Research must make a difference says new Centre for Sustainability Director
Wednesday 22 September 2021 2:00pm
Welcome | Mihi
Tēnei te ruru, e koukou mai nei. Kīhai mahitihiti, kīhai marakaraka, te upokonui o te ruru terekau: he pō, he pō. Tahuri ana au ki te tihi o te mauka e kīa nei ko Aoraki. Nahana ko Pukaki te roto, nahana ko Waitakitaki te awa. Tēnā koutou. Kai te mihi ki a koutou te manawhenua o tēnei motu, ko Te Waka o Aoraki. Ki kā kairakahau maha, tēnā hoki koutou. Nau mai, tahuti mai ki tēnei paetukutuku.
Our Research Centre
The Centre for Sustainability is an interdisciplinary research centre working on local and global sustainability challenges.
Hosted by the School of Geography in the Division of Humanities we work on local and global sustainability challenges through our research, teaching and partnerships. We draw from different knowledge systems including social and physical sciences, mātauranga and local knowledge.
School of Geography
Division of Humanities
Our research covers the interrelated streams of agriculture and food, energy transitions, environment and community and environment and ecological systems.
We work in:
- Agricultural sustainability
- Energy cultures
- Indigenous environmental management
- Societal responses to climate change
- Food issues
- Community resilience
Email centre-sustainability@otago.ac.nz
How we work
We collaborate closely with stakeholders, including communities, iwi, industry and government agencies. For many projects, we form teams with researchers from across New Zealand and internationally.
We generate high-quality research, both practical and theoretical. Our research informs choices, adaptations and transformations in policy and practice to enhance social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being.
We believe that complex social-environmental issues can best be addressed by valuing local and traditional knowledge, complementing knowledge generated by scientists and social scientists.
PhD Scholarship - applications open
Project Kainga: Climate change and kāinga resilience and agility (PDF)
Summer Research Scholarships
The Centre for Sustainability has four Summer Research Scholarships available for 2021-2022. The scholarships are worth $5,000 each and run for 10 weeks over the November to February period.
This year’s topics are:
- Science blogs on earthquake risk and resilience
- Exploring and visualising the material politics of nuclear power (from mining to waste storage)
- How to innovate responsibly? Exploring the role of social scientists in the responsible innovation of AI and robotics for agriculture
- Protein 2.0: Scoping potential threats and impacts for NZ Dairying
Scholarship details are on the attached poster. Applications close Monday, 27 September 2021.
