the PacificIslands as a Masters student at Auckland in the 1960s, says Takuu has strong linguistic linksto Samoa and that was what originally drew him to the atoll. However his assumption that

he’d be able to com-municate with the islandersreadily was swiftlydispelled “five minutesafter I got out of the canoe”.Takuu’s unique languageand culture are a productnot only of geographicalisolation but also a decisionto ban both churches andmissionaries from the atoll– a restriction lifted justfive years ago.

Exposure to outsideinfluences has gradually eroded the purity of its traditions, as high-school studentsmigrating to the mainland return, bringing with them modern ideas and new religiousbeliefs.

Takuu’s Ariki and council of elders first approached Moyle for help in documenting theirperformance traditions in 1993. “They believed their young people were gaining an off-island academic education at the expense of a cultural one, from the art of cooking andgathering materials for the building of a house to the finer points of fishing,” he says. “Theywanted an enduring record of the culture before it was lost altogether.”

A grant from the prestigious Marsden Fund, which supports cutting-edge research outside the normal framework of Government research priorities,

supported his first three years of fieldwork and a Claude McCarthy Fellowship, awarded by the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, has enabled ongoing studies.

The people of Takuu have survived the threat of annihilation in the past. An epidemic inthe 1890s reduced the entire population to 11 until intermarriage with new arrivals fromBougainville replenished their numbers.

This time, though, the odds are stacked against them. With no viable industry and nosource of income, Takuu is economically invisible and its plight all but ignored by theinternational community. Plans to build a sea wall to protect against the encroaching tidehave foundered due to lack of money.

Moyle says it would be a Canute-like attempt doomed to failure anyway. When he was laston the atoll, sea spray would blow through the door of his hut. By the time he returns, hisisland shelter may no longer be standing. Yet the islanders remain philosophical as the finalmoments of their civilisation ebb away.

“Ask them, ‘If the water floods over, what will you do?’ and they shrug. This is their home.They simply cannot comprehend not being there.”

ISLAND LIFE: The main street doubles as a marae..PHOTO: Richard Moyle

12 INGENIO

Running an institution with an annual budget of almost$650 million calls for careful planning. The Vice-Chancellor spoke to PETER CALDER aboutthe thinking behind the University’s new Strategic Plan.

Once a week – sometimes more –between May and September,University of Auckland Vice-

Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheontook the speaker’s platform at a meeting ofa Rotary or Lions Club somewhere in theAuckland region and talked up a storm topromote the value of public investment inour universities.

Two dozen engagements took him fromAlfriston to Albany and even put him on anevening ferry to Waiheke. The audienceswere attentive and full of questions and,although the speaker realised he wasn’treaching many people at any givenmeeting, he didn’t begrudge theinvestment of time.

“I suppose in some ways it could be seenas inefficient,” he says, “but it was animportant thing to do. I think theuniversities – and I was talking about thewhole university sector using TheUniversity of Auckland as an example –should make their case to the community.Rotary, Lions and other serviceorganisations are full of thinkingindividuals, many of whom are communityleaders. They are people who are vitallyinterested in the future of education in thiscountry.

“What I want to achieve is anunderstanding in the community thatuniversities are important and they oughtto be one of the priorities for publicinvestment. This is not simply because it’swrong to have our young people educatedin a university system that is under-resourced compared with the systems ofour competitors. We need a higher level ofawareness of the return to New Zealand onthat investment and the criticalcontribution our universities are making tothis country’s future as the powerhouses ofresearch.”

This kind of community engagement hasbecome a key part of the new VC’s job

(on some occasions, such as when he wasoverseas, Chancellor Hugh Fletcher stoodin for him). Its importance is reflected inthe fact that it is one of 20 objectives inUniversity’s Strategic Plan, approved bythe University Council in August.

The objectives, which make up theUniversity’s statement of direction for thenext seven years, are nothing if notambitious: underpinning them is adetermination to lift the University into thetop 50 in the world. But McCutcheonmakes no apology for that. He and theUniversity’s Council and staff areambitious for the institution.

Why is being world-class so important?

THE ROADAHEAD

MAN AT THE TOP: “We are a public entity that is here to advance the nation.”

The VC says it’s very simple. “We are a public entity that is here to

advance the nation. We operate in a globalenvironment – as will our graduates – and wemust prepare them for that. And if we are togrow economically and advance as a society,we have to invest in research that will createnew opportunities for New Zealand.”

Becoming one of the world’s top 50 universities – as measured by the TimesHigher Education Supplement whichcurrently ranks The University of Aucklandas 67th – is not one of the plan’s specificobjectives, he says “but if we achieve ourobjectives we will have achieved that.

“All over the world – and particularly inAsia – university rankings are becomingincreasingly important to students and

investors.”But why would he set such an ambitious

target? “In a large organisation, with devolved

management, you have to be clear aboutcommon aspirations so as to achieve focus. Anumerical target immediately gets you talkingabout it and you start focusing on what thoserankings mean and what the internationaldrivers of quality are.”

He is under no illusion that the competitionis stiff and that higher-ranked universities arenot going to stand aside while Aucklandclimbs up the list.

“When you go, as I did, to the 100thanniversary dinner of the University ofSingapore and hear their Deputy PrimeMinister exhort them to be in the top 10 in the

13SPRING 2005

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14 INGENIO

world – and by implication offer to pay for it – or you see theUniversity of Sydney’s so-called 1,5,40 strategy – to be first inAustralia, fifth in the Asia-Pacific region and 40th in the world –you see what we’re up against.”

The VC sees nothing wrong with aspiring to be in the top leagueinternationally.

“No one worries that Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard universitiesare elite. What we are saying is that Auckland’s contribution – tothe country and to new knowledge globally – will be in attractingthe best staff and the scholastically most able students who willexcel in a large, competitive, success-oriented research university.”

Substantial discussions with the University Council, staff,alumni, student representatives and other stakeholders onAuckland’s future vision revealed a widespread desire to make itinto a world-class university. The final plan, which took intoaccount some 70 submissions, is designed to answer the question:“What does that mean in terms of what we do?”

Underpinning the aspiration to become a world-class universityis a fundamental change: in emphasis from rapidly growing studentnumbers to attracting top quality school leavers – those most likelyto want to go on to graduate study, and promoting the postgraduateprogramme at Auckland as a “highly desirable place to be”.

The university sector, says the VC, is emerging from 15 years of“massification”.

“The attitude was that if some university education is good moremust be better. The result has been a huge increase in numbers –

we’ve risen from a national university roll of 79,000 students in1990 to about 167,000 now. But in some ways it created ‘vanilla’universities that were more and more like each other.

“The focus has changed and there is more emphasis on researchquality and global competition. Governments are realising thatproducing a lot of ordinary graduates is not going to do it for us.”

What follows from that development is that top-enduniversities like Auckland inevitably emphasise research.

The balance of student numbers must shift in favour of graduatestudents – six per cent of students are currently in postgraduateresearch programmes and the plan calls for lifting that figure to 10 per cent.

STRATEGIC EMPHASIS ON GRADUATE STUDENTS

Just five months into the role, ProfessorGregor Coster, the new Dean of Graduate

Studies, is facing the challenge ofdeveloping an international qualitypostgraduate programme that willsignificantly increase the numbers ofdoctoral and Masters students graduatingfrom the University each year.

Far from being fazed by the task,Professor Coster is excited by the challengeof changing the way the graduateprogramme is delivered. His mission is to more than double (to 500) the number of PhDs coming out of theUniversity each year and increase Masterscompletions to 800 by 2012. Heacknowledges these are ambitious targets,but notes they have been developed frombenchmarking with other leadinginternational universities and are notunrealistic.

It’s a complex task which involveseverything from ensuring the quality ofstudent recruitment to improvingpostgraduate supervisor training, studentsupport and international marketing. ButProfessor Coster says the Strategic Plan isacting as a catalyst to some lateral thinkingand vigorous discussions on how things canbe done differently to bring about change –a process that is at once stimulating and, attimes, just a bit scary.

His starting point is to look at the currentperformance of the graduate programme –the number of students undertakingpostgraduate study, the time it takes them tocomplete their Masters degrees or PhDs,and the number who fail to complete andwhy. He also wants to know what influencesprospective students when they are choosinga university for postgraduate study.

L ike all New Zealand universities,Professor Coster notes, Auckland has

been dominated traditionally byundergraduate education, whereas leadingresearch universities have a much moreeven balance between undergraduate andpostgraduate programmes.

“Our strategic plan reflects that. We arelooking for just one per cent growth inundergraduate EFTs and actually want ourgrowth to be in the postgraduate area. Whatwe are really saying is that to be a world-class university we need to have a strongpostgraduate programme.

“It is really a shift in balance to seeingthe interface between research andpostgraduate study as being one of ourdefining characteristics. This will take aculture change within the University so thatthe importance of postgraduate research isunderstood as a key strategy that we havefor the future,” he says.

Where will postgraduate student growthcome from? Domestically, it starts atundergraduate level with strategies toattract New Zealand’s brightest students –those most likely to continue to graduatestudies. The quality of research staff and level of supervisory and other support,including scholarships, are also crit-ical to attracting domestic postgraduatestudents, says Professor Coster. Attractinginternational students into the graduateprogramme will depend on a mix ofinitiatives including further buildinglinkages with overseas universities through research and academic exchanges,and better postgraduate internationalmarketing.

The other part of the strategy is to ensurestudents complete their graduate studies.This calls for more scholarships toovercome the single biggest barrier – livingcosts – and ensuring the availability of highquality resources to support their work.Well-defined career paths and ongoingprofessional development is also needed toattract top international researchers, andensure they are well-trained for graduatestudent supervision.

“We are working on multiple strategies toimprove the graduate programme and itsattractiveness. No single initiative willachieve the lot.”

U niversity of Auckland PhD studentstook nine of 40 Top AchieverDoctoral Scholarships awarded in

September. The awards, with a combined totalvalue of $780,000, will enable these topscholars to work with leading researchers at theUniversity to enhance their skills and furthertheir research. Competition is intense for theprestigious scholarships, which are awarded bythe Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) tofurther research at PhD level by supporting thetop 10 per cent of doctoral candidates.> Sally Rutherford, a bioengineering studentfrom the Faculty of Medical and HealthSciences, is undertaking research to combatone of New Zealand’s leading causes of death –heart attack – by developing the firstcomprehensive computer model of electricalactivity in the border zone between healthyheart tissue and tissue that has been scarred byprevious heart attacks. > Matthew Rayner (Biological Sciences) isstudying the endangered native bird, theCook’s petrel, as part of a broader projectwhich seeks to reintroduce a range of seabirdsto mainland New Zealand. The Cook’s petrelis a tiny seabird, weighing only 200 grams,which is now confined to small populations onLittle Barrier Island (Hauturu) and WhenuaHou, off Stewart Island. Matthew hopes torelocate the Cook’s petrel and other seabirdspecies to Maungatautari Mountain in thecentral North Island, which is beingdeveloped as a predator-free sanctuary fornative species.> Gareth Ferrari (Engineering) is looking at the aerodynamics of a wind-turbine blade in an attempt to better understand how itperforms when hit by New Zealand’s turbulent winds. He hopes to develop a moredurable and reliable blade to suit localconditions.

> Kathryn Askelund (Medical and HealthSciences) hopes her research will lead to abetter understanding of the physiology ofnormal pregnancy and how diseases such aspre-eclampsia (maternal high blood pressure)can develop. > Alice Coveny (Medical and HealthSciences) is exploring how changes in theprotein and fat content of a diet across differentgenerations can increase the risk of obesityand diabetes in children. She hopes toestablish how a mismatch between the diet ofa mother and her offspring can programme themetabolism of her children and even grand-children.> Katrina Ford (Arts) will explore the periodfrom 1870 to 1910 in New Zealand whenwidespread recognition of the role of bacteriain disease changed ideas about medicine andsaw the rapid development of scientificmedical research. By studying medicine andpeople’s attitudes to it, she aims to learn moreabout the role of gender, race and class inmedical history.> Lisa Crandall (Arts) is recording andanalysing conversations between lecturersand their students, with the aim of improvinglanguage-training methods for internationalstudents and assisting staff to communicatemore effectively with these students.> Paul Bowker (Arts) will examine thehistoric events that occurred between Spainand Latin America in the 20th century andshow how those interactions have influencedself-perception.> Kim Meyer (Science) will focus on thesynthesis, testing and tuning of a new class ofchiral or directional catalysts. These areextremely useful in the synthesis of chiralorganic molecules, which find application inmany areas particularly as the buildingblocks in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals.

AWARDS BOOST WORK OF TOP PhD SCHOLARS

ALL THE BEST: Doctoral Scholarship recipients Kim Meyer, Paul Bowker, Katrina Ford, LisaCrandall, Kathryn Askelund and Alice Coveny, with the Minister of Finance, Michael Cullen.

Implicit in that aim is an internationalfocus, with the student flow two-way – New Zealand students studying abroadand international students coming toAuckland. The VC says the planemphasises the need to attract a higherproportion of postgraduate, as opposedto undergraduate, students because “avibrant graduate school tends to becharacterised not only by having somevery bright domestic students but alsoby its ability to attract top internationalpostgraduate students.”

The emphasis on research must betailored to play to the University’s

strengths – Auckland is currently rated36th in the world in biomedicalsciences, for example – and the VC iskeen to create “a range of entities ofsuch quality and scale that they areirresistible to offshore fundingagencies.”

“This university has more or lesssaturated the domestic funding market,”he says. “We win a disproportionateshare of local funding because ourpeople do an outstanding job of writinggrant applications and producingquality research. There is a largeinternational research fundingopportunity and a trend internationallyfor large corporates not to do all theirresearch in-house but to trawl the worldlooking for good research ideas. Weneed to capitalise on those opportunitiesby continuing to develop researchcapability that is unique, whilesupporting from our own resources thosedisciplines which do not have access toexternal research funding.”

In the end, McCutcheon is aware thatthe numerical targets in the Strategic

Plan are a big ask: “I’m as challengedby the figures as anyone else,” he says,“but if we look back over the last sevenyears, this University has grownconsiderably in many of its activities.The Strategic Plan targets are, in thatcontext, difficult but not impossible.And I am very encouraged by the waythat the Plan has already stimulateddiscussion on how we can attract newresources, and better use our existingresources, in support of that goal. I think that shows that the Plan isalready helping us to focus on the taskahead.” i

The Strategic Plan may be accessed athttp://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/about/uoa/plans/strategic_plan.cfm

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15SPRING 2005

16 INGENIO

To anyone who graduated from TheUniversity of Auckland before the1990s, even the phrase “Tamaki

Campus” may be unfamiliar. But theUniversity, which has virtually doubled insize since those days, has spread as well. Itnow occupies five distinct campuses – inthe city, at Grafton, at Epsom (the newest,formerly the Auckland College ofEducation), the North Shore and atTamaki.

The 34-hectare Tamaki Campus, 20minutes from the city, overlooks theTamaki River estuary and is on land whichwas the site of the athletes’ village for the1990 Commonwealth Games. The sportingflavour of the precinct remains – majornetball, soccer and tennis venues are inplace or under construction – but the mostnotable exertion taking place at Tamaki isof the intellectual kind.

The campus is at the centre of what iscalled the Auckland Innovation Park, anenvironment designed to foster cutting-edge collaborations between theUniversity and strategic partners in boththe public and private sectors.

Appropriately, Tamaki has its owndivision of the Business School, headed upby Professor Kenneth Husted, previouslyan Associate Professor at CopenhagenBusiness School. Husted, whose researchinterests are in the fields of management ofresearch and development and corporateentrepreneurship, has been appointedProfessor in Innovation and Managementand will work to foster a multi-disciplinaryenvironment which will create interactionbetween the University and industry.

The thinking that underpins the Tamakidevelopment is that the knowledge wavethat will propel a relatively small economylike ours into the 21st century is driven by innovative partnerships betweendisciplines that have not, in the past,worked together and that might not haveeven considered what they have incommon.

The head of the campus, the Pro Vice-

Chancellor (Tamaki), Professor RalphCooney, explains that the Innovation Parkis part of a “Tamaki Edge” developmentplanned by the Auckland City Council,which will be the largest urbandevelopment in the country’s history. Thedevelopment, which will take place overthe next decade, will transform the areabetween the Remuera Golf Club and theTamaki estuary. The former Mt Wellingtonquarry will become a new suburb of morethan 6000 residents, creating a towncentre with new and attractive recreationaland business facilities.

The 10-year plan which began in 2002will see the Tamaki Campus

population grow from 1600 to 10,000. Thisgrowth will be developed around six majordisciplinary “themes” which have beenidentified in international foresightingreports as the basis of a future knowledgesociety. Cooney emphasises that thesethemes are the product of a globalconsensus.

“They are widely agreed key growthareas that are critical to New Zealand’sdevelopment in the rapidly changing andturbulent global environment,” he says.“Everyone knows now that e-commercesounded very good before the dotcombubble burst, but concentrating on theseareas, which represent a balance betweenadvancing a knowledge economy andensuring community benefit, is a future-proof basis to proceed on.”

The key themes or areas are Health,Sports and Community; InformationTechnology, Communications and

The Tamaki campus is developing collaborations between the University and private

and public partners that will transform the way research is done.

PETER CALDER takes a look around.

FUTUREPROOF

17SPRING 2005

Electronics; Information Management;Environment, Energy and Resources; Foodand Biotechnology; and Materials andManufacturing.

The way things work at Tamaki isunderlined by the “porous” architecturewhich favours interconnectedness overseparation and emphasises whatdisciplines have in common rather thanwhat sets them apart. Cooney explains thatthe new campus wants to move away fromthe “silo” model that characteriseduniversities in the late 20th century whensingle-discipline specialisation was theacademic watchword. The modern bestresearch practice emphasises collab-orations even between disciplines thatmight not necessarily have seenthemselves as likely partners.

Thus the new Institute for HealthInnovation (see story page 19) is acollaboration between three schools –Population Health, Computer Science andBusiness. More importantly, it constitutesa partnership with public organisations (inthis case, the District Health Boards) andprivate concerns (health informaticscompanies like iSoft and Orion, along withGPs’ associations).

Likewise a Centre for Plastics Innovationand Technology (see story page 18) is acollaboration between Engineering andChemistry. But it is also a partnership with182 companies affiliated to Plastics NewZealand, including Fisher and Paykel andmultinational packaging giant Huhtamaki.

These two units were recently named asthe recipients of Government funding of upto $12 million under its Partnerships for

Excellence programme. The programmecommits the Government to matching,dollar-for-dollar up to specified amounts,private sector funds raised by institutionsfor approved projects. Of the ninepartnerships already established, five areat The University of Auckland and Cooneydescribes the two at Tamaki as“transformational funding which is out ofall proportion to the size of the campus”.

Tamaki’s growth strategy rhymesperfectly with a shift in Government

education policy towards fundinginnovative research and quality ofeducation, as distinct from simply boostingundergraduate numbers. The campus has ahigher ratio of postgraduate students thanany other in the country: it currentlystands at 39 per cent and the aim is to liftthat proportion to half (the ratio in theUniversity as a whole is around 16 percent).

“Industry will always be interested in asupply of first-degree graduates,” Cooneysays. “But what will attract externalresearch income, and be aligned withGovernment research funding policy, is an emphasis on university-privateindustry-Crown Research Institutepartnerships.

“The only campus in Australasia withthat sort of emphasis on research is theAustralian National University inCanberra which potentially in the futurewill make Tamaki a very special campus inthis part of the world.”

What’s plain is that the evolution of aknowledge-based society – which is whatwill allow New Zealand to continuepunching above its weight internationally– is transforming the tertiary educationlandscape. The plans – some of themalready enacted or in train – are ensuringthat Tamaki will be well-positioned to be atthe cutting edge of new developments. i

Plastics might not have the sameallure as, say, the wine or tourismindustries, which regularly

command media attention as majormoneyspinners for the New Zealandeconomy. But there’s big money in it.

Some 8000 people work in 400 separateconcerns in the local plastics industry. Thecombined annual turnover of more than $3 billion may be minuscule comparedwith the $800 billion-a-year globalturnover, but it’s three times as big as thewool industry, 12 times as big as wine andalmost half the size of internationaltourism.

It is also, as Plastics New Zealand ChiefExecutive Robin Martin points out, “agreat enabler” of other industries,developing products and processes thatallow, for example, the meat and dairyindustries to prosper and thrive.

Little wonder then that the Governmentwas excited by the proposal for a Centre forPlastics Innovation and Technology at theTamaki Campus. In August, the centre wasawarded up to $5 million in funding underthe Partnerships for Excellence schemewhich will match, dollar-for-dollar up to $5 million, funds raised by the plasticsindustry.

The Centre, an initiative of TheUniversity of Auckland in collaborationwith the industry umbrella group PlasticsNew Zealand, will provide a world-classinnovation centre for developing advancedpolymeric materials, conducting industry-specific research, graduate and industrytraining and developing applications ofleading-edge technologies in plasticsprocessing and manufacturing.

The areas of opportunity are huge:intelligent food packaging, incorporatingresponsive membranes; polymers thatresist UV degradation and environmentalstress; improvements in recyclability; andhigh performance polymers that willconduct electricity.

Associate Professor of Chemistry AllanEasteal who, with senior lecturer NeilEdmonds and Professor DebesBhattacharyya, made the application forPFX funding, says the centre will be aplace where innovative materials get madeand innovative thinking gets done.

“Some of the research work is likely tofocus on short-term practical projects on

behalf of industry to find answers tospecific questions that Plastics NewZealand member companies might nothave the resources to find. But at the otherend of the spectrum the work will be morefundamental, to provide what you mightcall the underpinning science. This willserve a longer-term objective of theindustry which is to be more innovativeand internationally competitive.”

In line with the collaborative spirit thatunderlies research initiatives at Tamaki,

the centre is a joint venture of Science and Engineering – specifically Chemistryand Mechanical Engineering. Thatpartnership has already borne fruit in the Centre for Advanced Composite Materials, of which Bhattacharyya is thedirector, and which featured in the lastissue of Ingenio.

Easteal says that the work that will go onat the new centre will be “more profound”

than making better plastic products.“It’s about making the industry more

competitive,” he says. “The thing aboutthe New Zealand plastics industry is that itis small enough to respond to innovationsin technology and try things quite rapidlycompared with larger countries with largerplastics industries where there may be alot of inertia.”

Plastics New Zealand’s Robin Martinagrees. He says he knows of indicationsfrom two “major international brandowners, names you would be very familiarwith” who are keen to use the centrebecause of New Zealand’s isolation and the chance to keep research initiativesconfidential.

Easteal says the centre will develop bothproducts and intellectual property.

“Within industry there is a great desire to use biodegradable materials, for example, but the major issue is cost. Developing commercially viable bio-degradable polymers for particularapplications may well be somethingundertaken by the centre as a long-termactivity.”

Working in association with theCentre for Advanced Composite

Materials, the Plastics Centre will housenot only University of Aucklandresearchers, but also involve collab-oration with researchers from other tertiary institutions, Crown ResearchInstitutes (CRIs) and industry.Bhattacharyya says it will be an inval-uable national resource.

“Plastics training, research anddevelopment are currently unco-ordinatedactivities in New Zealand, with a numberof tertiary institutions providing educationat various levels, a few universities andCrown Research Institutes involved inresearch, and commercial enterprisescompeting for business as individualcompanies.

“For the New Zealand economy to grow at a rate that the Government has publicly called for, the productivity ofthe manufacturing sector needs to progresssignificantly further than it has done inrecent years. This can only be achievedthrough the development of a concertedapproach from industry, government anduniversity researchers.”

18 INGENIO

FANTASTIC PLASTICFUTURE PROOF

ALLAN EASTEAL: “It’s about making theindustry more competitive.”

i

M edical science is becomingly increasingly specialisedwith every passing year. But the future of healthcare willrely as much on the ability to forge collaborations between

what might seem to be disparate disciplines as it will on theadvances being made in an ever wider range of specialties.

That’s the thinking behind the Institute of Health Innovation atTamaki, formed in August with Government assistance of up to $7 million. The funding, under the Partnerships for Excellencescheme, means the Government will match, dollar-for-dollar, up to$7 million, funds raised by the institute from the private sector.

The new institute, located in the School of Population Health, willbuild on partnerships between the tertiary sector, private sector,Government and the community to develop systems of what areknown as health informatics. That means marrying the skills ofhealth researchers and computing experts to develop ways of usinginformation technology to improve health outcomes and reducehealthcare costs.

The head of the school, Professor Alistair Woodward, says thework is “all about trying to do more with the same amount of moneyor ideally more with less”.

Professor Rod Jackson’s web-based diagnostic tool, Predict,which featured in the last issue of Ingenio, is an example. “The sortof systems that the Predict model provides will give doctors andpatients the information that they need.”

Woodward says the principle of interdisciplinary collaborationthat underpins many research initiatives at Tamaki is the way of thefuture.

“If anything, trends are running the other way internationally,concentrating on narrowerand narrower areas ofresearch and teaching,” hesays. “The disadvantage ofthat is that people becomemore and more specialisedand you run the risk oflosing the creative elementto your work. What’sexciting here is that we arebringing together for thefirst time people who comefrom very different fields.You put them together andsome very excitinginitiatives start up.”

The attitude underpinsthe recent appointment of aProfessor of HealthInformatics, Professor JimWarren, who arrives fromthe University of SouthAustralia. This was a joint

appointment between Population Health and Computing Science.And Woodward points to an “exciting new initiative’ being headedby Professor Peter Thorne in Audiology. With support from theDanish hearing-aid giant Phonak, one of the foundation partners ofthe Institute, he is collaborating with people in Epidemiology andGeneral Practice to look at the question of hearing loss in prisonpopulations.

“These are things that would probably not have happened in theirspecialised areas but put them together with people working in otherareas and these sorts of projects take on a life of their own.”

The formulation of the new research paradigm has been assistedby Colin Giffney, an investment banker who studied overseasinstitutes, notably at the University of Toronto, which has put healthand computing specialists in a Centre for Global eHealthInnovation.

“Health expenditure is typically eight or nine per cent of GDP inmost developed countries,” he says. “It is growing at twice the rateof economies and therefore at twice the rate of our capacity to payfor it. If you can get a 10 per cent reduction in health costs, you aretalking about big money.”

One of the important considerations for the Institute, which is inthe process of appointing a director, is ensuring that it exploits

the intellectual property it develops. “We need to consider how we set things up so that we protect the

University’s position and advantage the private sector partners whohave given us such strong support,” says Woodward. “They are notinterested in an institute that will just produce publications and PhD

students. They want ideas thatare going to assist in theircommercial mission.”

Woodward explains that NewZealand’s size and isolation, sooften cited as a disadvantage,make it an ideal test-bed for the development of health infor-matics.

“We are a cohesive society.We have a good health system.And there is an extremely highuptake of computer use amongprimary caregivers not just forbilling but for managing patientrecords. So we are well set up to explore and developinnovation.

“Also, for our size we have avery good research workforce.Put that all together and we arein a position to do somethingvery special.”

ALISTAIR WOODWARD: “We are well set up to explore and developinnovation.”

The foundation partners of the Institute of Health Innovation are: Enigma Publishing (medical publishing andsoftware development); Vodafone; ProCare (the largest Auckland association of independent GPs); SouthernCross Healthcare; Phonak; iSoft and Orion (health IT companies); and the Goodfellow Trust.

CREATIVE THINKING

19SPRING 2005

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r s x k h r g v ` s d q e q n m s k h u h m f

KAWAU HOLDINGS LIMITED REPRESENTATIVE

Jillie Clarke +64 21 373 330

COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES

Juliet Bullick +64 21 248 4008Bryan Richardson +64 21 922 884

It’s a hot August afternoon, a Manhattansummer and the first thing artist MaxGimblett says is, “The room is full of

beautiful light. It’s warm and the fans aregoing.” His studio in the Bowery is a generousopen loft space with a concrete floor, a high studand an artist’s sense of organisation, bothfunctional and aesthetic. This is where Gimblettworks in New York.

Of late, the 70-year-old Gimblett, who leftNew Zealand as a young man to make New Yorkhis second home, has enjoyed wider recognitionin the city of his birth. Last year the AucklandArt Gallery presented a major retrospectiveexhibition of his work, “The Brush of AllThings”. In August, the Gow Langsford Galleryheld a show called MGM that examined thelinkages in the work of Colin McCahon,Gimblett and the influential American abstractexpressionist Robert Motherwell.

But perhaps the surest sign of Gimblett’sinfluence in his old home town is his

appointment in July as the inaugural honoraryVisiting Professor at the National Institute ofCreative Arts and Industries (NICAI) at TheUniversity of Auckland. Established as a facultyin 2004, NICAI incorporates the schools ofArchitecture, Creative and Performing Arts,Fine Arts, Music and the Department ofPlanning.

A professorial post may seem strange for aman who left school at 15 and – though he wentto technical college and continues to study atthe CG Jung Foundation in New York – stillholds no formal tertiary qualification. But itprovides the opportunity for Gimblett to pass onwhat he learned as he forged a career as asignificant artist in that toughest of art townsNew York.

He says his brief is to bring his studiopractice into the University, exploring thepertinence of creative ideas in studio work andin scholarly practice and research.

The position is voluntary – the artist sees it as

21SPRING 2005

A distinguishedexpatriate artist isbringing a lifetime’slessons to creativestudents, writesJASON KING.That includes takingdancers to artgalleries.

DRAWN FROM LIFE

MASTER CLASS: Max Gimblett sayshe is “remagnetised” by New Zealand.

a chance to give something back to a placehe has always loved – but the idea ofGimblett as pedagogue is not new. In 1979he was appointed visiting AssociateProfessor at the Pratt Institute of Art andDesign in Brooklyn and he will soon teach amaster class at the San Francisco ArtInstitute where he studied 40 years ago.And, as Gimblett recounts his teachingexperiences over the phone from New York,it is clear that he is the sort of artist whoenjoys discussions with students about thenature of creative endeavour. BarbaraKirshenblatt- Gimblett, his wife, isProfessor of Performance Studies at NewYork University.

The appointment is part of a drive atNICAI to establish international links.

The Dean, Professor Sharman Pretty, hasalready relied on contacts Gimblett has withthe San Francisco Art Institute to begindiscussions about student exchangesbetween the Institute and Elam School ofFine Arts.

Gimblett is a regular visitor to Aucklandand the importance of this sense of place isreadily apparent in the way his voice catcheswhen he speaks of the city. He heartilyapproves of Professor Pretty’s effort to sharp-en the Institute’s international focus andmake the New Zealand diaspora work for the country. Like many other expatriates, hehas always wanted to see his birthplaceprosper.

“This is about our culture growing up,”he says. “Twenty years ago we’d bashexpatriates: ‘Why did they stay away? Whydidn’t they come back?’ In my case I am re-magnetised by New Zealand. I have ayearning to visit and I need to be there atleast twice a year.”

During his annual visits to Auckland hecame to enjoy the friendship of former Vice-Chancellor John Hood, a collector whoadmired Gimblett’s work. The relationshipbuilt to the extent that Gimblett has hostedUniversity of Auckland alumni functions athis Bowery studio. So an informalrelationship has now been formalised.

Gimblett approached his new role withgusto when he was in Auckland in July andAugust. Professor Pretty invited the artist tosit in on regular meetings with the heads ofdepartments where he became acquaintedwith his new colleagues. He also began toappreciate the breadth of disciplines theinstitute encompasses: fine arts, music,architecture and planning, dance, andMaori and Pacific performing arts. In Julyhe gave a lecture in the Design Theatreentitled “all mind/no mind” and conductedmaster classes for Elam students.

More unconventionally, he also took threegroups of students from the Dance Studiesprogramme to the MGM exhibition inAugust for a talk and a series of interactiveexercises. Ralph Buck the head of theDance Programme says the exercise washugely valuable. “It gave our studentsvaluable insight into the creative process.”Nor was it all one-way: the dance studentsimprovised work as they responded to theart works in the gallery.

Gimblett recalls the experience withwarmth: “The students were inspiring. Withstudents it isn’t just about idealism, it’shope. Nobody starts a career in the artswithout incredible will.”

When he returns in March next yearGimblett plans to reverse the experience.He can’t wait to spend time in the dancestudios with his signature tools, inks, mops,brooms and Asian brushes. iON TIME

Telephone 09 570 3300

Emai l in fo@goc .co.nz

QualityConstruction

BUILDING OUR COMMUNITY

MAX GIMBLETTMOLY2005.Courtesy of the artist and Gow Langsford Gallery

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It should hardly be surprising that a New Zealander inthe top ranks of Microsoft management applauds theidea of aiming high.Chris Liddell, who began work as Chief Financial

Officer for the software and computing giant in May,doesn’t see anything surprising in The University ofAuckland’s aspiration to be among the top 50 in the worldby 2012.

“I believe it’s an aspiration well worth having,” he says.“The University of Auckland is positioned to take thisleadership role for New Zealand, and striving to be amongthe world’s best is important in continually lifting ourperformance as a country.”

Liddell believes New Zealand needs to complement its“great all-round capabilities” with an aspiration tosucceed on a global basis.

“There are plenty of people who demonstrate greatnessin a New Zealand context, who have started withrelatively little and achieved a tremendous amount withtheir lives,” he says, “and increasing numbers of Kiwisare also showing that they can compete on the globalstage. But our achievers tend to be prominent in thesports or the arts. So I think it’s both important andentirely appropriate that the University aspires to globalsignificance in academic and teaching areas.”

Liddell spoke to Ingenio from his home near theMicrosoft HQ not far from Seattle. The interview had beenscheduled, cancelled and rescheduled several times andLiddell was apologetic when we finally pinned him downon a Saturday afternoon.

“My life’s pretty hectic these days,” he said, by way ofrather superfluous explanation.

Matamata-born Liddell, 47, went to Mt AlbertGrammar School before gaining a Bachelor ofEngineering at The University of Auckland and a Masterof Philosophy degree from Oxford. His business careerincluded time as managing director and joint chiefexecutive officer for CS First Boston NZ Ltd and took him

ON A GLOBAL STAGEThe University of Auckland alumnus in chargeof the money at the world’s third-largestcompany tells PETER CALDER that New Zealanders need to have globalaspirations.

CHRIS LIDDELL: “The pace of change is just phenomenal.”

25SPRING 2005

to the top job at New Zealand’s major listedcompany, Carter Holt Harvey. The globalaspirations he must have had then wererewarded when he was appointed CFO atCHH’s parent company International Paper,the world’s largest forest products company.

The Microsoft job is of a different orderagain. The company’s market capitalisationof about US$280 billion makes it the world’sthird-largest listed company. The financegroup he heads has 2100 workers and he isin charge of leading the financial operationsin a workforce of nearly 60,000 people,working on everything from desktop andenterprise business software to homeentertainment.

“It’s obviously a vastly different challengefrom a 50-person start-up [company] whereyou can look [at] and feel and toucheveryone on a daily basis,” he told the NewZealand Herald on his appointment. “Here,you’ve got this massive flotilla of boats thatyou want drive forward in the samedirection.”

By general consensus, Liddell is a manwho settles for nothing less than the

best. Scott St John, now chief executive ofFirst NZ Capital but who worked at CS FirstBoston with Liddell, said he “relentlesslypursues excellence, focuses on outcomesand is very competitive”.

And though the man himself professes nosurprise that a New Zealander fills such amajor role in such a major company, hepoints to a Kiwi attitude that can get in theway of realising our full potential asindividuals and as a country.

“I think we sometimes constrainourselves by our own mindsets,” he says.“We often have a belief that someone whocomes from a bigger environment must knowsomething that we don’t – though the moreyou compete outside New Zealand, the moreyou realise that we are as capable as anyone.

“It’s also true that one of New Zealand’sgreat strengths is also one of its great weaknesses: we can enjoy a great lifestylewithout ever having to compete in theoutside world. To achieve more than thatyou have to believe, ‘I really want it; I amwilling to challenge myself; I am as good asanyone else in the world’.”

In a recent publication by the NewZealand Stock Exchange in which businessleaders expressed their vision for thecountry, Liddell wrote of “a nation capable

of becoming ‘The Best Small Country in theWorld’” by offering a unique combination ofoutstanding lifestyle but also with signi-ficantly higher wealth for all our people.

“As Thomas Friedman points out in hisexcellent recent book The World Is Flat,” hewrote, “the economic barriers betweennations, businesses and peoples are rapidlydisappearing. This is a tremendousopportunity, but also a very real challengefor New Zealand.”

He points to the potential to create“mini-multinationals which make

products owned and designed in NewZealand, made in Thailand, assembled inChina and sold in the USA.”

Liddell keeps in touch with NewZealand, and remains a trustee of the NewZealand Institute, an independent thinktank that “brings global thinking to bear onimportant domestic social and economicissues”. He believes his time at Aucklandgave him a great platform for success.

“An engineering degree combines theknowledge of a set of disciplines andprocesses with the overlay of a creative andlateral approach to problem-solving. This isan ideal combination of skills for youngpeople who will need to be multidisciplinaryas they move into a rapidly changingworkplace.”

It’s fair to say that from where he sits,Liddell can see the future being invented.

“There is an enormous amount happeningin front of me,” he says. “The pace ofchange is just phenomenal. Given that NewZealanders are proficient users anddevelopers of technology, we need to buildthe infrastructure and skills to takeadvantage of what is a sea change in the waythe world operates.

“The Internet has given New Zealandersa wonderful opportunity to participate in the global economy in ways which wouldhave seemed inconceivable even a few years ago. Our University has a key nationalrole in ensuring our students are equippedwith the right level of skills to competeglobally, and thus must aspire to a globalranking.

“With the right level of aspiration andleadership, both within The University ofAuckland and across all sectors of oursociety, there is nothing to stop uscementing our place as the Best SmallCountry in the World.”

BEYONDBUILDINGS

The 21st-century architect will needto reinvent the discipline ifarchitecture is to evolve along with a

rapidly changing society, says one of NewZealand’s most distinguished practitioners.

Mark Wigley, a University of Aucklandalumnus who is the Dean of the GraduateSchool of Architecture, Planning andPreservation at New York’s ColumbiaUniversity, says that modern architecturestudents need to be taught more than how tobecome experts in the discipline.

“We need to teach them how to changethe discipline.”

Wigley says Columbia is famous as “akind of experimental lab where we developnew ways of thinking about architecture”.

Wigley, pictured, graduated Bachelor ofArchitecture from The University ofAuckland in 1979 and completed his PhDin 1987. He spent more than a decadeteaching at Princeton University before

being appointed tohis present positionlast year.

He is one of themost highly regardedand provocativearchitectural theo-rists and critics of hisgeneration. He toldthe New ZealandInstitute of Architectsconference in June

that architecture schools owe the professionits future.

“If you are running a school,” heelaborated later to Cross Section, themagazine of the New Zealand Institute ofArchitects, “you cannot afford to have asingle view of what the future is. What youhave to do is create the possibility for theschool to generate new futures.’

A prolific writer on architecture, Wigleyreceived the Triennial Award forArchitectural Criticism bestowed by theInternational Committee of ArchitecturalCritics (CICA) in 1990. One of his keyarguments is that architect must evolvealong with society. “The world is constantlychanging,” he says. “The way we act, theway we talk, the technology we use. If thefigure of the architect doesn’t evolve at thesame speed we will have no value.”

– BETH MILLER

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26 INGENIO

EYE ON THE FUTURE

No one was happier than Dr BruceHadden to see the appointmentin 1999 of the first Professor of

Ophthalmology at The University ofAuckland.

Dr Hadden, who worked for more than aquarter-century as an ophthalmologist inthe public health system, decided toconcentrate on private practice in 2002,not least because he had assumed thepresidency of the Royal Australian andNew Zealand College of Ophthalmologists– the first New Zealander to hold theposition. In his final few years in thepublic system he had been hugelyimpressed by the new Maurice PaykelProfessor of Ophthalmology, CharlesMcGhee.

The professorial appointment was theculmination of years of effort to establishthe chair, in particular by the late CalvinRing and by Dr Lindo Ferguson, a formerChancellor of the University. And the newappointee turned out to be an energeticScotsman who has lured talented overseasgraduates to join him, taking thedepartment’s staff from two to 36. He hasattracted more than $4 million in researchfunding and he and his colleagues have

published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals – a key indicator ofresearch output.

“He’s been the best thing that hashappened not just to Auckland but to NewZealand ophthalmology in decades,” saysDr Hadden. “The research, teaching andpresentations by his department haveraised the profile of ophthalmology and thestandard of patient care.”

Little wonder that when McGhee startedtalking about the need for a chair in so-called basic sciences of ophthalmology –the platform on which the specialties arebuilt – Dr Hadden was listening. The result:Dr Hadden and his wife Wendy – also adoctor and one of New Zealand’s leadingradiologists – decided on a $1 milliondonation that would make such a chair areality.

The W & B Hadden Chair of Ophthal-mology and Translational Vision Researchwas established in June and its firstrecipient, Professor Colin Green, is aneminent cell biologist with an internationalreputation in research into wound healing,particularly in the cornea. The chair has alsobeen funded by bequests from the SidneyJames Taylor and Helen Cadman estates.

The “basic” sciences are, of course,anything but basic: Green’s areas ofresearch expertise are not just in the eyebut in the central nervous system, the skinand the cardiovascular system, all of whichare intimately interlinked with the scienceof vision.

Dr Hadden explains that the term“translational” refers to basic scienceresearch “which you hope will translate tobetter clinical care”.

“The department has earned its keep interms of research and teaching,” he says.“Professor McGhee has displayed tremen-dous energy and ability in building up adepartment which is now the leading eyeresearch department in Australia and NewZealand. When he said it would be a goodmove to have such a chair we thought‘Well, that’s got to be positive’.”

The Haddens are modest in discussingtheir philanthropic gesture, keen tounderline the fact that that their donationis one of many to the University and, inparticular, to the Faculty of Medical andHealth Sciences.

“The appointment of Charles McGhee wasmade possible largely by a donation fromMaurice Paykel,” says Dr Hadden. “I

Everyone who knew Sid and RalphTaylor referred to them as “theboys”. But there was nothing boyish

about the way they managed their money –turning modest earnings into a substantialfortune through a lifetime of cannyinvestment.

The generosity they showed late in life,when deciding what to do with theirsubstantial estates, has been instrumentalin the establishment of a new researchchair in the Faculty of Medical and HealthSciences. The W & B Hadden Chair ofOphthalmology and Translational VisionResearch is named in recognition of majordonors Drs Wendy and Bruce Hadden, whogave $1 million specifically for the creationof the chair. In addition, $800,000 of theTaylors’ generous $2.8 million bequest to

The University of Auckland has also beenapplied to the funding for the chair.

The brothers grew up in Helensvillewhere their parents ran an old time grocerystore of the kind that has virtuallyvanished now. It was all white aprons andpencils behind the ear and from an early

age Ralph (born 1924) and Sid (born 1926)helped the staff out, serving behind thecounter when it was busy and out the back– weighing potatoes into paper bags and soon – when things were quieter.

They wanted to serve in the air forceduring the war, but Ralph’s eyesight ruledhim out and Sid was too young to enlist.

When the family sold up and shifted intoAuckland in 1957, the boys gotadministrative jobs on the waterfrontbefore joining TEAL – later Air NewZealand. Ralph was a personnel officerand Sid worked for the industry body IATAand the two became frequent fliers –domestically and internationally – beforethe term was invented.

The boys had a bit of a reputation forkeeping to themselves. A mate in their

RICH BEQUEST MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Three generous acts of philanthropy have boosted ophthalmological research.

Ralph, left, and Sid Taylor: generous donors.

27SPRING 2005

The first Gus Fisher Post-DoctoralFellowship has been awarded to Dr

Patricia Lawlor, who is based in theFaculty of Medical and HealthSciences. The fellowship – worth up to$100,000 annually – was establishedby the Gus Fisher Charitable Trust,and supports advanced research aimedat finding a cure for Parkinson’sdisease. Dr Lawlor has previously wona University of Auckland best doctoralthesis award for research into thedisease, a progressive disorder of thenervous system. She will test genetherapy treatments that could preventthe build-up or promote the breakdownof toxic proteins that are a key featureof Parkinson’s. Gus Fisher also gavefunds for the refurbishment of 74Shortland Street, which houses the GusFisher Gallery, performance, rehearsaland teaching facilities. The Post-doctoral Fellowship was established tocommemorate his mother, Fanny, whodied from Parkinson’s disease.

FIRST GUS FISHER FELLOW APPOINTED

HAVE FUNDS,WILL TRAVEL

LOOKING AHEAD: Drs Bruce and Wendy Hadden.

later life, Dan Lyons, says they were “verygood citizens.”

“While you could say they were a bitinsular, taking the time to get to knowthem revealed delightful traits andpersonalities.”

They would often drop in on their wayhome from shopping. “There would be aknock on door,” he recalls, “and there wasRalph and Sid two steps behind. Theywould never stay long and it was very rarefor them to take a cup of tea or anyrefreshments.”

But Don Anton – a friend of both forover 50 years – said Sid had a very drollmanner. Ralph was “the boss”, he said,though family and friends describe themas very close and with a finely-tuned senseof humour. An invitation by phone –

answered almost always by Ralph – wouldbring the response “Hang on, I’ll have toask my mate”.

Living very much a frugal lifestyle –their overseas travel was at generous staffairline discount rates – the brothers builtup substantial investments in residentialproperty. When Ralph, who succumbed tocancer in 1998, was terminally ill, he andSid discussed what they would do withtheir estates and a friend recalls that theyhad decided to “put their estates to somereal use to benefit society”.

Sid died of a heart attack in 2001 but“the boys” survive through their $2.8 million bequest to The University of Auckland which they wanted earmarkedfor research in the areas of the eyes,cancer and the heart.

think there is definitely a place forindividuals to assist the University in what itdoes and my wife and I hope that our donationwill encourage others to follow suit.”

Professor Green, who has been in theFaculty of Medical and Health Sciencesfor 12 years, previously held a personalchair in the Department of Anatomy with

Radiology, and was director of theBiomedical Imaging Research Centre.Professor Green graduated from TheUniversity of Auckland with a PhD inZoology and spent 12 years conductingresearch in international centres inFrance, England and earned theprestigious DSc.

The departing Dean of the Facultyof Medical and Health Sciences

made sure of maintaining his linkswith The University of Auckland byestablishing a fellowship to fundcollaborations with research-leduniversities in Australia.

Professor Peter Smith left in Augustto take up a position as Dean of theFaculty of Medicine at the Universityof New South Wales. Before doing so,he donated $250,000 to set up atravelling fellowship which will assistUniversity of Auckland staff to accessthe resources and skills at Australia’stop research-led institutions. ProfessorSmith’s gift inspired a matchingdonation from the Freemasons of NewZealand who have a long legacy ofsupport for The University ofAuckland.

The fellowship’s first recipient is DrMarie Ward of the Department ofPhysiology, who will travel to theUniversity of Sydney to collaboratewith Professor David Allen of theInstitute of Biomedical Research onfurther research into the effects on theheart of Duchenne’s musculardystrophy.

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28 INGENIO

Our world is probably noisier thanhumans have ever had to endure.Quite apart from the self-

inflicted noise preferred by teenagers,whose permanent attachment to personalaudio players is putting them at high riskof premature hearing loss, we suffer fromtraffic and aircraft sound previousgenerations never knew.

Associate Professor Gary Housley andhis collaborators – in the Aucklandauditory neuroscience group in theDepartment of Physiology at the School ofMedical Sciences and in the Audiologysection in the School of Population Health– are helping to understand why noisemakes us lose our hearing and how we maybe able to protect this most precious of oursenses. Certainly, this research cannothappen quickly enough if all the teensearplugged into iPods and similar portabledigital music devices are not to go deaf.

A whole generation of music-mad kids isat risk, according to some researchers.Hours of personal music listening at highvolumes, especially when compounded by

loud evenings at concerts or nightclubs,can cause some of the delicate hair cells inthe inner ear to be literally shaken todeath. That disturbing conclusion can bedrawn from some of the work that TheUniversity of Auckland researchers areundertaking in collaboration withinternational colleagues.

Housley, a Hamilton-bred scientist, didundergraduate and doctoral work inzoology, biology and neuroscience at TheUniversity of Auckland. Post-doctoralfellowships in pharmacology andbiophysics followed, in Britain and theUnited States, before he returned on arepatriation fellowship to set up his ownresearch group. His work has beenhandsomely supported by prestigiousgrants from the Marsden Fund and theHealth Research Council.

He is currently the recipient of one ofthe Royal Society’s James CookFellowships which are awarded only towell-established academics with promisingresearch projects to work on. And whatHousley – along with colleagues Professor

Peter Thorne and Dr Srdjan Vlajkovic andtheir teams – have been working on is verypromising indeed. They are studying theprocess that occurs in the cochlea, thecoiled organ in the inner ear that convertsvibrations into the nerve impulses thattransmit information to the brain. Theiraim: to find out how that process failsunder noise stress and ageing, withconsequent damage to those inner sensorycells.

Most developed countries now make itmandatory for workers to wear equipmentthat gives protection against levels ofsound that might not appear terribly loud.That is because cumulative exposure tosound at the level of 85 decibels (see box)can damage your hearing.

To Housley these mountingenvironmental stressors are bad news forwhat he describes as “the most exquisiteand fragile of the sensory structures.”

“In NZ, the Accident CompensationCommission pays out more for hearing-lossrehabilitation in industry than for anyother injury except sprains,” he says.

BAD NEWS ABOUT NOISELife is louder than it used to be. That makes a challenge for a group of University ofAuckland researchers. CAMILLE GUY explains.

SOUNDSCIENCE: GaryHousley exploresthe workings of theinner ear.

“About 10 per cent of the population has significant hearing loss.”

Our hearing arises from the active focusing of sound energy onthe hair cells which translate it into neural impulses. A mere18,000 to 20,000 cells do that work and only 6000 of them – anumber that could sit comfortably on a pin head – are wired to theauditory nerve fibres. The problem is that every one of those 6000,once gone, is gone for ever.

“Basically if you lose even one of those hair cells, it won’tregenerate,” says Housley.

While 6000 hair cells are occupied with encoding soundmessages to the brain, the remaining 12,000 cells are occupiedwith converting the electrical energy from sound into movement.As the sound wave changes the electrical potential in the cell,proteins in the wall of that cell change their shape. It is thoseouter hair cells that are most prone to stress; they can be killed offby loud sounds.

“It is almost,” says Housley, “as though they are shaken tobits.”

But what the Auckland group would like to know is how thecochlea – which Housley calls “an exquisitely developedstructure” – manages to perform so well for decades. The groupmembers have been looking at the processes of signalling withinthe cochlea, examining the way the cells communicate with eachother and exploring whether there is a mechanism for respondingto stress.

A t this point Housley’s research becomes highly technical but,in simple terms, his team is using a unique model for

studying hearing loss. Mice have been altered by having a genefor a specific receptor knocked out. This receptor detects thepresence of a chemical called ATP which is released by cochleartissue stressed by loud sounds or other stressors. The Aucklandresearchers have established that ATP is the stress signal that thecochlea uses to reduce hearing sensitivity. They believe that thisprocess protects us from hearing loss.

For older people, exposure to loud noise can be extrahazardous, since poorer health can mean greater vulnerability tonoise stressors. But what of those young people, chronicallyexposed to hazardous sound levels?

“I think the future is probably going to be bleak with regard tohearing function, longer term,” says Housley. He himself enjoysloud music but he says that young MP3 users do not realise thatby subjecting themselves to the volume extremes now possible,hour after private hour, they may be seriously compromising theirability to enjoy music in decades to come.

Nevertheless he is optimistic. He says there has been aquantum leap in understanding cochlear function in the past fiveyears. There are opportunities that would have seemed likefantasy only a short time ago. Only this year, researchers in the USused gene therapy in an animal model to restore hearing functionafter catastrophic hearing loss.

HOW LOUD IS TOO LOUD?Scientists agree that cumulative exposure to sound at the levelof 85 decibels (dB) can damage hearing. Some researchers saydamage occurs at 75dB. Ordinary speech registers at between55 and 65dB. At many concerts and clubs, patrons areexposed to up to 120 dB. MP3 players and other personalstereos music can reach 100dB, especially if the user is turningup the volume to drown out background noise.

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30 INGENIO

A L U M N I

MARK CAIRNS [BE 1992] Whenappointed chief executive of the Port ofTauranga in August, he described it as “the best job in Tauranga and the best job in the port industry”. The port, NewZealand’s fastest-growing,also operates an inlandcontainer port, Metroport,near Auckland and has ahalf-share in a deep-waterport at Marsden Point.Formerly chief executiveof Toll Owens Ltd, asubsidiary of the Port ofTauranga, which provides marshalling andstevedoring services at 11 ports throughoutthe country, Cairns has held variousmanagement positions with Works CivilConstruction, and was regional manager forTransit New Zealand in Hawke’s Bay. In1999 he moved to Tauranga as generalmanager for Fulton Hogan where the Port ofTauranga head-hunted him three years later.The company had “differentiated itself bywanting to be a port of choice,” he says. “Ithas focused on excellent customer serviceand world-class productivity, and I’m excitedby the challenge of carrying this forward.”

TIM CAMERON [LLB (HONS), BCOM 1994,MCOMLAW (HONS) 1997]SHERON KORPUS [LLB (HONS), BCOM1991] These two Auckland graduates have

been made partners inprestigious New Yorklaw firms, Cameron atCravath, Swaine &Moore and Korpus atWhite & Case.Cameron, left, is ageneralist commerciallitigator with experience

in a wide range of practice areas, includingsecurities and antitrust litigation, taxlitigation, mergers and acquisitions, andrepresenting corporations involved inregulatory investigations. He regularlyadvises international clients involved inlitigation or regulatory matters in the US, andconsequently spends a significant amount oftime working abroad, particularly in France.In 2001, Cameron appeared as junior counselbefore the United States Supreme Court.Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of New York’sleading law firms, employs 400 attorneys inoffices in New York and London. He is apartner in Cravath’s New York office, locatedin the Worldwide Plaza building at 825Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, nearTimes Square and the Theater District.Cameron says working in New York is both

demanding and highly rewarding. The natureof the work is extremely challenging and oftenhigh-pressure, particularly in “bet-the-company” type cases, where the survival ofsignificant US or international corporationsmay be at stake. The need to deal with a civiljury in the US — which requires lawyers tocommunicate complicated economic andfinancial concepts to lay people — also addsa unique dimension to practising law in NewYork. In Auckland, Cameron worked forRussell, McVeagh, for three and a half yearsbefore studying at the University of Chicago,where he gained an LLM in 1998.Sheron Korpus, right, isalso a commerciallitigator with experiencein contractual disputes,bankruptcy litigation,arbitration, intellectualproperty litigation, secu-rities actions andemployment disputes.White & Case is an international law firmwith around 1700 lawyers in 38 officesaround the world. Korpus is a partner in thecentral New York office, located at 1155Avenue of the Americas in midtownManhattan (right next to Times Square). Heworks on a variety of disputes in US courtsand on international arbitrations in differentcountries. The work is challenging andstimulating at the same time – involving longhours, demanding clients and cutting-edgecases. He enjoys the variety of the workwhich takes him from jury trials on medicalpatents to insider trading cases to arbitrationbefore the former directors of the FBI andCIA. Before joining White & Case, Korpuswas an associate with Kensington Swan inNew Zealand, practising in commercial andtax litigation.

DAVID FERGUSON [BE 1992, MPHIL 1995]New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner to Japan,Ferguson has spent seven of the last 15 yearsworking in both the public and privatesectors. Previously TradeCommissioner to Korea forthree years, he says thatmany New Zealandersperceive Japan as aneconomy in perpetualrecession, and haveunderestimated its realpotential as a market.“They should think again. Japan is thesecond-largest economy after the US – largerthan those of China and the UK combined,with clear indications the economy is againexpanding.

“Japan is a nation of wealthy, sophisticatedconsumers and our third-largest exportmarket. While it is a demanding market, itrewards successful companies both inprofitability and customer loyalty. It is oursingle biggest market for aluminium,vegetables, cheese and kiwifruit, and thesecond-largest market for forest products andfisheries products.”Japan is also one of NZ’s largest sources offoreign students and Japanese tourists areamong the highest spenders.“There is fundamental change going on atthe consumer, retail and distribution levelsin Japan,” says Ferguson. “It is moreimportant than ever that exporters understandconsumer trends which drive shifts indemand.”

KELLY ANA MOREY [BA 1999, MA 2002]A prolific and successful novelist sincecompleting her masters thesis in Art History,Morey included the creative writing papertaught by Professors Witi Ihimaera andAlbert Wendt in her undergraduate degree.Her first novel, Bloom, was published byPenguin in 2003 andin that same yearKelly also receivedthe Todd New Writers’Bursary. The followingyear the novel rec-eived the NZ Societyof Authors HubertChurch Best FirstBook Award for Fiction at the Montana BookAwards. The judging panel considered it “awonderfully accomplished first novel thatreads like the work of a veteran writer ratherthan a first-book author”. Grace is Gone,Morey’s second novel, also published byPenguin, was one of five fiction finalists in the2005 Kiriyama Prize which celebrates booksfrom and about the Pacific Rim. The finalistswere chosen from 165 eligible entriesincluding Tim Winton and Margaret Drabble,fulfilling the prediction by one reviewer in2003 that Morey would “become a powerfulnew voice in the current crop of young NewZealand writers”. Morey, who lives in SouthKaipara, also writes art and literary criticism,does some magazine journalism, and workspart-time as an oral historian for the Navy.Her writer’s memoir, How to Write a Book, willbe published shortly by Awa.

CAROLE PRENTICE [BFA 2002] Beforeenrolling at Elam as a mature student,Prentice had already painted and exhibitedwidely. The fourth-generation New Zealanderof mixed European descent lives and works at

Alumni of The University of Auckland make waves at home and abroad.

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Whangarei Heads whereshe focuses on identityand landscape in herwork. As a child she oftenclambered up the steepsides of Maungarei (MtWellington) but as anartist she climbsmountains only to look more critically atlandscapes she thinks she knows. From sucha vantage point the artist considers howtenuous Pakeha occupation of the land isand imagines ways in which traces ofmuch earlier indigenous occupation echoand endure.A major exhibition of her work, “FindingLongitude”, was recently staged at theWhangarei Arts Museum and in Northcote,Auckland. The paintings are of dreamlikeislands floating suspended in still, lusciouslycoloured seas. “These shapes in anarchipelago of discovery explore thedimensions of place where the past persistsand speaks to us in the present,” she says. Prentice employs washes of acrylic paint overcanvas and board, creating a translucent,vibrantly coloured effect.

ROMAN REYHANI [BA LLB 2005] Reyhaniis just back from working for the UnitedNations in Arusha, Tanzania, at theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.The tribunal was established by the UNSecurity Council to prosecute the leadinginstigators of the 1994 genocide of more than100,000 Tutsis. He undertook a six-monthinternship in the Office of the Prosecutor ofthe UN Tribunal. Many of Reyhani’s dutiesinvolved building the case against four co-accused, each a high-ranking governmentofficial in the main political party (MRND) at

the time of the genocide.They are accused on multiple counts,primarily genocide andcrimes against humanity.He was also sent with the trial team toRwanda on an officialUN mission to develop

the case further. This involved working with attorneys and investigators to interview witnesses and examine theirreliability. In Rwanda, he attended the localcommunity-based Gacaca courts wherehundreds of thousands of accused are beingtried for their involvement in the Rwandangenocide. He was also able to visit a numberof genocide sites where horrific massacrestook place and many thousands wereslaughtered. Reyhani moved to theNetherlands in August to begin his masters of law programme (LLM) in public international law at LeidenUniversity.

CECILIA TARRANT [BA 1984, LLB HONS1985] Tarrant, who has a high-level positionwith the large global financial services firm,Morgan Stanley, at Canary Wharf in London,had her initial legalexperience at SimpsonGrierson in Auckland,specialising in con-struction arbitration.Then she headed to theUniversity of California,Berkeley to take amasters in law withProfessor Justin Sweet, the foremost expert inUS construction law.Next came a stint in real estate finance for theSan Francisco office of Boston law firmCsaplar & Bok. “I knew practically nothing about finance orreal estate when I began but soon developeda great liking for the transactional nature ofthe work and have been a ‘deal junkie’ eversince,” she says.In 1992 she was employed at CS First Boston(now Credit Suisse) in New York in bankingroles connected to real estate and finance.Five years later she moved to Morgan Stanleywhere she is now an executive director. In hereight years there, she has had a variety ofroles all relating to securitisation.Tarrant, who had spent 1999 in London,returned there in September 2004 and isnow responsible for commercial mortgage-backed securities agency and executionwithin the Securitised Products Group inEurope. She and her team source, structureand execute transactions to finance, throughsecuritisation, commercial property such asoffice buildings, shopping centres andapartment buildings, and loans secured bycommercial property. Morgan Stanley is aleader in the CMBS market not only inEurope but also in the US and Japan.Tarrant was a founding member and chair ofthe board of the Friends of The University ofAuckland in the US and is now on the boardof the equivalent UK body.

CARMEL WILLIAMS [BA 1983, MA 2002 ]An extensive background in business,communications and health publishing,combined with a strong interest in economicand social development, led Williams to

undertake her masters inDevelopment Studies.This multi-disciplinarydegree allowed her topursue interests inpublic health andinternational economicdevelopment, and wasenhanced by the

practical experience of managing aneconomic consultancy with contractsthroughout the Pacific. Williams’ thesis on

health and development was researched inSamoa. The postgraduate qualification, plusher business skills and Pacific experience,were immediately put to use when a positionbecame available to develop Pacificprogrammes for the eye health NGO The Fred Hollows Foundation (NZ). As executive director of the Foundation, shehas overall responsibility for developinghealth strategies to help prevent blindness in“Pacific” countries, which include Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea as well asMelanesia and Polynesia. The challenges,she says, are fascinating. “There are all theusual difficulties of working in the public-health sector, where need always far outstripssupply, added to which is the overwhelmingproblem of working within failing healthsystems with a chronic shortage of a trainedhealth workforce.”

JOAN WITHERS [MBA 1991] The new chiefexecutive of Fairfax New Zealand, thecountry’s largest media company, Withers is incharge of a company that publishes nine dailynewspapers (including the Dominion Post andthe Press in Christchurch), two nationalSunday papers, and a stable of mainly lifestylemagazines. It also owns more than 60 com-

munity newspapers, andhas 41 per cent of thenewspaper and magazineadvertising market inNZ. Withers left schoolwith School Certificateat 15 and the AucklandMBA, taken whileworking full-time, was

her first experience of tertiary education. Thetwo years of “incredibly hard work”demanded more sacrifice of her family thanherself, she says. She has extensive mediaexperience in both radio and newspapers.Her last executive role was as chief executiveof the Radio Network of NZ. Withers hasreturned to management after spending eightyears as a professional director. As well asbeing on the Australian Fairfax board she hasserved on the boards of large companies andremains on the board of AucklandInternational Airport Ltd. Having spent timeon the John Fairfax Holdings Ltd board shehas good insights into the Australasian mediamarket and is looking forward to capitalisingon opportunities as the market becomesincreasingly dynamic.

These pages feature graduates who have chalked up significantachievements in academia, their careersor in the community. Suggestions forinclusion are most welcome.Please email them towrs.williams@auckland.ac.nz

32 INGENIO

A L U M N I

AWARD WINNERS NAMED

Our Distinguished Alumni Awardwinners for 2006 are:

Dr Judith Aitken (Arts), former CEO of theEducation Review Office and former CEO ofthe Ministry of Women’s Affairs.The Hon Justice David Baragwanath(Law), High Court judge.Philippa Boyens (Arts), Oscar-winning co-screenwriter of The Lord of the Rings.Dr Andrew Thomson (Medical and HealthSciences), Medical Officer, United NationsMedical Service and co-author, Emergency Sexand Other Desperate Measures.Mark Weldon (Business), CEO, NewZealand Stock Exchange.The Young Alumnus of the Year is DrDavid Skilling (Business), ExecutiveDirector of the New Zealand Institute.These alumni have all made a significantcontribution in their fields. They will behonoured at the Distinguished AlumniAwards dinner on Friday March 3, 2006.Please contact the Alumni Relations Officefor bookings.

HOW TO KEEP IN TOUCH

To ensure that you continue to receiveIngenio, and to subscribe to @auckland,

the University’s email newsletter for alumniand friends, please be sure to update yourdetails at:www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/updateContact us: Alumni Relations Office, TheUniversity of Auckland, 19A Princes Street,Auckland City, New ZealandPost: Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New ZealandPhone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 82246Email: alumni@auckland.ac.nzWebsite: www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz

COMING EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY Events for alumni and friends for theperiod ahead are: November 10 Auckland, Golden

Graduates eventMarch 3 Auckland, Annual

Distinguished AlumniAwards Annual Dinner

March 3-4 Auckland, Alumni Summer Celebration

March 20 LondonMarch 22 New YorkMarch 24 San Francisco

Additional events may be held. For moreinformation on these and an up-to-datealumni event listing, please visitwww.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/calendar

INTERNATIONALALUMNI NETWORK

The Alumni Relations Office is forming aninternational network of volunteer alumni

coordinators to enable alumni to network andmeet other alumni socially.

If you live in or near any of the areas belowand would like to be involved, we encourageyou to make contact with your local volunteerco-ordinator.

AUSTRALIA:BrisbaneAllanah Johnston: a.johnston@business.uq.edu.auMelbourne: Jeff Kerr-Bell:jeff@kerr-bell.comPerthMargaret: Sims:m.sims@ecu.edu.auSydney: George Barker:BarkerG@law.anu.edu.auCANADA:Vancouver: Nigel Toy:nrltoy@stgeorges.bc.caCHINA:Beijing: Pei Xie:peixie003@yahoo.comHong Kong: Raymond Tam:tmkraymond@yahoo.com.hkShanghai: Frank Qiu: frank.qiu@chh.co.nzDENMARK:Duncan Lithgow: duncan@lithgow-schmidt.dkINDIA:Chandigarh: Rahul Gautam:mithugautam@yahoo.com.au ISRAEL:Ofir Goren: ofir.goren@solcon.co.il JAPAN:TokyoSimon Hollander: nzhikozaemon@yahoo.co.jpKOREA:Seoul: Esther Song: isong@cisco.com MALAYSIA:Kuala Lumpur:KC Yong: keecyong@tm.net.mySINGAPORE:Von Chan: vonchan@eoffice.com.sqTAIWAN:Taipei: Mago Hsiao: mago.hsiao@nzte.govt.nzUK:London; Don Kerr: d.kerr@wun.ac.ukUSA:New York;Rosena Sammi: rosena_sammi@hotmail.comSan Francisco; Sue Service:sue@serviceconsulting.com

REVISIT AND RECONNECTFIRST WEEKEND ALUMNI CELEBRATION IN AUCKLAND

Our Alumni Summer Celebration in March, 2006, is timed to coincide with theDistinguished Alumni Awards Annual Dinner on Friday March 3. It is a chance for

all alumni and their families and friends to revisit the campus, reconnect with theirintellectual home and revitalise their relationship with us.

Distinguished Alumni Award winners will be speaking and campus tours will be offered,along with gourmet food, jazz and a tasting of alumni wines.

New Zealand readers have a full programme of events and registration form attached withthis issue. Overseas readers should visit www.alumni.co.nz/celebration for further details.We look forward to seeing you there.

OFFICE LINK FORALUMNI, FRIENDS

As a graduate of the University, youbecome one of our alumni – a

community of scholars that now numbersover 100,000. The Alumni RelationsOffice provides you with a link back to theUniversity even when you’re no longerstudying here. Through the office, theUniversity now provides a range ofservices and benefits for all our alumni. Tofind out about the benefits and services,plus upcoming events for alumni, visit the Alumni & Friends website at:www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz

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