Tuesday 17 December 2019 4:20pm
Every semester Otago academics and visiting lecturers share a wealth of information through their public lectures – we warmly invite you to access these online.
Daring to be Wise
This year, University of Otago celebrated its 150th anniversary, bringing together students, staff, alumni and the wider Dunedin community for a busy programme of events.
On Daring to be Wise, we talk with people from all corners of the University community – inspirational stories from educators, administrators, and those whose time at Otago made a lasting impression.
Full list of interviews on OAR
Children's art - more than just a picture
Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne, University of Otago
Children have an innate ability to express their imaginations, but could a child’s artwork offer greater insights and clues into their emotional world? Harlene Hayne is a professor of psychology and Vice Chancellor at the University of Otago, and over the past two-decades her research has addressed this very question.
Full article and audio through RNZ
Testing cognitive abilities of pigeons in a free-range environment
Dr Damian Scarf, Department of Psychology
University of Otago scientist Dr Damian Scarf has won a $50,000 grant for his novel research project which will see pigeons tested for cognitive abilities in a free-range environment, rather than in a laboratory.
Audio through RNZ
Woof Woof the talking tui
Joel Zwartz, University of Otago science communication student
University of Otago science communication student Joel Zwartz is fascinated with how birds, such as Woof Woof the tui, talk.
Audio through RNZ
Balancing food, fact, and fiction - IPL Professor Sheila Skeaff
Professor Sheila Skeaff, Department of Human Nutrition
Presenting her Inaugural Professorial Lecture.
Iodine is a nutrient that is needed by the body for normal growth and development. Because the level of iodine in New Zealand soil is low, the amount of iodine that we get in food, and the health consequences of not getting enough iodine, has been the focus of Sheila's research.
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The Rise of the Machines
Professor Brendan McCane
Presenting his Inaugural Professorial Lecture.
Brendan's research is on the boundary between machine learning and computer vision. That is, how to get a computer to learn what is in an image based on example images. Some of his early work in this area included face detection and face recognition algorithms – similar to the algorithms that now run on all smart phones and social media platforms.
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