Tuesday 29 May 2018 9:14pm
The University's Winter Lecture Symposium Series begins on Wednesday 13 June.
Following the success of the annual Winter Symposium Series, the University of Otago is this year extending the symposia to include five New Zealand centres – Wellington, Invercargill, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland.
The University is also teaming up with Radio New Zealand (RNZ) for both the symposia launch and finale, with highly-regarded journalist and presenter Guyon Espiner leading panel discussions which will be recorded by RNZ.
Guyon will lead an engaging and free-flowing discussion, which he hopes will be akin to “listening to an interesting dinner party discussion”.
Some of the big issues of the day, relevant to each centre, will be discussed and debated by a group of some of Otago’s best and brightest leading thinkers.
Symposium one: Wellington - Wed 13 Jun
Parliament will host the symposia launch on Wednesday 13 June with Dunedin MP and University of Otago alumni the Honourable David Clark set to welcome guests to what is now his second home.
New Zealand and the World: Past, Present and Future is the topic of the launch based on a book by Department of Politics Senior Lecturer in International Relations and well-known analyst on international political affairs, Professor Robert Patman.
Issues in international political relations will be discussed during the evening with other panellists including Senior Lecturer in Sociology Dr Marcelle Dawson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Humanities) Professor Tony Ballantyne and Professor in Political Science at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Professor David MacDonald.
A former Senior Lecturer in the University of Otago’s Political Studies department (2002-2007), Professor MacDonald’s research interest is indigenous politics in Canada, New Zealand and the US.
Symposium two: Invercargill - Thu 21 Jun
The second symposium will be held in Invercargill on Thursday 21 June. As tourism continues to grow rapidly in New Zealand, Sustainability of Tourism in New Zealand is the focus of the Invercargill meeting where Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Richard Blaikie will be the Master of Ceremonies.
Not surprisingly, the Department of Tourism is well represented among this panel with Associate Professor Brent Lovelock and Dr Susan Houge Mackenzie. However, Professor Liz Slooten (Department of Zoology) and Professor Juergen Gnoth (Department of Marketing) will bring different perspectives.
Symposium three: Queenstown - Thu 5 Jul
The provision and sustainability of health care in rural areas has been a vexed issue for many years and The Future of Regional Healthcare is something our academic staff will discuss in the third symposium in Queenstown on Thursday 5 July.
Guyon Espiner ill be making another guest appearance as MC for this event, leading the discussion alongside Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Health Sciences) Professor Peter Crampton, Associate Dean Rural in the Division of Health Sciences Dr Garry Nixon, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice and Rural Health Dr Fiona Doolan-Noble and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Commerce) and Co-Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Technology, Professor Robin Gauld.
Symposium four: Christchurch - Thu 19 Jul
With a review of mental health services in New Zealand currently underway, mental health takes the spotlight in our mainland symposium in Christchurch on Thursday 19 July: Taking the Pulse of Mental Health in New Zealand.
Freelance writer Joe Bennett, who was a successful MC of the Winter Symposium Series last year, returns this year to lead a varied panel of speakers. They include three academic staff members from the University of Otago, Christchurch: Senior Lecturer in Adolescent Health Dr Sue Bagshaw, Professor in the Department of Psychological Medicine, Roger Mulder and Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine, Professor Richard Porter. They will be joined by the Hazel Buckland Professor in Psychological Medicine at the Dunedin School of Medicine, Professor Paul Glue.
Symposium five: Auckland - Thu 2 Aug
The final meeting of the series will be held in Auckland on Thursday 2 August. One of the youngest panel members and a recent alumni, Sam Stuchbury, founder of creative agency Motion Sickness, which was recently included in the Forbes “30 Under 30” list (recognising successful young business leaders worldwide) for 2018 will make an appearance.
Together with Sam Stuchbury, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media Film and Communication, Dr Brett Nicholls, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Dr John Williams and Associate Professor in the Law Faculty, Colin Gavaghan, will debate The changing face of advertising and the flow on effects to business, particularly media.
Come along:
If you would like to attend one of the events, please register your interest on the Winter Symposium Series website.