SUSTAINABLE - The University of Waikato

Research and Innovation

Leading the way to a

SUSTAINABLE

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The University of Waikato Toll Free: 0800 WAIKATO

Private Bag 3105 0800 924 528

Hamilton 3240 Email: [email protected]

New Zealand Website: waikato.ac.nz

©The University of Waikato, September 2010.

Research Hub

Phone: +64 7 838 4050

Email: [email protected]

Website: waikato.ac.nz/research

This document is printed on sustainable paper using vegetable inks.

Contents

Message from the Vice-Chancellor 2

Foreword 3

The University of Waikato 4

Leading the way to a sustainable future 6

The Drive for Environmental

Sustainability

ECOSYSTEMS

Antarctica – a diversity of life in waiting 10

Restoring the life to native forest remnants 12

Restoring a city’s natural ecosystems 13

$10 million battle to save the lakes 14

SUSTAINABLE SOILS

Are New Zealand pastures gaining or losing soil

carbon and nitrogen, and why? 16

Soil microbial diversity, composting and enrichment 17

SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES

From energy savings to export competitiveness 18

Titanium alloys 19

PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability: are businesses walking the talk? 20

International Global Change Centre (IGCC) 21

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND

REGULATORY CONTROL

Protected areas and international law 22

The economic way to cleaner water 23

Supporting Economic

Sustainability

ECONOMIC MONITORING

Monitoring the economic pulse of the Waikato 26

Temporary migration programme is a winner

all round 27

EDUCATING THE FUTURE WORKFORCE

Taking science and biotechnology to the classroom 28

Enhancing primary student-teacher interactions

in science and technology 30

ADDING VALUE TO THE MEAT INDUSTRY

Animal protein becomes biodegradable plastic 31

Bovine bone replacement 32

SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT

Identifying sustainable aquaculture

management areas 33

DEVELOPING INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES FOR

PRIMARY INDUSTRY

Keeping farmers online 34

Machine learning has a special chemistry 35

VALUABLE NEW PRODUCTS FROM UNIQUE

BIOLOGICAL SOURCES

Genes, enzymes and microbes: the gems of

industrial biotechnology 36

Sweet university research 37

UNDERSTANDING THE FORCES OF NATURE

Solar flares – unlocking the secrets of

the Sun’s energy 38

9 25

1

Social and Cultural

Sustainability

EDUCATION FOR AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY

Te Kotahitanga: improving Māori students’

educational achievement 42

Lessons, literacy and learning 43

TECHNOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND

COMMUNITY WELLBEING

Cellphones, young drivers at heart of research work 44

Video game violence: understanding its attractions

for young New Zealanders 45

ACTING ON THE BIGGER PICTURE FOR

COMMUNITY WELLBEING

Tackling poverty through pictures 46

Population studies 48

Global warming, natural disaster and

Pacific Island communities 49

MONITORING THE IMPACTS OF NEW

TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIETY

Shaping New Zealand’s biotechnology future 50

The impacts of ICT on work and communities 51

THE GLOBAL BENEFITS OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP

Digital libraries 52

Doing good is good for business 53

UNDERSTANDING OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE

Mau Moko: the world of Māori tattoo 54

Piano research hits right notes 56

Empire and environmental anxiety 57

Sustaining and Developing

University Research

Research strengths 58

Specialist research facilities 62

The Research Hub 64

Commercialising research 66

Commercialisation success stories 67

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2

Message from the Vice-Chancellor

The University of Waikato is committed to creating

and building knowledge and technologies for the future.

Our commitment to sustainable development permeates

all of our research to provide support for business,

for the environment, and for our wider population.

The challenging times faced by the modern world lend

emphasis to the importance of New Zealand's focus

on sustainable development. The drivers are even more

important than ever to improve sustainability in business

and in our environmental practices, and to use

multi-disciplinary teams to solve the complex

problems facing societies around the world.

Successful strategies for the future need innovation and

sustainability. Business profitability, healthy populations

and a living planet depend upon it.

This publication Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future

illustrates this University's commitment to making

New Zealand a world leader in sustainability,

and showcases the high calibre and broad sweep

of our research portfolio.

Professor Roy Crawford

Vice-Chancellor

3

Foreword

The University of Waikato is one of

New Zealand’s major research organisations,

playing a key role in the local economy and

making a significant contribution to the

national innovation system.

We are at the centre of a network of

research institutions and industry in the

Waikato that is responsible for a significant

proportion of this nation’s research output

– an engine room for our country’s social

and economic development.

Research is also this University’s lifeblood.

Research-related activities provide more than

a quarter of our revenue.

We have developed, or are in the process

of developing, research platforms that

take us all the way through the research

pipeline from discovery to application and

commercialisation. Sustainability in all its

forms – environmental, economic, social and

cultural – is a strong and emerging theme

in many of these research platforms as is

demonstrated in the pages that follow.

By its nature, sustainability is future-focussed

and rooted in new ways of thinking and new

ways of tackling old problems. The University

of Waikato is proud to lay claim to be Leading

the Way to a Sustainable Future.

Professor Doug Sutton

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Revised September 2010.

4

The University of Waikato

Founded in 1964, the University of Waikato is

PROGRESSIVE

YOUNG, VIBRANT AND

The University’s motto, Ko Te Tangata/For the People, reflects our intrinsic belief

that our people are central to the institution and are its most valued resource.

5

Founded in 1964, the University of Waikato is young, vibrant and

progressive. In 1989 (with a little help from NASA) we connected

New Zealand to the internet before going on to become the first

University in New Zealand to have cyber-graduates, completing their

teaching degrees online.

From modest beginnings in temporary buildings on a beautiful

65 hectare campus carved from farmland, the University of Waikato

now has a student population of 13,000 and employs about 2,000

academic and support staff, making a significant contribution to

the local economy.

The University has built research quality to be ranked No. 3 in

New Zealand (when University and College of Education scores are

combined)* and has forged strong links with universities, research

institutes and partners around the world.

We are committed to delivering a world-class education and research

portfolio, providing a full and dynamic university experience which

is distinctive in character, and pursuing strong international links

to advance knowledge. The overarching themes of our vision are

excellence, distinctiveness, and international connectedness.

We are truly a New Zealand institution with a character that derives

its distinctiveness from three interwoven components; sustainability,

Māori and leadership. We were the first university to establish a

separate school for Māori and Pacific studies, we helped lead the

revival of the Māori language, and we are proud to have the highest

proportion of Māori students of any New Zealand university. We

play a leadership role in the prosperity of the Waikato, and we teach

the leaders of tomorrow – our business leaders, our musicians, our

scientists and our teachers. Sustainability is a central theme in

our research programmes. We are leaders of research in areas of

environmental sustainability, in economic and industrial sustainability,

and in research supporting social and cultural sustainability. We are

leading the next generation to develop a sustainable future in a

multicultural, international environment.

*Tertiary Education Commission, PBRF Quality Evaluation 2006.

(Wellington 2007)

6

The University of Waikato

Sustainable development is a concept that has developed in

response to a growing realisation of the fragility of life on

earth. It ties together concerns for earth’s natural resources

with the social challenges facing humanity.

Some 20 years ago the United Nations Brundtland Com-

mission report, Our Common Future, described sustainable

development as “development that meets the needs of

the present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs.” This is still the most

frequently cited definition of sustainable development today.

The Brundtland Commission provided the momentum for

the 1992 Earth Summit, which proclaimed 27 principles of

sustainability in the Rio Declaration, adopted the Framework

Convention on Climate Change, and delivered Agenda 21,

a wide-ranging blueprint for action to achieve sustainable

development worldwide. It placed humanity at the centre

of concerns for sustainable development, and recognised

that global issues such as poverty, inequality, hunger and

environmental degradation are inter-related and must be

tackled cooperatively across a broad front.


SUSTAINABLE

FUTURE

The Earth Summit has influenced many subsequent

global debates and over the ensuing years the concept of

sustainability has developed into four categories or ‘pillars’:

environmental protection, economic development, social

development and cultural diversity.

New Zealand is now engaged with sustainable development

on a multitude of fronts – from the adoption of the Kyoto

Protocol limiting our overall carbon emissions, to the Clean

Streams Accord requiring farmers to reduce nutrient losses

to our waterways, to the implementation of the Resource

Management Act which sets out a framework for managing

our environment. Our ability to maintain this nation’s

ongoing social and economic wellbeing strongly depends on

fostering and applying leadership, innovation and education

to support this drive for sustainable development.

Nestled in a beautiful, green and pedestrian campus in the

heart of a strong economic region, the University of Waikato

is well placed to lead and embrace sustainable practices in

partnership with tangata whenua. Sustainability is embedded

in our strategic plan as a key outcome of our teaching,

The University of Waikato is committed to creating and building knowledge and

technologies for the future. To do so we must meet the challenges that face the

world today, and there is none greater than the need for sustainable development.

7

research and postgraduate studies, and in our organisational

drive to reduce the University’s ecological footprint, develop

future academic leaders and operate beyond best practices in

a culturally-safe environment.

Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future illustrates the University

of Waikato’s commitment to making New Zealand a world leader

in sustainability. Our tools are discovery, innovation, evidence

and research-led education. Our results are new understandings,

technologies, capacity building and policies designed to underpin

sustainable economic development, social wellbeing, environmental

sustainability and the richness of our cultural heritage.

Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future is a short journey through

the broad sweep of the University of Waikato’s portfolio of research

programmes that are leading to the development of practical

solutions to advance sustainability. Only a small number of projects

are featured, but they have been selected to showcase the high

calibre of our research, and grouped for presentation into three

sections – environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and

social and cultural sustainability – each with their own introductions.

The final section profiles the University of Waikato’s research

strengths, commercialisation successes, and the work of the Research

Hub. The Research Hub brings together the operations that support

and sustain university scholarship and research, and that manage

our contractual relationships with our research partners and

investors. The Research Hub is a “one-stop shop” for research and

development, scholarships and postgraduate studies. It turns the

wheels that propel our research forward and spins it out in ways that

will benefit the wider community.

Researchers need problems to solve and they are driven by passion.

Researchers sail voyages of discovery on uncharted seas. They climb

mountains to see the view from the top. What they find inspires new

ideas, new thinking, and new ways of doing things.

The mountain that dominates our mental landscape today is

sustainability, and University of Waikato researchers are already

seeking a route to the top.

“Human beings are at the centre of

concerns for sustainable development.

They are entitled to a healthy and

productive life in harmony with nature.”

Principle One – Rio Declaration

8

9

ENVIRONMENTALThe drive for

SUSTAINABILITYThe drive for environmental sustainability demands the ability

to apply knowledge across a broad front – ecosystems, agriculture,

industrial processes, planning and regulatory processes.

The University of Waikato has developed strong research platforms

in biodiversity and natural ecosystems that are taking our

researchers and their colleagues from other institutions into the

field to undertake work as diverse and complex as restoration of

the Rotorua Lakes to an International Polar Year investigation into

biocomplexity in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica.

Sustainable soils, rich in minerals and microbial diversity, is just

one focus of a wide range of research to support the demands of

an agricultural economy seeking to add value, whether through

intensification or a move to organics.

Making more efficient use of resources in industrial processes

– from energy efficiency in the dairy industry to the use of

industrial waste material for titanium alloy production – is another

broad-ranging area of the University’s research that is contributing

to environmental sustainability.

Sustainability planning and regulation is an area in which the

University of Waikato brings a wealth of expertise from the

Waikato Management School to the Faculty of Law and to the

International Global Change Centre, a research group within the

University’s Faculty of Science & Engineering that embraces an

interdisciplinary approach to climate change and environment

issues and has non-governmental organisation (NGO) status at the

United Nations.

A selection of the University of Waikato research programmes

in these areas is highlighted in the following pages.

10

ECOSYSTEMS

WAITINGLIFE IN

Antarctica – a diversity of

11

Antarctica’s Dry Valleys have long been regarded as the

closest thing on Earth to the surface of Mars – a cold,

lifeless desert.

Using modern molecular techniques University of Waikato

researchers tell a different story. Soils once thought to

be sterile now appear to support an unexpectedly high

diversity of microbial organisms, waiting for water and/or

food to burst into life.

Having led New Zealand in terrestrial biological research

in Antarctica for more than 25 years, the University of

Waikato is now taking part in a multinational International

Polar Year (IPY 2007-9) initiative designed to spark a new

era in polar research. The last such year, 50 years ago, was

marked by the founding of Scott Base and the beginning

of New Zealand’s cooperation with the US science

programme in Antarctica.

The IPY project led by Waikato, in collaboration with the

US National Science Foundation, is designed to study

biocomplexity in the Ross Sea and draws together a team

of 15 biologists, hydrologists, chemists and geologists

from several universities here and overseas. Four of the

scientists, including project leaders Professors Allan Green

and Craig Cary, are Waikato biologists who will bring

together a breadth of separate ongoing Antarctic research

on lichens and mosses, microbial diversity, and small

invertebrate fauna.

Biocomplexity is ecosystem research at a level above

biodiversity. It examines organisms and their community

structure, as well as interactions between them and the

environment. It is an area of science that has moved

beyond studying individual species to studying the “big

picture” in order to inform efforts to protect or manage the

environment, or to be able to forecast effects of climate

change. The simplicity of the terrestrial biology system

in Antarctica provides a unique opportunity to develop

ecosystem research to a high level of sophistication.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: National

Geographic Society, Antarctica New Zealand, and Foundation

for Research, Science and Technology.

CENTRE FOR BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGY RESEARCHFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“States shall cooperate in a spirit of global

partnership to conserve, protect and restore

the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem.”

Principle 7, Rio Declaration, United Nations

Earth Summit 1992.

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ECOSYSTEMS

RESTORING THE LIFE TO NATIVE FOREST REMNANTSPatches of native forest on farm land will have richer

ecosystems thanks to the University of Waikato’s Centre

for Biodiversity and Ecology Research (CBER).

The centre began a 28-month, $1.12 million project in

2007 to look at methods to restore the biodiversity of

native forest fragments in rural areas, in partnership with

Landcare Research NZ Ltd.

The work means indigenous forest remnants will be more

effectively managed in the future, and it will contribute

to integrated, biodiversity restoration both in the Waikato

and nationally.

Staff will examine traditional indigenous forest

management techniques, including the effectiveness of

fencing, possum and rat control and revegetation. The

collaborative research team also includes scientists from

the University of Canterbury and AgResearch Ltd.

The research team will focus on a range of ecological

processes such as the regeneration of ground and canopy

plants, the decomposition of forest litter and the ability of

native birds to reproduce successfully.

Professor Bruce Clarkson, Dean of Science and Engineering,

and Director of CBER, says the project fills a critical gap

between existing major research programmes in large

conservation estate forests, and severely depleted and

modified urban remnants. It’s the first time the ecosystem

processes in those patches of farmland forest have been

looked at in this way.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Foundation for

Research, Science and Technology.


“All types of forests embody complex and unique

ecological processes [and] provide resources to

satisfy human needs as well as environmental values

and…their sound management and conservation…

are of value to local communities and to the

environment as a whole.”

Preamble to the Statement of Principles for the

Sustainable Management of Forests, United Nations

Earth Summit, 1992.

13

ECOSYSTEMS

RESTORING A CITY’S NATURAL ECOSYSTEMSWork on restoring a Hamilton park will provide a model

for restoring ecosystems in cities all around New Zealand.

Biodiversity loss has been greatest in or near New

Zealand’s cities where development has often resulted in

total landscape transformations, but the magnitude of this

loss has been recognised only in recent years.

A University of Waikato-led research group is working on a

four-year FRST-funded project to determine the best way

to restore natural ecosystems in city areas, using the

60ha Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park in Hamilton

as a case study.

The research will develop a model to reverse the loss of

native plants and wildlife in New Zealand’s urban areas

and provide New Zealand’s restoration groups with the

best methods to use.

Research leader Professor Bruce Clarkson says the park,

a modified peat lake and catchment, provides a unique

opportunity in restoration. “Our role is not to conduct the

reconstruction, but to underpin the restoration effort with

excellent science.”

Such a model will help transform traditional city

approaches to managing parks and gardens throughout

New Zealand to one more closely aligned to ecosystem

management and sustainable development.




“By the turn of the century, the majority of the

world’s population will be living in cities. While

urban settlements, particularly in developing

countries, are showing many of the symptoms of the

global environment and development crisis, they

nevertheless generate 60 per cent of gross national

product and, if properly managed, can develop

the capacity to sustain their productivity, improve

the living conditions of their residents and manage

natural resources in a sustainable way.”

Article 7.13, Agenda 21, United Nations Earth

Summit, 1992.

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ECOSYSTEMS

Waikato University biologists are at the heart of a massive

scheme to research and save the country’s lakes.

The programme, focusing on the Rotorua Lakes but

which will have nationwide application, has $10 million

over 10 years to research the threats posed by algal

blooms, pest fish and other invasive species – and how

to address those threats.

Professors Bruce Clarkson, David Hamilton and Associate

Professor Brendan Hicks are running the programme, which

has input from regional councils, community groups, the

water industry and other organisations as it is those groups

who will ultimately benefit from the research work.

Native fish and plants are in decline in most New Zealand

lakes. Not only do pest fish and invasive weeds out-

compete native species, they also alter the environment

to cause proliferation of harmful algal blooms. Toxic

algal blooms have in some cases resulted in water

supply closure, cattle deaths and closures of lakes for

recreational activities.

Researchers have quickly developed monitoring tools

to detect and understand more about the blooms.

That work is already paying off in China, where University

of Waikato scientists are using their technology in Taihu

Lake to provide information about blooms of blue-green

algae which affect drinking water supplies for more than

5 million people.



MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM LED BY THE CENTRE FOR BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGY RESEARCH FACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

LAKESSAVE THE

$10 million battle to

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“[Governments should] promote the rehabilitation

and restoration of damaged ecosystems and the

recovery of threatened and endangered species...”

Article 15.5(h), Agenda 21, United Nations

Earth Summit, 1992.

16

SUSTAINABLE SOILS

ARE NEW ZEALAND PASTURES GAINING OR LOSING SOIL CARBON AND NITROGEN, AND WHY?In New Zealand, pastures originally converted from

forest are now subject to more intensive stocking and

increasing fertiliser use. We know very little about how

this intensification of land use has altered the amounts

of carbon and nitrogen stored in the soil. Associate

Professor Louis Schipper (Earth and Ocean Sciences) and

colleagues from Landcare Research and GNS Science

have been measuring soil carbon and nitrogen at 65+

pastures sites around New Zealand, and comparing their

information with data recorded from the same pastures

around 20 years ago. The team found large average

annual losses of around 1 tonne per hectare of soil

carbon and annual nitrogen losses of about 90 kilogram

per hectare from dairying on flat land, and large gains on

North lsland hill country.

The reasons behind these changes aren’t clear and a

number of hypotheses are now being tested.

These losses and gains are nationally important with

respect to carbon accounting and maintenance of soil

quality for production. Dr Dave Campbell (Earth and Ocean

Sciences) and Professor Schipper are leading research

in techniques for determining real-time fluctuations of

carbon dioxide at paddock level. Their long-term vision is

to develop a balance sheet of carbon exchange related to

farm management practices to inform farmers about the

environmental and production consequences of their land

management decisions.

In time, mitigation strategies will need to be developed to

reduce and reverse carbon and nitrogen losses from soil.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Landcare

Research, MAF, DairyNZ, and others.

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCESFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“Land degradation is the most important environmental

problem affecting extensive areas of land in both

developed and developing countries….Well planned,

long-term national and regional land conservation and

rehabilitation programmes, with strong political support

and adequate funding, are now needed.”

Article 14.44, Agenda 21, United Nations Earth Summit, 1992.

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SUSTAINABLE SOILS

SOIL MICROBIAL DIVERSITY, COMPOSTING AND ENRICHMENTA major research platform in microbial genes and

enzymes at the University of Waikato’s Biological

Sciences Department (see page 36) has led to a

large number of fundamental and applied projects

investigating soil microbes and composting processes

for a variety of purposes.

Among the latest projects is a Technology for Industry

Fellowship to understand and improve a process for

composting rock phosphate on behalf of Ballance

Agri-Nutrients. The process uses micro-organisms to

make the phosphate soluble, helping to make it available

for plant uptake. This can be marketed as a biologically

released phosphate fertiliser (BioPhos), instead of a

phosphate fertiliser that is derived through a chemical

industrial process.

Another current project is to analyse the bacterial

diversity of New Zealand geothermal soils. As part of

this study new, unclassified organisms have been isolated

from extreme temperature soils that will be classified in

collaboration with GNS Science (Wairakei). The long-term

aim is to understand the role different organisms play in

these extreme soil ecosystems, and to research different

ways in which they may be useful.

Both these projects are being led by Dr Ian McDonald.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Technology for

Industry Fellowship; GNS Science.

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCESFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“Soil organisms contribute a wide range of essential

services to the sustainable function of all ecosystems, by

acting as the primary driving agents of nutrient cycling,

regulating the dynamics of soil organic matter, soil carbon

sequestration and greenhouse gas emission; modifying

soil physical structure and water regimes, enhancing

the amount and efficiency of nutrient acquisition by the

vegetation and enhancing plant health. These services are

not only essential to the functioning of natural ecosystems

but constitute an important resource for the sustainable

management of agricultural systems.”

Soil Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture, United Nations

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 2001.

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FROM ENERGY SAVINGS TO EXPORT COMPETITIVENESSUniversity of Waikato research is helping Fonterra become

more competitive through energy savings.

The Foundation for Research Science and Technology and

Fonterra are funding a six-year project to reduce energy

consumption at the co-operative’s milk powder plants

around New Zealand.

Fonterra is the world’s leading exporter of dairy products,

but it is faced with using energy-intensive processes to

turn milk into milk powder at a time of rising energy

prices. University researchers Professor Peter Kamp, James

Neale, Dr Michael Walmsley, and Martin Atkins have been

joined by three PhD students to modify the dryers which

dehydrate milk.

Some of the research is taking place in the factories, and

some in the University’s large-scale engineering laboratory,

using scale models.

Within the first year of the programme and as a result of

the research, design changes have been implemented in

four of Fonterra’s 74 dryers, with much scope to improve

the energy performance of the remaining dryers as capital

becomes available.

The University is building an externally-funded research

team with high-level engineering expertise which has a

particular focus on industrial energy efficiency and could

help the wood, meat, steel and dairy industries make

energy savings.


Research, Science and Technology and Fonterra

ENERGY RESEARCH GROUPFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“Reducing the amount of energy and materials

used per unit in the production of goods and

services can contribute both to the alleviation of

environmental stress and to greater economic

and industrial productivity and competitiveness.

Governments, in cooperation with industry,

should therefore intensify efforts to use energy

and resources in an economically efficient and

environmentally sound manner.”


Summit, 1992.

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TITANIUM ALLOYSNew Zealand is one step closer to full-scale, low-cost

titanium alloy production utilising industrial waste thanks

to a research team led by Professor Deliang Zhang and

Dr Brian Gabbitas at the University of Waikato.

Over the past 10 years, the Titanium Research Team

has successfully developed material processing

technologies to produce titanium alloy powders and

titanium alloy/ceramic composite powders from

titanium oxide and aluminium.

The emphasis has been on low cost, both in the raw

materials and the production process.

Titanium alloys are light, strong and high in value, and

are used extensively in aerospace and aviation, chemical

processing, manufacturing, and in consumer goods.

R&D undertaken by the Titanium Research Team has been

directed at creating a technological platform for a titanium

alloy product manufacturing industry in New Zealand.

A spin-off company, Titanox Development Ltd, has been

established to commercialise the research.

(See commercialisation success stories page 67.)

In order to increase the efficiency of the titanium alloy

powder production processes, the team is investigating the

possibility of using impure raw materials, like slag from

New Zealand Steel Limited, and West Coast iron sands.

The research also focuses on developing lower-cost,

internationally competitive methods for consolidating the

powders into semi-finished and finished titanium products

(including plates, sheets, bars, tubes and application

specific shaped parts).

A third research direction is to produce temperature-

resistant and corrosion-resistant coatings to protect

structures and machinery operating in harsh environments.



WAIKATO CENTRE FOR ADVANCED MATERIALSFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“The improvement of production systems through

technologies and processes that utilize resources more

efficiently and at the same time produce less wastes

– achieving more with less – is an important pathway

towards sustainability for business and industry.”


Summit, 1992.

20


SUSTAINABILITY: ARE BUSINESSES WALKING THE TALK?As more and more people embrace sustainability, Dr Eva

Collins, Professor Stewart Lawrence and Professor Juliet

Roper are carrying out New Zealand’s first longitudinal

study into how organisational practices in businesses

are keeping up.

Their most recent survey, carried out in collaboration with

the Sustainable Business Network, reveals that businesses

increased their sustainable practices by 10% between

2003 and 2006.

Based on responses from 519 businesses, the survey

followed up an initial 2003 benchmarking survey which

looked at 20 different areas of sustainability practice. The

researchers also conducted interviews and focus groups

with businesses for a more in-depth view.

Their report Sustainability Practices of New Zealand Businesses

in 2006 showed social sustainability practices, such as giving

to charity, family-friendly policies and job training, remained

the biggest element of sustainability take-up by businesses.

However, environmental practices, such as recycling and

energy saving initiatives, had grown faster.

Around 70% of firms reported recycling compared to

around 55% in 2003, and there was an increase in the

number of firms considering the environmental impacts

of their products, processes and services.

The researchers found that cost, management time

and knowledge/skills remained the biggest barriers for

businesses in adopting sustainable practices. But surprisingly

businesses reported that they did not feel pressured – by

customers, suppliers or regulators – to be more sustainable.

The next survey is scheduled for publication in 2010.

DEPARTMENT OF STRATEGY AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTDEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING ANDDEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

“The private sector should be encouraged to strengthen

the mechanisms of sharing its experience and information

on sustainable development.“


21


INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL CHANGE CENTRE (IGCC)The International Global Change Centre (IGCC) is a

research group within the University of Waikato’s

Faculty of Science & Engineering that embraces an

interdisciplinary and integrative approach to climate

change and environment issues on a global, national,

regional and local level. Key issues within its focus include

integrated risk assessments, modelling and climate

proofing, for which several modelling and software

packages have been developed. IGCC also has projects on

environmental planning and governance, built/historic and

natural heritage, and health and environment including

biodiversity issues.

Since its inception in 1997, IGCC has promoted

sustainability through the adoption of strategies to

mitigate and adapt to climate and environmental change.

Staff also supervise post-graduates, and run professional

training programmes on topics ranging from adaptation and

risk assessments to planning, governance and management.

IGCC has Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) status

on UN bodies and also participates, through individual

merit, in the UN Framework Convention for Climate

Change (UNFCCC), Global Environmental Outlook

(GEO) assessments and training, the UN Environmental

Programme: Environmental Effects Assessment Panel

“All Parties shall… cooperate in preparing for adaptation

to the impacts of climate change…”

Article 4.1 (e), The United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change, United Nations Earth Summit, 1992.

(UNEP-EEAP) co-chaired by IGCC Director, Professor

Janet Bornman, Meetings of the Parties to the Montreal

Protocol, and report authorship for the Intergovernmental

Panel for Climate Change.

IGCC’s activities have been largely supported by two

long-term research programmes – climate adaptation

(CLIMPACTS) and Planning Under Cooperative Mandates

(PUCM). CLIMPACTS has examined the effects of climate

change and variability on the New Zealand environment

from national to site-specific scale, and has also been

widely applied internationally. The PUCM research

activities have included developing and applying methods

for evaluating the quality of environmental plans (1995-

1998), their implementation (1999-2002) and outcomes

(2003-2007), and community planning for sustainable

development (2003-2009). The research has focused on

co-operative mandates in New Zealand, including the

innovative Resource Management Act (1991) and more

recent Local Government Act (2002).



INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL CHANGE CENTREFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

22

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND REGULATORY CONTROL

PROTECTED AREAS AND INTERNATIONAL LAWProfessor Al Gillespie is probably one of the few law

professors who travels on a diplomatic passport. His

speciality is conservation and he works on international

panels to protect endangered animals and some of the

most spectacular and threatened parts of the planet.

He says environmental law is going round in circles.

Each government comes to a problem and thinks they

can solve it, but according to Professor Gillespie,

it’s all been seen before.

Professor Gillespie wrote Whaling Diplomacy:

Defining Issues in International Environmental Law

to give people a background in the subject – the

science, politics and philosophy.

As a result, people are taking notice. His work was

quoted by a senator in the Australian parliament and

when the American government agreed to put $10

billion towards Everglade protection to remove it from

the danger list, Professor Gillespie was quoted again.

In 2007, when New Zealand hosted and chaired the

World Heritage Convention held in Christchurch, with

700 delegates representing 21 countries, Professor

Gillespie was rapporteur. He successfully advocated

a fundamental change in the way the international

community practises conservation, namely that

communities, not just governments, must be at the

heart of all initiatives.

His most recent book, Protected Areas and

International Law, is related to his work with the

World Heritage Convention.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: New Zealand

Law Foundation grant.

TE PIRINGA FACULTY OF LAW

“States shall enact effective environmental

legislation. Environmental standards, management

objectives and priorities should reflect the

environmental and developmental context to

which they apply.”

Principle 11, Rio Declaration on Environment and

Development, United Nations Earth Summit, 1992.

23

THE ECONOMIC WAY TO CLEANER WATERGood farm practice isn’t going to be enough to bring our

rivers and lakes up to the water quality that most of us

want. Farm run-off and leaching into groundwater cause

serious pollution, but no-one can agree on the best way to

share the burden of reducing nitrogen discharges.

Environmental economists Professor Frank Scrimgeour,

who is Dean of the Waikato Management School, and Dr

Dan Marsh, with PhD student Thiagarajah Ramilan, have

developed economic models to figure out the best mix of

regulations and incentives to achieve cleaner waterways.

The research will help farmers and policy-makers decide

the cheapest and most effective solution to enable the

farming sector to achieve a future that is both profitable

and looks after the environment.

One model takes into account individual farm income,

stock numbers, milk solid production and fertiliser

application. Initial results suggest that charges coupled

with restrictions may be more cost-efficient than emission

charges on their own. But the mix will vary from farm to

farm: intensive farms would be more likely to choose a low

emission charge and a high target for reducing pollution

Research in this area is continuing.

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICSWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

“Governments…should regularly assess the laws and

regulations enacted and the related institutional/

administrative machinery established at the national/

state and local/municipal level in the field of

environment and sustainable development, with a

view to rendering them effective in practice.”


Summit, 1992.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND REGULATORY CONTROL

24

Supporting

Economic sustainability is fundamental to the development of

stable communities functioning within healthy environments.

The University of Waikato brings a wealth of experience to bear in

this area with research programmes that, for example, monitor the

regional economy, and measure the social and economic impacts

of temporary labour migration.

A well-educated workforce is an essential element of economic

sustainability, and the selection of case studies in this section

highlights two national educational projects being led by this

University to find ways to make science more accessible to

teachers and students.

Adding value to existing industries, developing sound parameters

for their sustainable growth, or making them more efficient,

are other ways of contributing to economic sustainability.

The following case studies include research projects aimed at

adding value to the New Zealand meat, pastoral and honey

industries, laying the groundwork for sustainable growth in

aquaculture, and finding new and more efficient means of rural

communications and farm testing regimes.

A number of our research programmes have led to commercial

spin-offs that fall within the Agenda 21 concept of “responsible

entrepreneurship [that] can play a major role in improving the

efficiency of resource use, reducing risks and hazards, minimising

wastes and safeguarding environmental qualities.”

Long-term economic and industrial sustainability may also rely

upon fundamental research that is still unlocking the secrets

of our solar system. A case study on University of Waikato

research on solar flares, which can have a significant effect on

our telecommunications and electricity systems, explains why.

25

ECONOMICSUSTAINABILITY

26

MONITORING THE ECONOMIC PULSE OF THE WAIKATOReliable up-to-date regional economic data is crucial for

planners, policymakers and local government, particularly

in times of economic uncertainty. Dr Warren Hughes,

who is now an Honorary Fellow of the University, and

Professor Frank Scrimgeour, who is Dean of the Waikato

Management School, have been collating and analysing

regional economic data for the Waikato and surrounding

regions over the last 20 years.

Their data is crucial to regional economic development

work in the Waikato undertaken by Hamilton City Council

and other local councils, and acts as a valuable bellwether

for businesses in the region.

For example, their analysis was invaluable in establishing

the Waikato Innovation Park and its most recently

announced expansion. It has also prompted action to

recruit and retain a skilled and stable workforce in

the region.

With Associate Professor Stuart Locke, they have also

carried out economic impact analyses on major regional

events, such as the National Agricultural Fieldays,

measuring not just the direct impact of the event but

its wider ripple effect. Their research indicates that

Fieldays is the biggest event in the region, and one of

the largest events in New Zealand in terms of its impact

on the economy.

Dr Hughes edits the Regional Economic Bulletin, and

all three researchers also work with the University’s

Management Research Centre, which has been offering

a benchmarking service to businesses and organisations

for 27 years.

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS ANDDEPARTMENT OF FINANCEWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

“Business and industry, including transnational

corporations, play a crucial role in the social and

economic development of a country... Increasing

prosperity, a major goal of the development process,

is contributed primarily by the activities of business and

industry. Business enterprises, large and small, formal

and informal, provide major trading, employment and

livelihood opportunities.”

Article 30.1, Agenda 21, United Nations

Earth Summit, 1992.

ECONOMIC MONITORING

27

TEMPORARY MIGRATION PROGRAMME IS A WINNER ALL ROUNDA new government programme designed to bring seasonal

workers from the Pacific Islands to work in horticulture

and viticulture for up to seven months per year is proving

a win-win initiative for both New Zealand and the Pacific

source countries.

With funding from the World Bank and the Department

of Labour, Professor John Gibson, Halahingano Rohorua

and the World Bank’s David McKenzie are researching

the impact of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE)

Programme, and their initial findings show that the scheme

is succeeding in targeting poorer, less well-educated

migrants from Tonga.

The RSE draws 5,000 temporary migrants a year from 11

eligible Pacific Forum member countries. Based on the

results of household surveys in both Tonga and Vanuatu,

the researchers found that males with lower levels of

education are more likely to apply for RSE than those with

more education. In Tonga, they found RSE migrants were

also more likely to be less well-off.

There’s strong international interest in temporary

migration programmes like the RSE as a way to relieve

labour shortages in developed countries and aid

development in poorer countries where population growth

often greatly exceeds formal employment growth. Such

schemes allow workers to send remittances home and

gain new skills without the source country losing the

worker permanently and the host country facing long-term

assimilation costs.

The next stage of the research will look at the

developmental impacts of temporary migration in the

labour source countries.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: World Bank,

Department of Labour.

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICSWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL ANDUNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO PATHWAYS COLLEGE

“The survival of small island developing States is

firmly rooted in their human resources and cultural

heritage, which are their most significant assets; those

assets are under severe stress and all efforts must be

taken to ensure the central position of people in the

process of sustainable development.”

Article 1.1, Barbados Declaration, United Nations Global

Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States, 1994.

ECONOMIC MONITORING

28

BIOTECHNOLOGYSCIENCE AND

Taking


to the classroom

Inse

t d

ata

imag

ery

sup

plie

d b

y N

IWA

29

“In view of the increasing role the sciences have to

play in dealing with the issues of environment and

development, it is necessary to build up scientific

capacity and strengthen such capacity in all countries...

[to] promote the education and training of scientists,...

[and to] strengthen the scientific infrastructure in

schools, universities and research institutions...”

Extracts from articles 35.20-35.22, Agenda 21,

United Nations Earth Summit, 1992.

New Zealand’s world-class scientists and technologists are

collaborating with science educators to find ways to make

science more accessible to teachers and students.

The University of Waikato is leading two national projects,

the NZ Science Learning Hub and the NZ Biotechnology

Learning Hub which are funded by the Ministry of

Research, Science and Technology. They aim to get students

engaged in science and technology by providing teachers

with up-to-date resources based on research. The focus is

on providing insights into current developments in New

Zealand science and biotechnology.

The Biotechnology Learning Hub was launched in 2005

and the Science Learning Hub was launched in 2007. Both

projects are managed by the University’s Wilf Malcolm

Institute of Educational Research (WMIER).

The web-based services explore major themes and

contexts and are a gateway to multimedia files, classroom

resources based on the requirements of the New Zealand

Curriculum, and news about the New Zealand’s science and

technology sector in action. Themes have included the trip

by the research vessel Tangaroa looking at Antarctic marine

biodiversity; how humans are gaining increased strength

and endurance; and New Zealand’s world-class expertise

in earthquakes.

The Dean of Education, Professor Alister Jones, and

WMIER Director, Associate Professor Bronwen Cowie are

heading the learning hubs with research teams from other

universities and the Royal Society of New Zealand.

External funding gratefully acknowledged:

Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.

WILF MALCOLM INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHFACULTY OF EDUCATION

30

ENHANCING PRIMARY STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTIONS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYHelping students learn more in science and technology

education is the ultimate aim of a University of Waikato

Faculty of Education project.

The InSiTE project has developed a way to help teachers

identify, articulate and build their knowledge of pedagogy

with their knowledge of science and technology, and how

this can all be blended to help students learn more.

By doing this, it is recognised that a wider range of students

will learn more if they have teachers who provide many

and varied ways for them to articulate, explore and refine

their own ideas. Also, teachers are able to provide more

focused and helpful feedback to students.

The InSiTE project involved 12 primary school teachers

over three years. It built on earlier research, and was

headed by the Director of the Wilf Malcolm Institute of

Educational Research, Associate Professor Bronwen

Cowie, and the Dean of Education, Professor Alister Jones,

together with Dr Judy Moreland and Kathrin Otrel-Cass.

Its goal was to understand and enhance classroom

Assessment for Learning interactions. The researchers

undertook classroom observations, collecting lesson

materials and videoing teachers’ interactions with

students. There were also meeting days for the teachers

and researchers to discuss emerging findings and to

plan for teaching.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Ministry of

Education Teaching and Learning Research Initiative

project funding.

WILF MALCOLM INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

AND

CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

EDUCATION RESEARCH

FACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“[States should] build greater capacity in science and

technology for sustainable development…. Education

is critical for promoting sustainable development.

It is therefore essential to…integrate sustainable

development into education systems at all levels of

education in order to promote education as a key

agent for change.”

Extracts from articles 108-121, Johannesburg Plan

of Implementation, World Summit on Sustainable

Development, 2002.


31

ANIMAL PROTEIN BECOMES BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICLow-value animal protein is being given a new life as high-

value plastic with the discovery of a new manufacturing

process by two University of Waikato scientists.

The process, developed over two years by chemical

engineer Dr Johan Verbeek and Masters student Lisa van

den Berg, can turn protein from animal processing waste

into a biodegradable plastic using industry-standard plastic

extrusion and injection moulding machinery.

The innovative approach uses low-value meat industry

waste to create a high-value product that breaks down

when disposed of without polluting the environment.

“The material we can produce has the strength of

polyethylene – the plastic used in milk bottles and plastic

supermarket bags – but it’s fully biodegradable,” says

Dr Verbeek. The bioplastic is expected to be suitable for

a wide range of applications.

The technology is in the early stages of development,

with further improvements to production techniques

and processes required before being market ready.

This work is being funded by the University of Waikato’s

commercialisation arm, WaikatoLink, and carried out

through the Hothouse, its technology development unit.

Novatein, the company formed to take the technology

to market, has received capital from venture capital firm

Endeavour Capital to facilitate further development of this

innovative technology.

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERINGFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“When industries are clustered, the waste from one

can become the input for another. In fact, to achieve

environmentally sustainable development, industries

must make use of each other’s waste to the fullest

extent possible.”

Five Years after Rio: UNU’s Responses to Agenda 21,

United Nations University, 1997.


32


BOVINE BONE REPLACEMENTWaste material from cattle processing could one day be

responsible for shorter healing times and stronger bones

for joint replacement and bone graft patients.

Research led by Dr Michael Mucalo, of the University

of Waikato’s Faculty of Science & Engineering,

has considered the use of biomedical materials for

bone replacement.

A biomedical material is anything used to replace or repair

body tissue and has contact with body fluids. Examples

include pacemakers, artificial blood vessels, and wires and

pins for bone repair.

Dr Mucalo’s research involves processing bovine bone

through chemical washing and treatment in a high-

temperature kiln to produce a solid porous mass similar

in internal architecture to that of human bone.

Called a xenograft, the bone matrix can be shaped and

inserted into the patient to be used as a scaffold for

repairing and rebuilding bone.

Animal trials have been conclusively positive.

A commercial spin-off, Graftoss, has been formed to

commercialise the technology and further develop

the products.

Graftoss’ bone matrix technology offers several

advantages. It uses a waste product to create a high value

medical device which is biocompatible, conducive to bone

regeneration, and guaranteed free of pathogen and disease

as a result of its New Zealand sourcing and treatment.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: AgResearch

MIRINZ, DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austrach Dienst),

Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust, Waikato Medical Research

Foundation, and other sources.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRYFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“In sustainable development...[r]eal value

added comes from primary productivity or from

transformation or processing to add functionality,

utility, durability, or other kinds of information

content... Real development is only when new value

is added by innovation or creation, [or] the quality

of life is increased...”

A.L. Dahl, United Nations Environmental Programme,

Towards Indicators of Sustainability, prepared for the

International Council for Science, November 1995.

33


IDENTIFYING SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE MANAGEMENT AREASThe growth of New Zealand’s aquaculture industry – which

has seen greenshell mussel export volumes double in the

decade to 2005 – is now putting pressure on regional

councils to identify Aquaculture Management Areas

(AMAs) in open coast locations.

Inferior site location is one of the most common

reasons for aquaculture project failure and for adverse

environmental effects, while good sites in sheltered bays

and harbours are close to saturation.

Pioneering methodologies developed by University of

Waikato researchers mean Environment Bay of Plenty is

now one of the first regional councils to be able to identify

sustainable coastal marine locations for AMAs via a

computerised mapping system.

Over the past three years Dr Peter Longdill and the

late Professor Terry Healy have modelled the seasonal

hydrodynamic patterns of the Bay of Plenty coastal marine

area by combining satellite data revealing phytoplankton

concentrations with continuous recordings of wave and

current patterns, imaging of the sea floor, acoustic doppler

profiling of the water column, and hundreds of samples of

sediments, nutrients and water temperature measurements

taken on regular excursions using the University’s research

vessel, Tai Rangahau. These hydrodynamic models have

been linked with Geographic Information Systems

commonly used by councils for data storage applications

for planning purposes.

With specific reference to suspended mussel (Perna

canaliculus) aquaculture, the results show maximum

aquaculture sustainability may be achieved in about

420 sq km (18%) of the coastal marine area from

Maketu to the Motu River. The most sustainable sites are

characterised by silty sediment with low natural organic

content, depths of between 40 and 100 metres, in areas

well-flushed with nutrients, but protected from both ocean

swells and freshwater river flooding, and where there

are no conflicts with a range of other factors from visual

amenity to other recreational and commercial uses.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Technology for

Industry Fellowship, Bright Futures Scholarship, ASR Ltd,

Environment Bay of Plenty.

COASTAL MARINE GROUPDEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCESFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“[C]urrent approaches to the management of marine

and coastal resources have not always proved capable

of achieving sustainable development, and coastal

resources and the coastal environment are being

rapidly degraded and eroded in many parts of the

world….Systematic collection of data on marine

environmental parameters will be needed to apply

integrated management approaches.”

Extracts from Articles 17.4 and 17.96, Agenda 21,


34

KEEPING FARMERS ONLINEFarmers wanting to get the most out of their land have a

new weapon: rural broadband, which allows them to plan

and communicate with workers, collect data electronically,

link the farm’s office computer with the dairy shed or

yards, and receive emails and talk wirelessly – even out

on the farm.

It’s one of the many applications created by Rural Link,

a joint venture between WaikatoLink and Rezare

Systems, arising from research conducted by the

University of Waikato. FRST funding of $309,000 a

year for five years from 2002 allowed a team led by

Dr Murray Pearson from the Computer Science

Department research group, WAND, to create the

technology to provide broadband internet access for

farmers and rural communities. Schools and communities

are already hooked up in parts of the Waikato,

around Rotorua, the Urewera National Park, and the

Hokianga Harbour.

Also under development by the University research group

is a set of wireless nodes that could be either back-

packed into a remote disaster area, driven in on a trailer,

or dropped in by helicopter. Rather than waiting days for

communication lines to be restored following a disaster,

the nodes provide good, temporary communications in the

hours following a disaster.

Possibly the best-known WAND spinoff is the network

traffic monitoring technology company Endace which

also arose out of FRST funding. It is now a publicly listed

company and considered a world leader in network

monitoring solutions.



WAND NETWORK RESEARCH GROUPDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCEFACULTY OF COMPUTING & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

“[Creating] the conditions for sustainable agriculture

and rural development …will involve … improving farm

production and farming systems through …

infrastructure development.”

Excerpts from articles 14.2-14.4, Agenda 21,


DEVELOPING INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRY

35

DEVELOPING INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRY

MACHINE LEARNING HAS A SPECIAL CHEMISTRYEfficient farming practices demand that farmers routinely

test their soil for nitrogen and carbon content before

making decisions about fertilising their land.

A University of Waikato Computer Science team led

by the Dean of Computing and Mathematical Sciences,

Professor Geoff Holmes, has developed computerised

“machine learning” techniques that can be used to speed

up the analysis of data by testing laboratories to help

meet these demands. Software exploiting near infra-red

(NIR) spectroscopy analysis has reduced the time taken

for soil testing from several days to minutes. NIR provides

a “blueprint” of a soil sample that can be used to identify

the quantity of nitrogen or carbon it contains. Samples

can be processed at great speed without the need for

“old-fashioned” chemical testing methods, and farmers

get fast and cost-effective answers.

This software has now been in routine use at Hill

Laboratories in Hamilton for three years. A joint venture

between WaikatoLink and Hill Laboratories, Khipu Systems

Ltd, has been established to commercialise the software,

and a licence sold to another analytical laboratory in

the Netherlands. With the expectation that these same

techniques can be used to help speed up a range of tests

for regulatory compliance, quality control, process control

and traceability, Khipu Systems has attracted investment

of $1 million to help grow the company.

Meanwhile, the original research team at Waikato

has secured further funding to develop machine

learning software based on a different technique, gas

chromatography, to speed up food testing for pesticide

residues and environmental testing for petrol residue in

water and soil.



MACHINE LEARNING GROUPDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCEFACULTY OF COMPUTING & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

“[Creating] the conditions for sustainable agriculture and

rural development …will involve …the development of

appropriate and new technologies.”


36

VALUABLE NEW PRODUCTS FROM UNIQUE BIOLOGICAL SOURCES

GENES, ENZYMES AND MICROBES: THE GEMS OF INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGYIndustrial biotechnology is an area of research and

development in which the University of Waikato has

had a long and outstanding record of success.

With a particular focus on microbial genes and enzymes

from extreme climate ecosystems ranging from New

Zealand geothermal soils to the cold Antarctic, this

research area has resulted in dozens of postgraduate

student degrees and more than 250 publications to date.

Professors Roy Daniel and Hugh Morgan, co-directors of

the Thermophile Research Unit in the Faculty of Science

& Engineering, along with Professor Roberta Farrell

and others, have led the development of enzymes and

technologies from culture collections which include

thermophilic bacteria (that exist at extreme temperatures),

archaea (single-celled microbes), and isolates of Antarctic

and New Zealand fungi.

Research over the years has ranged from the upper and

lower temperature limits of life, enzymes and organisms

for industrial use, biofuels and bioremediation, through

to the influence of thermophiles in the dairy industry,

and conservation of historic Antarctic huts.

Among the more high-profile research projects, Professor

Farrell has led an international research team for the

past 12 years to study the biological and non-biological

deterioration of Scott’s and Shackleton’s huts in the Ross

Dependency, and to advise on their conservation.

A bioremediation project, also headed by Professor Farrell,

has led to a breakthrough in treating soil contaminated

by PCPs and dioxins with soil fungi, which degrade the

contaminants in a natural composting process.

The University’s wide-ranging research in industrial

biotechnology has led to a number of commercial

contracts and spin-offs. One of these, ZyGEM, uses

proprietary enzymes to produce a range of DNA extraction

kits for forensic applications (see Commercialisation

success stories page 67.)

Professors Farrell, Daniel and Morgan, all elected Fellows

of the Royal Society of NZ, continue to teach and conduct

research for the University as well as for ZyGEM as

members of the company’s Science Advisory Board.


Research Science and Technology, Marsden Fund, and others.

THERMOPHILE RESEARCH UNITDEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCESFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“Biotechnology is proving its worth as a

technology that can contribute to

sustainable industrial development.”

The Application of Biotechnology to Industrial

Sustainability – A Primer, OECD, 2001.

37

VALUABLE NEW PRODUCTS FROM UNIQUE BIOLOGICAL SOURCES

SWEET UNIVERSITY RESEARCHWaikato University is world-renowned for its research

into the healing powers of manuka honey, and work

continues every year to expand the knowledge around

honey’s active compounds.

Manuka honey has been scientifically shown to possess

anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory

properties. For several years the research team in the

Honey Research Unit has been investigating what causes

manuka honey to have these special properties, and this

research has now expanded into a range of other honeys

and natural products.

The anti-bacterial qualities unique to manuka honey were

discovered through research supervised and conducted

by Professor Peter Molan – a discovery that is now

responsible for an industry worth over $100 million per

year to the New Zealand economy. Associate Professor

Merilyn Manley-Harris’ team was the first to confirm the

identity of the main active anti-bacterial ingredient in the

honey, and the Honey Research Unit has subsequently

identified the ingredient’s source from a precursor

compound isolated from the manuka nectar.

New bioactives discoveries from the University’s honey

research have the potential to replicate the economic

value created by the original discovery of manuka honey’s

anti-bacterial qualities.

For example, ongoing research into the level of anti-oxidant

activity in honey is being carried out with support from

the University’s commercialisation arm, WaikatoLink.

Anti-oxidants protect the body from free radicals which

damage the mind and body through ageing. An anti-oxidant

certification trademark has been developed, and the first

licensee of this trademark is already selling anti-oxidant

certified honeydew honey for premium returns through

supermarket and health food stores throughout the UK.

HONEY RESEARCH UNITDEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCESANDDEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRYFACULTY OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

“Entrepreneurship is one of the most important

driving forces for innovations, increasing market

efficiencies and responding to challenges

and opportunities. Small and medium-sized

entrepreneurs, in particular, play a very important

role in the social and economic development

of a country. Often, they are the major means

for rural development …”

Article 30.17, Agenda 21, United Nations

Earth Summit, 1992.

38

SUN'S ENERGYSECRETS OF THE

Solar flares – unlocking the


39

On March 13, 1989 the entire Canadian province of

Quebec – home to 6 million people – suffered a power

black-out for eight hours in sub-zero temperatures after

a solar flare caused a vital capacitor on the power grid to

fail, sparking a disastrous sequence of events costing tens

of millions of dollars.

Solar flares are the biggest explosions in the solar system,

unleashing the equivalent of a billion megatons of TNT in

seconds and showering the earth with x-rays and gamma

rays that disrupt satellite-based telecommunication systems

and cause power surges in the world’s electrical grids.

Understanding the causes of solar flares would not only

give greater warning of their occurrence to allow for

protective measures, but could also provide the key to one

of science’s holy grails – fusion energy.

Waikato University’s Professors Ian Craig and Alfred Sneyd,

and Associate Professor Sean Oughton are working at the

cutting edge of astrophysics developing mathematical

models to explain the dynamic nature of the magnetic

fields that rise to the surface of the sun, causing sunspots

that store and release energy – sometimes quietly, and

sometimes explosively in a solar flare.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Marsden Fund,

Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICSFACULTY OF COMPUTING & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

“Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe…

The forces of nature make existence a demanding

and uncertain adventure...”

The Earth Charter, 2000.

Pho

to: S

OH

O (

ESA

& N

ASA

)

40

SUSTAINABILITY

41

Social and

CULTURAL

Adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit, Agenda 21 recognised that sustainable development in

the 21st century would rely upon the ability of healthy communities to develop broad social

compacts. Eliminating poverty, and encouraging participation in decision-making by all social

groups, were just two of a range of social objectives contained within Agenda 21.

A broad platform in educational research at the University of Waikato contributes strongly to

developing healthy communities and social and cultural sustainability. Programmes to improve

Māori educational achievement, and to improve literacy, are just two examples.

The University’s influential National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis

has a well-recognised range of research skills in all aspects of demography and related

disciplines that inform this area of research.

Research contributions in this area by the Waikato Management School include pioneering

work in “poverty-mapping” as a first step to tackling poverty in China. The Management School

is also conducting research into the socio-economic and cultural impacts of biotechnology in

New Zealand, and the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) on social

outcomes. The positive links between business profits and commercial social responsibility is

another emerging area for business research.

Understanding our cultural heritage is another strength of University of Waikato research which

serves to underpin the development of healthy communities and social and cultural sustainability.

Current examples include research into Mau Moko: the world of Māori tattoo, the place of the

piano in our cultural history, and the legacy of imperialism on environmental and health ideas

today. Other research into the effects of global warming and natural disaster in the Pacific rings a

warning bell about the difficulties of relocating island communities.

Research into the attractions of video game violence, and into road safety and driver education,

will also contribute to our knowledge of ourselves from quite different perspectives.

The preservation and dissemination of knowledge is a critical element underpinning social and

cultural sustainability. One of the following case studies outlines University of Waikato research

and development of digital library software. This software is now in use in 60 countries worldwide

and is being used for the collation of information to serve humanitarian purposes and to preserve

heritage collections for future generations.

42

TE KOTAHITANGA: IMPROVING MĀORI STUDENTS’ EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTTe Kotahitanga is a collaborative response to improving

the learning and achievement of those students not well-

served by the education system. The project combines

in-classroom research with professional development for

teachers to improve Māori educational outcomes.

Established in 2001 by the Māori Education Research team

at the Faculty of Education, University of Waikato and

the Ministry of Education’s Poutama Pounamu Research

and Development Centre in Tauranga, the project – which

focuses on Year 9 and 10 in schools – is now being rolled

out in a phased operation involving thousands of teachers

and Māori students.

The research has analysed Māori students’ classroom

experiences and identified teacher attitudes and

classroom practices that make a difference to Māori

students’ achievement, creating an “Effective Teacher

Profile” for implementation in the classroom via teacher

professional development.

Project manager, Professor Russell Bishop, says an effective

teacher develops caring and learning relationships with

students through culturally responsive teaching practices.

Not only are Māori students making measurable gains in

numeracy and literacy, but gains for Māori and Pasifika

students have also been reported across all curriculum

areas in NCEA Level 1. Other benefits reported include

reduced absenteeism, increased student engagement in

the classroom, increased work completion, and an overall

improvement in the schooling experience of

Māori students.


Ministry of Education.

TE KOTAHITANGA RESEARCH UNITFACULTY OF EDUCATION

“In a socially sustainable society….education, creativity

and the development of human potential for the whole

population is promoted...”

Social sustainability in Govt3, Ministry for the Environment,

NZ (mfe.govt.nz).


43


LESSONS, LITERACY AND LEARNINGHow well do teachers use literacy to focus on their

students’ learning and achievement needs?

That question is at the heart of research at the University

of Waikato’s Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational

Research where Professor Stephen May, Dr Noeline Wright

and Dr David Whitehead have been taking a close look

at how well New Zealand secondary school teachers

integrate literacy into their lessons, and also how it is

integrated into their school’s ethos of learning.

Literacy in this project’s context is about making

unfamiliar text and content more accessible to students.

It enables teachers to be more aware of how well their

students learn and what they can do to improve their

students’ academic success.

The Secondary Schools’ Literacy Project Research Evaluation

2006-2009 has been a major three-year work, and builds

upon the evaluation of an earlier national project which

sought to identify conditions for effective cross-curricular

literacy professional development. This earlier project

showed that schools were in varying stages of readiness to

successfully sustain a literacy focus across the curriculum.

Both projects are unique internationally. The latest

evaluation process provides the Ministry of Education

with not only evidence about effective conditions for

literacy learning, but also evidence that helps it frame

policy surrounding the provision of literacy professional

development. Key features of the research evaluation

include: literacy and learning resourcing for teachers,

student outcomes and the literacy professional

development process.


Ministry of Education.

WILF MALCOLM INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHFACULTY OF EDUCATION

“[L]iteracy, especially functional literacy, and quality

education represent a lifelong necessity for all and serve

as an investment in human and social capital and a major

tool for the empowerment of people...”

United Nations Resolution on a UN Literacy Decade,

October 1999.

44

TECHNOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMUNITY WELLBEING

CELLPHONES, YOUNG DRIVERS AT HEART OF RESEARCH WORKMajor research projects at the University of Waikato are

providing unbiased and science-based advice about driving

to governments and industry.

The University’s Traffic and Road Safety Research

Group aims to improve the safety, effectiveness and

environmental sustainability of the transport sector by

conducting high-quality research and relaying those

findings in the form of knowledgeable advice.

The group has recently completed research into just how

distracting cellphones are to drivers. It used a state-of-the-

art driving simulator to compare the distraction associated

with passenger and cellphone conversations; that work

informed the recent Government proposal to restrict

cellphone use by drivers.

Another major project was the development of a CD-ROM-

based training product ‘CD-Drives’ for young novice drivers

to practice higher level driving skills such as eye scanning

and hazard perception from the safety of their home

computer. Improving these skills may not only reduce their

crash risk but may also result in smoother eco-driving

styles for more sustainable motoring. Funded by the ACC

and Land Transport NZ (now the NZ Transport Agency), the

training product is freely available to all new drivers (up to

60,000 each year) as part of the Practice programme.

The Traffic and Road Safety Research Group was formed in

1993 and has established an international reputation as

New Zealand’s pre-eminent centre for road safety research.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: AA Driver

Education Foundation, ACC, FRST, Transfund NZ, NZ Transport

Agency, Marsden Fund, and Road Safety Trust.

TRAFFIC AND ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH GROUPSCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGYFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

“[R]apid motorization and insufficient investments

in urban-transport planning, traffic management

and infrastructure, are creating increasing problems

in terms of accidents and injury, health, noise,

congestion and loss of productivity.”


Summit, 1992.

45

VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE: UNDERSTANDING ITS ATTRACTIONS FOR YOUNG NEW ZEALANDERSThe traditional psychological approach to researching

video game violence has been to ask “What do games

do to young people?” rather than “How do young people

use video games?”

The traditional approach seeks to substantiate the harmful

effects of games on individuals who are considered to

lack the knowledge and strategies to make sense of them.

It not only considers young people’s own opinions and

experiences to be irrelevant or unreliable, but it also fails

to take account of the interactive properties of the games

and the medium itself, the social dimension of play, and

the inherently productive cultural practices of gaming.

Above all it fails to ask why young people choose to play

video games and what their opinion is about the content.

To understand and analyse the attraction of video game

violence, University of Waikato senior lecturer in Screen

and Media Studies, Dr Gareth Schott, turns to a new genre

in academic research, Game Studies, to examine video

game violence in context with the culture of gaming,

and the experiences and ideas of the players.

Dr Schott draws together the two separate research

approaches to the subject by assessing the nature of

violent content within video games via the experiences

and articulations of young people themselves. He uses a

combination of methods to give young people a voice

that is all too often absent in what, to date, has been

a one-way debate.


Marsden Fund Fast-Start.

SCHOOL OF ARTSFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

“In a socially sustainable society…the physical,

mental and social wellbeing of the population is

enhanced or at least not impaired...”

Social sustainability in Govt3, Ministry for the

Environment, NZ, mfe.govt.nz.

TECHNOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMUNITY WELLBEING

46

PICTURES

POVERTYTackling

ACTING ON THE BIGGER PICTURE FOR COMMUNITY WELLBEING

THROUGH

47

To handle the enormous volume of data, the researchers

have received funding from the Research and Education

Advanced Network New Zealand (REANNZ) to access a

high capacity, ultra-high speed computer network.

The project uses the Kiwi Advanced Research and

Education Network (KAREN) to link up with experts

at Stanford University and the Chinese Academy of

Sciences to analyse the high-resolution satellite

imagery from China.

There’s huge interest worldwide in research to tackle

poverty, and Professor Gibson – who is a member

of an expert group advising the United Nations

Statistical Division on poverty measurement – believes

the project will give New Zealand researchers valuable

international exposure.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: REANNZ

Capability Build Fund.

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICSWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOLANDNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC ANALYSISFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nine and a half million pictures could hold the key to

figuring out the best way to help China’s 100 million

poorest citizens, and the methodology to analyse this

data has been developed here in New Zealand by

Professor John Gibson.

Professor Gibson is working with Professor Jacques Poot

and Dr Bonggeun Kim developing an economic model to

precisely predict pockets of poverty. Their model integrates

household survey and census data with environmental data

from high-quality satellite pictures of each of China’s 9.6

million square kilometres.

Professor Gibson has pioneered this type of analysis for a

much smaller country, Papua New Guinea. In China, each

one square kilometre parcel of land has been mapped

using satellite imagery three times since 1988, providing

what Professor Gibson says is an unparalleled resource

for integrating environmental factors with poverty

mapping analyses.

“The struggle against poverty is the shared

responsibility of all countries….A specific anti-poverty

strategy is … one of the basic conditions for ensuring

sustainable development.”

Extracts from articles 3.1-3.2, Agenda 21, United Nations

Earth Summit, 1992.

48


“Demographic trends and factors and sustainable

development have a synergistic relationship.”


Summit, 1992.

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POPULATION STUDIESUnder the direction of Professor Natalie Jackson, the

University of Waikato’s influential Population Studies

Centre has broadened its compass with the establishment

and leadership of the new National Institute of

Demographic and Economic Analysis (NIDEA).

NIDEA is a collaborative venture which brings together, in

a virtual sense, scholars from the former Population Studies

Centre, Waikato Management School, and Wellington-based

Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust.

NIDEA draws on research skills in demography, sociology,

gerontology, population and labour economics, spatial

and economic geography, housing, and environmental

regulation to undertake research on issues linking

population and the economy. NIDEA enjoys strong

connections with government and other agencies and

undertakes research for a wide range of end-users.

Within NIDEA’s directorate, Professor Jackson

undertakes research on population ageing and its many

implications, Senior Research Fellow Dr Tahu Kukutai

studies issues affecting Māori and indigenous futures,

and Post Doctoral Fellow Dr Yaqub Foroutan studies

socio-demographic differentials, with a focus on women’s

labour force participation.

Other former Population Studies Centre scholars working

under the NIDEA banner are Professor Jacques Poot, who

studies the integration of immigrants into the labour

market and the effect of immigration on the growth and

productivity of the economy; Professor Richard Bedford,

whose field of interest is immigration policy and

New Zealand’s relations with the Pacific Islands;

and Honorary Professor Peggy Koopman-Boyden who

specialises in research on the elderly in ageing populations.

Emeritus Professor Ian Pool maintains an advisory brief

on all aspects of demographic analysis.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Centre for

Research Evaluation and Social Assessment, Department of

Labour, Foundation for Research Science and Technology,

Hamilton City Council, Marsden Fund, Motu Economic and

Public Policy Research Trust, Tertiary Education Commission,

Waikato Regional Council, and others.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC ANALYSISFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

49


GLOBAL WARMING, NATURAL DISASTER AND PACIFIC ISLAND COMMUNITIESGlobal warming and rising sea levels could devastate

Pacific Island communities forced to abandon their homes.

Research shows that international relocations of Pacific

Island communities have not worked in the past, and

Associate Professor John Campbell is urging governments

to consider how to deal with the issue before it is forced

upon them.

Dr Campbell, who specialises in natural disaster

management, says natural disasters such as cyclones, and

land rendered uninhabitable by mining, have already forced

the relocation of many Pacific Island communities within

their region – often with poor results.

Most Pacific Islanders have strong attachments to land,

and the more distant the relocation, the higher the chance

of failure. Relocation of whole villages within the Pacific –

even just within an island – can cause cultural problems.

Dr Campbell’s research of colonial era relocations

has identified tensions generations after communities

or villages have been relocated away from their

ancestral lands. An example of international relocation

under the colonial era was that of Ocean Island inhabitants

after phosphate mining had devastated their land.

They went to Rabi Island in northern Fiji in 1945, but

remain one of Fiji’s more politically marginalised and

disadvantaged communities.

Climate change “adaptation” is likely to make international

relocation more common, and the logistics and impacts

need to be considered now, says Dr Campbell.

Those facing the greatest threat posed by global warming

are the 160,000-strong combined populations of four

Pacific Island nations that are made up entirely of atolls.

Moving within the Pacific is likely to pose logistical and

land problems, but moving to Australia or New Zealand

would subject the displaced people to vastly different

economic, legal, political and social systems. Their lives

would forever be changed, and their new hosts would

also face significant social disruption.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: The Asia Pacific

Network for Global Change Research.

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCESFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

“Small island developing States are particularly

vulnerable to natural as well as environmental

disasters and have a limited capacity to respond to

and recover from such disasters…[they] could in

some cases become uninhabitable. Therefore, they

are among those particularly vulnerable States that

need assistance … including adaptation measures

and mitigation efforts.”

Barbados Declaration, United Nations Global Conference

on the Sustainable Development of Small Island

Developing States, 1994.

50

SHAPING NEW ZEALAND’S BIOTECHNOLOGY FUTURERecent advances in biotechnology have sparked controversy

and concern about just what scientists are doing in the

labs and how this science is used commercially. This high

level of public interest in the science industry has thrown

up major issues for business and policymakers as they

try to take account of the wide range of often conflicting

viewpoints in their decision-making.

The Government has identified biotechnology as a key

priority for New Zealand’s future, and a multi-disciplinary

team of researchers across five universities and one

Crown Research Institute is engaged in a five-year study

which aims to connect science and society by sharing

ideas, perspectives and knowledge through dialogue

processes. The results of the research will help in the

design of frameworks that will shape New Zealand’s

biotechnology future.

Professor Richard Varey, Professor Jim Barker and Associate

Professor Jarrod Haar, with contributions from Professor

Kay Weaver and Dr Alison Henderson, have extensively

examined the socio-economic and cultural impacts of

biotechnology in New Zealand through surveys, literature

reviews, focus groups, case studies, ‘rich pictures’ and

dialogue forums.

The researchers have sought to develop ways to

create a better understanding of the benefits and

risks of biotechnology, and to develop constructive

engagement between people in the community and in the

biotechnology sector.

As well as producing timely data, the project has

stimulated debate and research around the subject

of science communication, social learning, and public

engagement in social issue decision-making.



DEPARTMENT OF MARKETINGDEPARTMENT OF STRATEGY AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ANDDEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

“Governments should … review and, where appropriate,

improve the processes of decision-making so as to achieve

the progressive integration of economic, social and

environmental issues in the pursuit of development that is

economically efficient, socially equitable and responsible

and environmentally sound.”


MONITORING THE IMPACTS OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIETY

51

THE IMPACTS OF ICT ON WORK AND COMMUNITIESInformation and Communication Technology is ever-

changing and changing the way we run our lives and our

businesses; we want new technology to assist us to change

for the better. A multidisciplinary team centred at the

Waikato Management School has completed a major study

analysing the ways that ICT is influencing and will further

influence social outcomes.

Their research has covered ICT effects on employment

patterns, labour productivity, community cohesion, work

practices and quality of work life. They have also looked

at the social, cultural and economic advancement of

all New Zealanders – particularly specific minority and

disadvantaged groups, including Māori, Chinese, Samoan

and Somali. Initiatives arising from the e-local government

strategy have also been evaluated. More than 1000

volunteer and community groups have been surveyed,

as have farmers, health sector workers, online at-home

workers, and others.

Most recently the researchers have replicated earlier

studies to monitor changes and advancements in ICT that

will help identify opportunities that should empower New

Zealanders to create wealth from these new technologies

as well as enhance our culture and identity.

A team of about 20 has carried out the research – mostly

from Waikato, but also from the University of Canterbury

and Victoria University of Wellington, led by Professor

Ted Zorn from Waikato Management School.



DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

“[E]ducation, knowledge, information and communication

are at the core of human progress, endeavour and well-

being… Information and Communication Technologies

(ICTs) have an immense impact on virtually all aspects

of our lives. The rapid progress of these technologies

opens completely new opportunities to attain higher

levels of development.”

Declaration of Principles, United Nations World Summit

on the Information Society, 2003.

MONITORING THE IMPACTS OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON SOCIETY

52


DIGITAL LIBRARIESOrganisations in more than 60 countries worldwide

use Greenstone Digital Library software created at the

University of Waikato, making the project’s website

Google’s number one hit for “Greenstone”.

Developed and distributed in cooperation with

UNESCO for humanitarian purposes, this open-source

software allows users of different computer operating

systems to create their own libraries in electronic

format for web publication or distribution on CD or

DVD. Collections of up to 2000 fully-illustrated books in

different languages can be carried “into the field”

on a single CD. Greenstone software has been used

to collate information for disaster relief operations in

Latin America, for combating AIDS in Africa, and for

development project work in French sub-Saharan Africa.

Organisations wanting to collate and preserve libraries

of social, cultural and historical significance are also

turning to Greenstone, such as Kabul University’s

Greenstone-based library of 37,000 documents preserving

Afghani literature, music and cultural heritage, and

Chicago University Library’s significant collection of

early edition works by Chopin.

An early in-house Greenstone project was the Niupepa

collection of Māori-language newspapers from the

Alexander Turnbull Library. It is the largest collection of

on-line Māori documents in existence and has been used

by Māori in pursuit of land claims as well as for legal and

linguistic research.

The original Digital Library project team led by Professor

Ian Witten and Dr David Bainbridge from the University’s

Computer Science department is now moving in two new

directions. Greenstone is focussing on new user-friendly

ways to create and browse multi-media digital libraries.

A spin-off project (Flax) will allow teachers of English as

a second language to create instant interactive resources

from web-based digital libraries.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: NZ Lotteries

Board, four Foundation for Research, Science and Technology

grants, Marsden Fund, Ministry of Education, UNESCO,

Google Inc., and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

NZ DIGITAL LIBRARY PROJECTDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCEFACULTY OF COMPUTING & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

“We… declare our common desire and commitment

to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-

oriented Information Society, where everyone can create,

access, utilize and share information and knowledge,

enabling individuals, communities and peoples to

achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable

development and improving their quality of life...”

Declaration of Principles, United Nations World Summit

on the Information Society, 2003.

53


DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR BUSINESSPrivate sector business has a role to play in social and

community development. How businesses can do that

and still maximise profits is being researched by a

team at Waikato Management School. Dr Steven Lim,

Dr Michael Cameron, Associate Professor John Tressler

and Annemieke van Soelen are looking at how the links

between profits and corporate social responsibility (CSR)

can be strengthened if private businesses are to maintain

a competitive edge in the global economic environment.

Business managers, perhaps because of commercial

pressures or unfamiliarity with social issues, often overlook

the important contributions that their companies make to

others. Given this knowledge gap and the potential gains

from incorporating social opportunities into commercial

strategy, the researchers have developed a framework to

assist businesses discover the social assets they possess.

The assets, in turn, can enhance the competitiveness of a

firm and provide profitable location opportunities.

The positive links between profits and CSR are an important,

emerging area for business research. Through its research,

the team aims to help managers integrate CSR issues into

their overall business strategies, overturning the commonly

perceived incompatibility between profits and CSR.

For their work in the CSR field, especially the integration

of business location, employment creation and the fight

against HIV/AIDS, the team received a research award

from the International Academy of Business and Public

Administration Disciplines in 2007.

The team’s CSR approach is currently being used in

international leadership training programmes funded

by the Asian Development Bank and other donors, with

trainees from the Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Asia 2000,

NZAID and others.

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICSWAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

“[I]n pursuit of its legitimate activities the private sector,

including both large and small companies, has a duty to

contribute to the evolution of equitable and sustainable

communities and societies.”

Article 27, Johannesburg Declaration, United Nations World

Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002.

54

TATTOO

“Cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind

as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the

common heritage of humanity and should be

recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present

and future generations.”

Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, UNESCO, 2001.

MĀORIMau Moko: the world of


Take your moko, as your friend forever...

Taia o moko, hei hoa Matenga mou...

Pho

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55

In the traditional Māori world, the moko, or facial and

body tattoo, was part of everyday life. Everyone had

some patterning on their skin. Men wore elaborate

designs on their entire faces; women’s were usually

less complex but elegant, and both sexes had extensive

body work.

After almost disappearing in the 20th century, Māori

skin art is now experiencing a powerful revival, with

many young, urban Māori displaying the moko as a

gesture of ethnic pride and identity.

Mau Moko: the world of Māori tattoo, published by

Penguin, is the result of many years of research by a

team at the Māori and Psychology Research Unit at the

University of Waikato, including Professor Ngahuia Te

Awekotuku, Dr Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and

Rolinda Karapu. The book’s scholarship is enhanced by

historical images, traditional Māori representations, and

the superb portrait photography of Becky Nunes.

The research examined both the traditional and present

day use of moko, and explored the cultural and spiritual

issues surrounding this body art. Early historical records

and manuscript materials were used to review the

history and technology of moko, and present day moko

wearers and artists were interviewed, and invited to

relate dozens of powerful and heart-warming stories.

Community participation was an essential element in

bringing the research together, as well as in taking the

stories, the taonga, and the research back to the people.

External funding gratefully acknowledged: Marsden Fund.

MĀORI AND PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH UNITSCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGYFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

56


PIANO RESEARCH HITS RIGHT NOTESThe image of a grand piano on a West Coast beach from

the 1993 Jane Campion film The Piano kept pulling back

University of Waikato lecturer Dr Kirstine Moffat.

Dr Moffat first wrote about The Piano in 2000 and has

since kept returning to the image in the film – a moving

testimony to the personal and cultural value of the

instrument that accompanied its owner to the other

side of the world.

Dr Moffat’s research discovered the piano was a popular

presence in colonial New Zealand culture and society.

It crossed gender, racial and class divides, it held a central

position in homes and public settings, and performers

and audience were united by a love for the instrument

and the music it produced.

By examining the colonial piano’s many uses, by

considering the cultural assumptions that underpinned

its popularity and by offering readings of the piano in

literature and visual arts, this cultural history offers a new

approach to habits of thought in colonial New Zealand.

Dr Moffat has written about “the soundscape of the

colonial New Zealand parlour” in Hearing Places: Sound,

Place, Time and Culture and her wider research findings will

be published in her Piano: A New Zealand Cultural History

1827-1930.


Marsden Fund Fast-start.

SCHOOL OF ARTSFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

“In a socially sustainable society…our cultural

and biological heritage is preserved, strengthening

our sense of connectedness to our history

and environment...”

Social sustainability in Govt3, Ministry for the

Environment, NZ, mfe.govt.nz.

57


EMPIRE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANXIETYWe live in a society forged by the experience of empire. It

affects our education, beliefs and values, the language we

speak, and even the pressing social and political issues we

face today.

Scholars hotly debate the merits of imperialism and

its aftermath as we grapple with many of its political

and social legacies today. Few scholars, however, have

investigated the environmental impact of the British

Empire, or the ways in which our imperial legacy has

bound New Zealand to other parts of the world.

This study, headed by University of Waikato history

lecturer Dr James Beattie, investigates the transfer of

environmental and health ideas within and beyond the

British Empire. It reveals the dynamic connections between

imperialism, environmental modification and conservation

in colonial South Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

Most studies represent European expansion as reckless,

confident and profligate. This study presents a picture

of greater complexity. It shows systematic deforestation

was accompanied by anxieties about human-induced

climate change. It reveals colonial fears about the

power of environments to affect health. But it also

argues that conservation was a form of imperial control

that generated revenue and enabled resources to be

more systematically exploited.

Provisionally titled Empire and Environmental

Anxiety, 1760s-1920s, this work will be published

by Palgrave Macmillan.

It will provide a valuable historical background to resource

management issues we face today.

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCESFACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

“Man is both creature and molder of his

environment….Man has constantly to sum up

experience and go on discovering, inventing, creating

and advancing… Through ignorance or indifference

we can do massive and irreversible harm to the

earthly environment on which our life and well being

depend. Conversely, through fuller knowledge and

wiser action, we can achieve for ourselves and our

posterity a better life in an environment more in

keeping with human needs and hopes.”

Extracts from the Declaration of the United Nations

Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972.

58

SUSTAINING AND

DEVELOPING

The significant contribution made by the University of

Waikato to the New Zealand research and innovation system

is demonstrated by the results of the Tertiary Education

Commission’s national assessment of research quality and

performance. This assessment determines funding from the

Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), and is based on

the quality of staff members’ research, by the number of

postgraduate research-based degree completions, and by

external research income.

Waikato was first in 10 subject areas with more firsts in the

sciences than any other university. The Waikato Management

School and the Faculty of Computing & Mathematical

Sciences can lay claim to being the best in the country as

far as staff research quality is concerned. Waikato also has

the country’s top combined Faculty of Education following

the mergers of university schools of education with regional

teachers’ colleges. (We are ranked first in education when

University and College of Education scores are combined.)

Research provides a valuable source of income. More than

one quarter, or $63.4 million, of the University of Waikato’s

revenue comes from research and research-related activities.

The external research revenue at Waikato is currently

bolstered by 23 Marsden research projects and 11

contracts from the Foundation for Research, Science and

Technology (FRST).

The Marsden Fund is the primary mechanism in New Zealand

for funding pure research, which is investigator-driven, and

undertaken solely to increase knowledge. The outcome of

most pure research is publication in an international peer-

reviewed journal.

FRST funding is usually for team-based collaborative research

lasting several years, and provides a stable platform for the

development of medium to long-term research to address

issues of importance to New Zealand. FRST contracts are

for applied research that involves end users such as industry

partners, government agencies and local authorities. Many

projects support postgraduate students, providing invaluable

experience for the students while increasing the pool of

future research leaders.

Research is an activity central to the life of the University of Waikato. Research informs

the University’s teaching, and advances the knowledge we share with the communities

we serve. In so doing, our research represents a significant asset that serves to underpin

the sustainable development of New Zealand’s economy and society.

Research strengths

University Research

University Research

59

2006 PBRF Quality Evaluation Round:

subject area ranking

Area Subject

University of

Waikato ranked

in top four

Business Accounting & Finance 1st

Economics

Management, Human Resources, Industrial Relations, International Business & Other Business

1st

Marketing & Tourism

Creative Arts Music, Literary Arts & Other Arts 1st

Theatre & Dance, Film & Television & Multimedia

*Education Education 1st

Māori Knowledge & Development Māori Knowledge & Development

Sciences, Engineering, Maths & IT Chemistry 1st

Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Sciences

1st

Earth Sciences

Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour 1st

Engineering & Technology

Molecular, Cellular and Whole Organism Biology 1st

Pure & Applied Mathematics 1st

Statistics

Social Sciences, Humanities and Law

Anthropology and Archaeology

Communications, Journalism and Media Studies 1st

English Language & Literature

Foreign Languages & Linguistics

History, History of Art, Classics and Curatorial Studies

Human Geography

Law

Philosophy

Political Science, International Relations and Public Policy

Psychology

Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work, Criminology & Gender Studies

*When University and College of Education scores are combined the University of Waikato is ranked 1st in education.

60

Current Marsden Fund projects

The Marsden Fund is the primary mechanism in New Zealand for funding pure research, which is undertaken solely to increase

knowledge. The Marsden Fund supports research that is investigator-driven rather than funder or industry-driven. The outcome

of most pure research is publication in an international peer-reviewed journal.

Current Marsden Fund Projects Principal Investigator(s) Contract Value

More than bricks and mortar: Homelessness and social reintegration Assoc Prof Darrin Hodgetts & Assoc Prof Linda Nikora

795,342

Vector addition in the brain: Why the world stays still when we move our eyes Assoc Prof John Perrone 490,000

Wealth and Health Effects of Migration Prof John Gibson 998,035

Local Lingo: Dialect formation and function in the North Island kokako Prof Joseph Waas 655,000

Brain connections via Turing structures Prof Moira Steyn-Ross & Assoc Prof Alistair Steyn-Ross

619,997

New approaches to uncouple thermoactivity from thermostability in enzymes Assoc Prof Vic Arcus & Prof Roy Daniel

985,000

Life at the extreme: resolving the genetic basis of microbial endemism in the super-heated soils of Mt Erebus, Antarctica

Prof Craig Cary 798,000

Taming reactive main group element hydrides Prof Bill Henderson 518,000

Engaging women and migrants in public policy making (Fast Start) Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar 300,000

The role of Māori cultural support for employees and employers (Fast Start) Assoc Prof Jarrod Haar 300,000

What counts as healthy food? Balancing organisational tensions between private and public agendas (Fast Start)

Dr Alison Henderson 300,000

Sustainability at the cross roads: examining the vulnerability of New Zealand's global environmental positioning

Prof Juliet Roper 773,000

Sustainable citizenship: transforming public engagement on new and emerging technologies

Assoc Prof Priya Kurian & Assoc Prof Debashish Munshi

559,000

APAKURA: the Māori way of death. Prof Ngahuia Te Awekotuku & Assoc Prof Linda Nikora

948,000

A new mechanism for post-transcriptional regulation in prokaryotes Assoc Prof Vic Arcus 895,051

Elucidating the origin and ecology of TTX: the phantom marine toxin Prof Craig Cary 750,000

Microbial diversity in the extreme – Abiotically driven biocomplexity in the Antarctic Dry Valleys (Fast Start)

Dr Charles Lee 307,000

Can fi rms spend their way out of a recession? Prof Harald van Heerde 740,000

Why the world does not look fl at to Cyclops and one-eyed pirates: The role of visual motion in human depth perception

Assoc Prof John Perrone 749,058

New views from old soils: reconstructing environmental and climatic change using genetic signals preserved in buried paleosols on dated volcanic-ash beds

Prof David Lowe 825,000

Videogame classifi cation: Assessing the experience of play Dr Gareth Schott 405,000

Playing with reality? Online documentary culture and its users Dr Craig Hight 442,079

Ethnicity counts? A global model of ethnic enumeration (Fast Start) Dr Tahu Kukutai 307,000

Total $14,459,562

Research strengths

61

Current major contracts with the Foundation for

Research, Science and Technology (FRST)

FRST funding is usually for team-based collaborative research lasting several years, and provides a stable platform

for the development of medium to long-term research to address issues of importance to New Zealand. FRST

contracts are for applied research that involves end users such as industry partners, government agencies and local

authorities. Many projects support postgraduate students, providing invaluable experience for the students while

increasing the pool of future research leaders.

Contract Name Contract Leader Contract Value

Te Hau Mihi Ata: Mātauranga Māori – Informing Science and Biotechnology

Prof Linda Smith 1,060,783

International multimedia management and delivery: a new service industry for New Zealand

Assoc Prof David Bainbridge 2,286,504

Towards autonomous network management through advanced measurement, large scale simulation and application of machine learning

Assoc Prof Tony McGregor 1,536,000

Software providing automated analysis and quality control of analytical data for the detection and measurement of chemical contaminants in foods and the environment

Prof Geoff Holmes 1,825,440

Engineering energy effi ciency in powder plants Prof Peter Kamp 3,905,296

Restoring Freshwater Ecosystems and Resurrecting Indigenous Lake Biodiversity

Prof David Hamilton 9,876,000

Processing Titanium Alloy Powders into Near Net Shaped Components and Corrosion Resistant Coatings

Prof Deliang Zhang 2,399,563

Engaging Senior Stakeholders: Positive Ageing at the Elder-Organisation Interface

Prof Ted Zorn 1,050,000

Tectono-sedimentary framework for increased oil & gas resource exploration in New Zealand's frontier basins

Prof Peter Kamp 2,700,000

Restoration of Indigenous Ecosystems in Urban Environments Prof Bruce Clarkson 894,000

Enhancing titanium alloy powder consolidation capabilities of New Zealand Industry

Prof Deliang Zhang 1,225,356

Total Investment $27,533,586

62

Specialist research facilities

Electron Microscope Facility

The core instruments of the Electron

Microscope Facility are the Hitachi

S-4700 Field Emission Scanning Electron

Microscope (SEM) with Quorum

Technologies Cryo-system, and the Philips

CM30 High Resolution Transmission

Electron Microscope (TEM). Both have

x-ray analytical capability for elemental

analysis. The SEM system allows high

magnification imaging and elemental

analysis of small samples including

hydrated materials. Sample type may

range from bacteria and plant material

to metal alloys. The TEM facilitates high

resolution imaging of crystallographic and

structural features of very thin samples.

The microscopes are used predominantly

for research and teaching. The SEM also

has commercial applications including the

imaging and analysis of contaminants,

particularly important in the food, dairy

and water industries where quality

assurance is important.

Mass Spectrometry Facility

The Waikato Mass Spectrometry Facility is part of the Faculty

of Science & Engineering. The facility manages, operates

and maintains the faculty's range of high-performance mass

spectrometers. The instrumentation supports research and

teaching activities within the faculty and a range of services

are available to external institutions and industrial clients.

The facility is a Bruker Daltonics Centre of Excellence.

The University of Waikato has a number of specialist research facilities that

were established to support university teaching and research, but which are

also available for external contract work.

63

Stable Isotope Research Facilities

The Waikato Stable Isotope Unit (WSIU) offers precision analyses of isotopes of carbon and

nitrogen in biological, geological, and chemical materials by isotope ratio mass spectrometry.

Isotopic abundance analysis is carried out on two fully automated Europa Scientific 20/20

isotope analysers. Materials may be submitted as solids, liquids, or gases, for example, for breath

analyses. Precision analyses of carbon and nitrogen content in solid or liquid samples are also

provided with a LECO TruSpec Carbon/Nitrogen Determinator fitted with an autosampler for

liquids. The WSIU provides commercial analyses and also services the needs of scientists at

the University of Waikato and their collaborators, promoting the use of stable isotopes in all

branches of research. The unit operates under the Department of Biological Sciences and the

staff are highly experienced in the use of stable isotopes, both natural abundance and enriched

tracers, particularly in biological and environmental research. In 2006 the WSIU was accredited

by the International Atomic Energy Agency for analyses of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content

and isotopes 13C and 15N in plant materials.

Stable Isotope Geochemistry at the

University of Waikato is carried out in a

separate facility within the Department of

Earth and Ocean Sciences. Measurements

of stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios

in carbonates are made with an automated

Europa Scientific Penta 20/20 isotope ratio

mass spectrometer with CAPS preparation

system. Determinations on prepared CO2

can also be performed.

Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory

The Waikato laboratory is a national radiocarbon facility undertaking both Standard Radiometric

Dating and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Dating (AMS). The facility is an independent unit

within the Faculty of Science & Engineering, and has been operating for more than 25 years.

It is funded by external commercial customers and research grants, and is used to support

radiocarbon dating and Faculty of Science & Engineering research programmes. Staff in the unit

are actively involved in palaeoclimate and archaeological research and have a leading role in

international calibration programmes.

Waikato DNA Sequencing Facility

The Waikato DNA Sequencing Facility (WDSF) is part of the Department of Biological Sciences in

the Faculty of Science & Engineering. The facility offers DNA sequencing and genotyping services

via capillary based DNA analysis systems. The WDSF provides sequencing and genetic profiling

services for researchers from a wide variety of engineered, synthetic and environmental DNA

templates using energy transfer and fluorescent chemistries.

Waikato Centre for Applied Statistics

The Waikato Centre for Applied Statistics is attached to the Department of Statistics in the

Faculty of Computing and Mathematical Sciences and serves to foster the development and

effective use of statistical methods in research and industry. It carries out applied research,

contributes to courses in applied statistics and provides professional advice to University and

external clients. Some of the centre’s activities are carried out in cooperation with statisticians

at the Ruakura Research Centre.

64

Maintaining and building the University’s capabilities and capacity for research was a

major driver behind the formation of the Research Hub.

The Research Hub serves as the front door of the University

of Waikato for commercial and research activity. Providing

access to the University's research and development,

consultancy services and specialist resources, it links users

and sponsors of research and technology with the experts

who can get the job done.

By bringing together staff from UniLink, WaikatoLink,

Postgraduate Studies, and Scholarships, the Research Hub

brings together the operations that support and sustain

university scholarship and research, and that manage

our contractual relationships with our research partners

and investors.

The Research Hub administers the University’s 400-plus

externally-funded research and consultancy contracts held

with government agencies, local bodies, Crown Research

Institutes, research foundations, private industry and overseas

partners such as the World Bank and Google Inc. It maintains

information systems to support high quality research

reporting, (including databases on which the University’s

PBRF funding is reliant), and structures the University’s expert

services and use of its specialist facilities to meet customers’

research and development needs in a variety of ways. For

example, the Research Hub can offer expert services through

collaborative programmes, Technology New Zealand schemes,

student research projects, staff secondments, sponsored

positions, consultancy and other contractual services. It also

undertakes technology and research business development,

and offers intellectual property (IP) licensing and investment

opportunities to industry.

At the Research Hub, the Postgraduate Studies and

Scholarships teams work together to maintain the

University’s high levels of graduate and postgraduate

students, to encourage them into taking their first steps into

a research career, and to support the rising new generation

of researchers. Currently about 30% of our total enrolled

students are at graduate or postgraduate level.

The Research Hub

65

Research income 2004-2009

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Annual income from research contracts

$18.398M $20.137M $20.317M $23.296M $21.894M $27.838M

Total number of FTE (Research staff)

529 530 507 508 505 500

Average research grant per FTE (Research staff )

$34,808 $37,971 $40,074 $45,897 $43,355 $55,676

Total Research Related Income (includes annual income from research contracts)

$28.885M $33.237M $40.988M $46.450M $50.488M $63.434M

All figures exclude GST.

Total value of active contracts

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

$72.378M $80.548M $85.050M $104.999M $115.357M $120.574M

All figures exclude GST.

66

Commercialising research

Most technologies resulting from research are not in a

form that can be taken to market, or even pitched to

investors. WaikatoLink established the Hothouse to address

this problem, as well as to give valuable experience to the

University’s brightest graduates and students. The Hothouse

progresses a diverse range of innovations from concept

through to commercial prototype. As well as assisting

with internal University projects, the Hothouse has been a

valuable resource for local businesses and industry. A number

of companies have contracted the services of the Hothouse

particularly in the science, engineering and information and

communication technology fields.

WaikatoLink is also responsible for the identification,

protection and commercialisation of intellectual property (IP)

generated by the University. Commercialisation is through

selling or licensing IP, partnerships and joint ventures, or

establishment of start-up companies.

Since 2002, WaikatoLink has completed numerous licensing

deals and established more than 12 start-up companies

and joint ventures. Spin-out companies from the University

of Waikato have collectively created more than 138

full-time equivalent jobs and achieved market capitalisation

nearing $200 million. Three start-ups have already been

successfully exited.

WaikatoLink’s commercialisation performance has been

benchmarked against US universities and it consistently ranks

in the top 3% of university commercialisation offices (based

on Association of University Technology Managers' data).

WaikatoLink’s track record has translated into support from

industry and investors. For example, a WaikatoLink-led

consortium secured $4.9 million, the largest amount of

pre-seed funding to commercialise university research, from

the Foundation of Research, Science and Technology (FRST)

in 2008. WaikatoLink has also been successful in attracting

private investment for its spin-off companies and generating

successful returns.

WaikatoLink is the University’s research business development and

technology commercialisation arm.

67

ZyGEM

ZyGEM is one of WaikatoLink’s greatest success stories. ZyGEM

is a spin-off company that commercialises a DNA extraction

method developed collaboratively by University of Waikato and

University of Auckland researchers. The extraction method involves

a unique single closed-tube cycling process, three times faster

than conventional methods, and represents a breakthrough tool for

DNA processing and testing laboratories. ZyGEM is growing rapidly

in its pursuit of the billion-dollar global market for DNA tests,

which reflects the quality of ZyGEM’s science and its approach

to commercialisation. Nearly $4 million of external funds were

invested by Endeavour Capital and a number of other high net

worth individuals.

Successes in the information and communication technology area include joint

ventures Khipu Systems and Rural Link, CLIMsystems, Ectus and Endace.

Khipu Systems

Khipu Systems is a joint venture formed in 2006 with

New Zealand’s largest privately owned analytical lab, Hill

Laboratories. Khipu Systems provides high value smart software

solutions that enable labs throughout the world to increase the

quality and speed of their sample testing. The platform technology

leveraged by Khipu’s software is based on WEKA, an award-winning

Machine Learning tool developed by the University’s Computer

Science team. Sales have already been made to one of Europe’s

largest analytical labs (BLGG), highlighting the world-class

quality of the technology. Endeavour Capital has invested

$1 million into Khipu Systems.

Rural Link

Rural Link is a joint venture formed in 2006 with local rural IT

solutions provider, Rezare Systems. Rural Link is transferring

telecommunications capabilities of the Faculty of Computer &

Mathematical Science’s WAND group to the rural sector. The

WAND group has been building rural community networks using

this equipment since 2002. Through the networks and expertise

of Rezare, this new joint venture will provide valuable enabling

telecommunications solutions to the Waikato dairy sector, as well

as to rural communities throughout the country that are unable

to access broadband technology.

Commercialisation success stories

68

Titanox

Titanox Development Ltd was established in 1997 to develop

market-ready products based on novel methods of producing

titanium powders invented by Professor Deliang Zhang of the

Department of Engineering at Waikato University. The company is

currently building a pilot plant to scale up the technology.

Ectus

Ectus was a spin-off company established in 2004 which grew out

of a specialist e-learning unit within the University of Waikato. Its

products included a software package that seamlessly combines

video conferencing, online forums and video archiving for educators

and businesses alike. Ectus PLACE and Ectus MEDIA, were the

foundation technologies which rapidly developed into marketable

forms. Endeavour iCAP provided start-up capital of $1.2 million,

Technology New Zealand granted $300,000 for further research,

and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise supplied $20,000 for a

branding strategy. Ectus has now been bought by Norwegian-listed

multinational TANDBERG, a leading provider of communication

products and services.

CLIMsystems

CLIMsystems is a spin-off company founded in 2004, based upon

a decade of research and development carried out by Waikato

University's International Global Change Centre. CLIMsystems is

dedicated to helping individuals and organisations find sustainable

solutions to problems arising from global environmental change.

It achieves this through the provision of software products and

related services for assessing the potential risks posed by climate

change and variability, and for evaluating adaptation options.

Endace

Endace is a global leader in network monitoring, latency

measurement and application acceleration solutions. It is

recognised by an elite, worldwide client base of blue chip

corporations, government agencies and telecommunications

providers. Endace’s core technology was initially developed by a

University research team led by Professor Ian Graham in the period

1995 to 2001. Endace was founded in 2001, was admitted to the

Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange

in 2005, and reported revenues of US$30.3 million in 2009.

Commercialisation success stories

Research Hub

Phone: +64 7 838 4050

Email: [email protected]

Website: waikato.ac.nz/research

This document is printed on sustainable paper using vegetable inks.

Contents

Message from the Vice-Chancellor 2

Foreword 3

The University of Waikato 4

Leading the way to a sustainable future 6

The Drive for Environmental

Sustainability

ECOSYSTEMS

Antarctica – a diversity of life in waiting 10

Restoring the life to native forest remnants 12

Restoring a city’s natural ecosystems 13

$10 million battle to save the lakes 14

SUSTAINABLE SOILS

Are New Zealand pastures gaining or losing soil

carbon and nitrogen, and why? 16

Soil microbial diversity, composting and enrichment 17


From energy savings to export competitiveness 18

Titanium alloys 19


Sustainability: are businesses walking the talk? 20

International Global Change Centre (IGCC) 21

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND

REGULATORY CONTROL

Protected areas and international law 22

The economic way to cleaner water 23

Supporting Economic

Sustainability

ECONOMIC MONITORING

Monitoring the economic pulse of the Waikato 26

Temporary migration programme is a winner

all round 27


Taking science and biotechnology to the classroom 28

Enhancing primary student-teacher interactions

in science and technology 30


Animal protein becomes biodegradable plastic 31

Bovine bone replacement 32


Identifying sustainable aquaculture

management areas 33

DEVELOPING INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES FOR

PRIMARY INDUSTRY

Keeping farmers online 34

Machine learning has a special chemistry 35

VALUABLE NEW PRODUCTS FROM UNIQUE

BIOLOGICAL SOURCES

Genes, enzymes and microbes: the gems of

industrial biotechnology 36

Sweet university research 37


Solar flares – unlocking the secrets of

the Sun’s energy 38

9 25

Research and Innovation


SUSTAINABLE

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The University of Waikato Toll Free: 0800 WAIKATO

Private Bag 3105 0800 924 528

Hamilton 3240 Email: [email protected]

New Zealand Website: waikato.ac.nz

©The University of Waikato, September 2010.

Documents

SUSTAINABLE - The University of Waikato