What's coming up – Professional Development
Oral and Intravenous Vitamin C Use in Health Care
Over the last few decades there has been increased interest and renewed research into the role of vitamin C in acute and chronic conditions such as infection and cancer. Novel mechanisms of action have recently been discovered – dispelling many of the myths and misconceptions. Understanding the new evidence-based research in these fields will benefit health care providers in their patient care.
This course is designed as an introduction and overview for those new to oral and intravenous vitamin C use in health care, as well as for those already using the vitamin in their clinical practice who wish to know more about its mechanisms of action in different conditions.
This course is registered for continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing medical education (CME) credits with a number of professional organisations (Royal NZ College of GPs, College of Nurses Aotearoa NZ, College of Intensive Care Medicine ANZ).
Find out more about this course (PDF)
Course convener: Professor Anitra Carr
Format: Online self-paced course (six modules)
Cost: $60 (including GST)
Register for Oral and Intravenous Vitamin C Use in Health Care
Finance, Investments and Sustainability
This one-day professional development course has been crafted for trustees, directors and executives of community trusts, not-for-profit and other organisations.
The course covers:
- Essential skills and concepts of finance and investments
- Legal considerations of incorporating non-financial outcomes in finance and investment decisions
- Sustainable investments and related topics such as greenwashing, data issues and solutions, carbon markets and sustainability reporting
You’ll learn how to oversee and manage decisions related to finance and investments effectively, even if you’re not directly involved in implementation. For example, what questions should we be asking asset managers in regards to environmental and social risks and impacts of our investments, and how do we interpret their answers and reporting?
Date: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Venue: Room 4.01, University of Otago Auckland Centre, 385 Queen Street, Auckland
University of Otago Auckland – Google maps
Cost: $950 (including GST)
Register for the Finance, Investments and Sustainability (one-day course)
Further information
Finance, Investments and Sustainability workshop (PDF)
Theology and Architecture
Of all the art forms that human beings create, architecture is the one that we experience the most. The built environment surrounds us much of the time and profoundly shapes the way we live our lives. From a humble shelter erected in a forest glade to the houses we live in, and on to such buildings as the Parthenon in Athens, the Pantheon in Rome, St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the Sky Tower in Auckland, or the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, we construct buildings that speak of our values and aspirations and that determine in no small measure the ways we inhabit the world. As we inhabit our buildings they accrue meaning. They become repositories of memory, symbols of triumph or oppression, places of sorrow or joy.
This course will explore the ways that architecture speaks. It will explore the varying testimonies that buildings offer to what it means be human and the gods they call us to worship. Above all the course will focus on how the art of architecture might prompt new ways of seeing and reveal fresh ways of thinking about the subject matter of Christian theology.
The paper will cover the following topics:
- Doing Theology through the Arts
- Construing the world through architecture
- Inhabiting the world through architecture: Theological considerations
- Cities of Earth and the City of God
- Church architecture
Taught by Professor Murray Rae, Theology Programme
Dates: Monday, 7 – Friday, 11 July 2025 (finishing at 12:00 noon)
Venue: University of Otago
Cost: $300 per person (including GST)
Register for the Theology and Architecture course
Palliative Care Online Modules
These 10-week CME-endorsed advanced online modules are open to primary and secondary providers of palliative care able to prescribe medication (including doctors, pharmacists and nurse practitioners) or those who work as clinical nurse specialists in palliative care settings.
The online material for these modules should be completed in two hours per week, with four Zoom sessions for case-based learning and assessment.
Cost: $500 (including GST) for doctors or $300 (including GST) for pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists
Non-prescribing health professionals: please contact palcaremodules@otago.ac.nz to register your interest for the modules. We may have limited places for you depending on demand.
- Symptom Management Module
Students will learn how to recognise, assess, and manage complex symptoms in their clinical practice.
Start Date: 3 March 2025
Register (doctors)
Register (nurse practitioners and pharmacists)
Register (clinical nurse specialists) - Opioids Module
Students will learn about the various opioids available to treat palliative care patients. The course covers opioid pharmacokinetics, initiation, titration, toxicity, and novel uses.
Start Date: 19 May 2025
Register (doctors)
Register (nurse practitioners and pharmacists) - Non-Malignant Disease Module
Students will learn how to manage non-malignant life-limiting illnesses using a palliative approach
Start Date: 22 September 2025
Registrations for this module will open later in the year
RANZCOG SIMGs online course (MIHI401)
This online course outlines Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te reo Māori, and Tikanga, especially designed for Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs). It is intended for RANZCOG SIMGs during application for registration with the Medical Council, and/or those approved for provisional registration and awaiting MIHI501 RANZCOG course.
We strongly advise you register and complete Parts 1 and 3 of this course prior to the interview (or during preliminary assessment) with RANZCOG. Once provisionally registered and working in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is strongly encouraged to complete all parts of this course prior to the MIHI501 RANZCOG course.
Your registration for this course will remain available after the interview and until you commence MIHI501 RANZCOG course.
Cost: $200 (including GST)
Register for the MIHI401 RANZCOG SIMGs online course
Hauora Māori in clinical practice (MIHI 501)
These professional development courses are designed to instil confidence in health professionals when applying hauora Māori competencies in a clinical setting. You will be equipped with frameworks to provide health care for Māori patients and their whānau in a way that avoids tokenism, promotes genuine collaboration, and creates a pathway to advocate for Māori health equity.
Choose between a 100 per cent online course, or blended online and in-person learning.
Course details and registration – Hauora Māori in Clinical Practice
Simulation instructor training workshop
A three-day workshop for health professionals with an interest in simulation-based education.
Dates: 7-9 October 2025
Cost: $2,100 (+ GST if any). The fee includes catering.
25% discount for University of Otago staff
Find out more about the simulation instructor training workshop
Useful information
For important information, please refer to: