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News and events

News and events from the Otago Arts Fellows

SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival

News from and about our programmes, staff and students

Performance artwork nudges emotional bandwidth

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 9:30am

A double major in Psychology and Theatre Studies at Otago underpins actor and playwright Hamish Annan’s award-winning performance artwork Access.

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Questioner extraordinaire Wendy Adam retires

Monday, 29 May 2023 12:12pm

Wendy Adam clearly remembers her job interview for the role of marketing and communications adviser for Te Kete Aronui Division of Humanities as a “disaster” but, as she told her partner afterwards, “I think they liked me”.

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Emeritus title signifies enduring connection for Lachlan Paterson

Friday, 26 May 2023 10:10am

Professor Lachlan (Lachy) Paterson is retiring from Otago, where he has been a member of Te Tumu - School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies.

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The distinguished career of Emeritus Professor John Dawson

Friday, 26 May 2023 12:06pm

“It’s a great privilege to pass your life among enthusiastic, intelligent young people,” says Emeritus Professor John Dawson.

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It's about time

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 3:15pm

What is time? It is a question people often struggle to answer, says Jean Campos, who is working on a PhD on the philosophy of time.

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Otago Theologian awarded Fellowship at the University of Birmingham

Friday, 19 May 2023 10:31am

Dr Lynne Taylor has been accepted into a Psychology Cross-training Fellowship Programme for Theologians, which is run by Birmingham University with funding from the John Templeton Foundation.

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Music a way to forget about everything that’s going on

Wednesday, 17 May 2023 10:08am

For one University of Otago honours student, music is a creative outlet that allows her to shift her focus from her multiple disabilities.

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Student and alumni team effort brings law moot success

Wednesday, 17 May 2023 8:45am

Thanks to a fabulous team effort by Otago alumni, students and staff, Te Kaupeka Tātai Ture Faculty of Law students’ moot team had a very successful trip to Washington DC in April, to compete at the Jessup International Law Moot Competition.

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Perspectives from a distinguished career in International Law and legal education

Wednesday, 17 May 2023 8:36am

Representing Canada and New Zealand, attending both Cambridge and Columbia universities, an eminent law academic and a leading counsel, Emeritus Professor Don McRae CC, ONZM, FRSC, brings a wealth of different perspectives to his profession.

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Graduate Te Hau Ariki Gardiner-Toi, learns and leads in community

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 12:26pm

For Otago graduate Te Hau Ariki Gardiner-Toi, the richness of his learning was not only found in the classroom.

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2023 Otago Arts Fellows welcomed

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 11:12am

The 2023 University of Otago Arts Fellows were welcomed to the University and wider Ōtepoti community at an event at the Hocken Collections on 27 April.

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Introducing postgraduate SGSC: Sonja Bohn

Friday, 12 May 2023 11:12am

A potential silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic could be the changes taking place within Aotearoa New Zealand’s tourism industry, says an Otago PhD candidate studying the relationship between humans and nature.

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Third and final reburial for cemetery project

Thursday, 11 May 2023 9:59am

The Southern Cemeteries Archaeological Project will soon be complete, when the third and final reburial ceremony takes place at Drybread Cemetery this month.

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Who is responsible for AI outcomes?

Wednesday, 10 May 2023 9:08am

When something goes wrong, we intuitively want to hold someone accountable and have them pay for, and learn from, their mistake. But what happens when the thing that goes wrong is the result of artificial intelligence (AI)?

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I thought to myself… ‘This is ten times better than processing algal samples.’

Wednesday, 10 May 2023 10:56am

It is déjà vu for Lisa Carlin, who is graduating this month with a Bachelor of Arts Honours in History.

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Law alumni gather to celebrate milestones and share expertise

Monday, 1 May 2023 11:41am

Law faculty hosts, alumni and guests from across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the globe gathered for three days of reminiscing, reuniting, and sharing legal expertise and insights at University of Otago Law celebrations at the weekend.

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Otago gains first Pacific lecturer in Archaeology

Thursday, 27 April 2023 1:00pm

Dr Charles Radclyffe feels “a huge sense of pride” becoming the first Pacific lecturer in Otago’s Mātai Whaipara Takata Archaeology programme.

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A lesson in mindfulness

Wednesday, 26 April 2023 8:44am

Associate Professor Anna High has been awarded an Otago Excellence in Teaching Award for leadership in mindfulness pedagogy and student-centered legal education.

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Introducing postgraduate SGSC: Jordan Dougherty

Wednesday, 26 April 2023 9:49am

Are we really educating people the best way about how to prevent sexual violence?

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Otago celebrates excellence in teaching

Friday, 21 April 2023 1:19pm

Two team categories have been introduced to the University of Otago Awards for Excellence in Teaching, in addition to awards offered to individual faculty members.

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Tenaya Brown awarded prestigious 28th Māori Battalion Scholarship

Monday, 17 April 2023 11:23am

Tenaya Brown (Te Aitanga a Hauiti ki Uawa) has received a Ngarimu VC and 28th Māori Battalion Memorial Scholarship.

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Otago students compete in “Moot Olympics”

Friday, 14 April 2023 12:04pm

A team of three students from Otago’s Te Kaupeka Tātai Ture Faculty of Law are in Washington DC this month to compete in the world’s largest moot court competition.

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Otago students compete in “Moot Olympics”

Friday, 14 April 2023 10:35am

A team of three students from Otago’s Te Kaupeka Tātai Ture Faculty of Law are in Washington DC this month to compete in the world’s largest moot court competition.

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Delivering digital transformation to governments around the globe

Thursday, 13 April 2023 9:07am

The path from Arts graduate to international digital government expert involved leaping from a love of history to embracing the future, but Jude Hanan says her time as a Humanities student at Otago created the foundations for her 25-year career.

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Honorary degree for esteemed lawyer and Otago alumnus

Thursday, 6 April 2023 9:43am

Top Canadian law professor and University of Otago alumnus, Emeritus Professor Don McRae CC, ONZM, FRSC, will be recognised for his significant achievements with the conferring of an Honorary Doctor of Laws next week.

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When a language disappears, the whole world loses

Wednesday, 5 April 2023 10:00am

Preserving a language is crucial because it’s not just language, but the preservation of a culture as well, says PhD candidate Eleanor Scoon.

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Exploring vegan burgers and Te Ao Māori

Tuesday, 4 April 2023 2:22pm

Brent Paehua reckons that if his dad, “a Māori guy born in the ‘50s”, can accidently buy alternative meat burgers and enjoy them, that shows how far research and development into alternative proteins has come.

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Introducing postgraduate SGSC: Joshua James

Tuesday, 4 April 2023 4:02pm

Queer people aligning themselves with the far-right can be doing it out of fear and are, in many cases, committed, quite violently, to national socialism, says Joshua James.

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Burn baby burn, disco… soup?

Saturday, 1 April 2023 11:55am

A pair of Otago University student sisters are putting in the mahi to raise awareness about food waste and its impacts on the climate crisis.

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From Ontario to Te Waipounamu - Summer School Abroad rekindles international connections

Friday, 31 March 2023 10:41am

This summer, tauira from Canada’s Brock University attended Otago as part of their Summer School Abroad programme, 11 years after Brock’s last visit to our shores.

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Otago theologian to participate in international collaboration

Monday, 27 March 2023 9:02am

Dr Andrew Shepherd is one of twelve international scholars chosen for the Centre of Theological Inquiry study programme ‘Thriving in Diverse Contexts’.

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Pacific PhD candidate follows in father’s footsteps at Cambridge

Thursday, 23 March 2023 4:59pm

University of Otago PhD candidate Wanda Ieremia-Allan would spend Sunday afternoons delivering 'O Le Sulu Samoa' newspaper as a young girl.

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Otago appoints Ron Lister Chair in Geography

Thursday, 23 March 2023 3:18pm

A geographer whose career has focused on ensuring those who are marginalised, vulnerable, and discriminated against are made visible and included, has been appointed the new Ron Lister Chair in Geography.

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Calling all Game Writers

Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:12am

The inaugural Festival of Interactive Narrative and Storytelling launches in Ōtepoti Dunedin on 1 April 2023.

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On-stage head shaves, blind-dating and porridge: Student Relay for Life

Thursday, 23 March 2023 4:39pm

Hailey Kapadia has been attending Relay for life since 2014, when she was a high school akonga in Wellington.

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Otago appoints Ron Lister Chair in Geography

Tuesday, 21 March 2023 10:43am

A geographer whose career has focused on ensuring those who are marginalised, vulnerable, and discriminated against are made visible and included, has been appointed the new Ron Lister Chair in Geography.

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A journey from the runway to the library

Sunday, 19 March 2023 12:01pm

A multi-award-winning non-binary fashion designer is taking a moment away from their avant-garde clothing line to try something new at Otago.

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Project which aims to optimise brain health set to begin

Thursday, 16 March 2023 4:17pm

A national network which aims to promote brain health throughout the lives of New Zealanders will launch tomorrow.

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Project which aims to optimise brain heath set to begin

Thursday, 16 March 2023 3:13pm

A national network which aims to promote brain health throughout the lives of New Zealanders will launch tomorrow.

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The First Era of Fake News: Witch-Hunting, Antisemitism and Islamophobia

Tuesday, 14 March 2023 9:13am

One workforce in New Zealand has doubled since the lifting of international travel restrictions due to COVID-19; we can now boast two professors of medieval literature in Aotearoa, and both are at the University of Otago.

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Relationship to place explored in Hocken’s latest exhibition

Tuesday, 7 March 2023 9:49am

Discovering local sites and working with local materials has enabled multi-media artist Sorawit Songsataya to produce an exhibition which explores their relationship between two homes: Aotearoa and Thailand.

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Wānanga “an enormous moment” in legal education at Otago

Friday, 3 March 2023 1:26pm

The University of Otago’s second year Law programme got off to a special start this year. For the first time, tauira are part of a seven-day wānanga engaging with mātauranga and tikanga Māori.

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College of Education to collaborate on new curriculum insights and progress study

Monday, 27 February 2023 9:14am

Te Kura Ākau Taitoka – the University of Otago College of Education and New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) are pleased to announce that they have been contracted to collaborate on the new curriculum insights and progress study for the Ministry of Education.

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FEATURE: Working with the dead to protect the living

Thursday, 23 February 2023 12:22pm

When he decides to do something, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) recipient Wallace Bain, doesn’t do it by halves. Having developed a strong interest for the law after sitting in on a retrial of alleged murderer Arthur Allan Thomas in the early seventies, he decided to pursue a career in law at the University of Otago.

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Archaeologists return to Doctors Point

Tuesday, 14 February 2023 12:44pm

The University of Otago’s Archaeology field school received a warm welcome to the site they will be exploring from 3 to 23 February at Doctors Point Beach, Waitati.

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Professor Sheila Skeaff wins OUSA Supervisor of the Year Award

Monday, 13 February 2023 9:13am

When Nan Xin Wang arrived in Dunedin to start her PhD studies in the Department of Human Nutrition, Professor Sheila Skeaff immediately made a very deep impression on her.