The University of Otago’s much-loved Winter Symposium Series is back this year, after an unexpected two-year hiatus due to COVID‑19.
The annual series is an opportunity for our leading academic thinkers to connect with the community and discuss the big issues that matter to New Zealanders.
However, with COVID still circulating in our communities we want to make sure everyone has a chance to attend these events.
We are excited to announce that for the first time, the Winter Symposium will be held online as a series of webinars, so tune in to these informative, engaging events and take this chance to put your burning questions to our researchers.
2022 programme
Wednesday 20 July 2022
Putin's Ukraine invasion: The consequences
Invasion of a sovereign state, mass human rights violations, war crime allegations, impact on international trade and relations.
Panellists
Professor Robert Patman
Professor Robert Patman is one of the University of Otago’s Inaugural Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chairs and a specialist in international relations. He has previously served as an editor for the journal International Studies Perspectives (2010–14) and as Head of Department of Politics (2013–16) at the University of Otago. His research interests include global security, US foreign policy, great powers, and the Horn of Africa. He has authored or edited 13 books.
Professor Patman is also an Honorary Professor of the New Zealand Defence Command and Staff College and makes regular contributions to the national and global media on international issues.
Associate Professor James Headley
Associate Professor James Headley specialises in Russian foreign policy, the European Union, nationalism and ethnic conflict, and International Relations.
He is the author of Russia and the Balkans: Foreign Policy from Yeltsin to Putin (Hurst and Co./Columbia University Press, 2008) and co-editor of Public Participation in Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). He joined the Politics Programme at Otago in 2005, having previously lectured at the University of Auckland, University of Leicester, and University College London.
He is the University of Otago representative on the Steering Committee of the New Zealand European Union Centres Network (EUCN).
Professor Natalia Chaban
Our guest panellist is Professor Natalia Chaban from the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Canterbury. She focuses her interdisciplinary research on cognitive and semiotic aspects of political and media discourses, image and perceptions studies within the EU and IR contexts, and public diplomacy and political communication.
Professor Chaban is a twice awarded Jean Monnet Chair, President of Ukrainian Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand, Director of Public Diplomacy and Political Communication Forum, co-editor of the peer-reviewed Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies and leader of a number of transnational research projects supported by the European Commission and NATO.
Wednesday 27 July 2022
Aotearoa’s new health system – a band aid or lifesaving surgery?
Aotearoa’s new health system is undergoing its biggest overhaul in 20 years. It aims to create a more equitable, accessible, cohesive and people-centred system that will improve the health and wellbeing of all New Zealanders. But what does that really mean and how will it work? Our panel of experts share their views.
Panellists
MC: Professor Peter Crampton
Peter Crampton is Professor of Public Health in Kōhatu, the Centre for Hauora Māori at the University of Otago. He is a specialist in public health medicine. His research is focused on social indicators and social epidemiology, health care policy, and health care organisation and funding.
He has served on numerous advisory panels in a variety of policy areas related to public health, health services, and medical education, and has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to public health, health systems, and health services management.
Professor Robin Gauld
Professor Robin Gauld is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Otago Business School and is the Co-Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Technology that spans the Division of Health Sciences and the Otago School of Business.
He is a Senior Fellow at the Boston University Health Policy Institute, and was a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in 2008–2009 working with colleagues from Boston University and Harvard University. Past positions include lecturing and research posts at the University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong. He has also taught at the University of Texas and Harvard University.
Current research interests include comparative health policy, health system and quality improvement, clinical governance, primary care, population based health funding formulas, and health information technology.
Professor Tim Stokes
Professor Tim Stokes is Elaine Gurr Professor of General Practice and Head of Department, Department of General Practice and Rural Health (DSM), Co‑Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Technology, and a part-time GP in Dunedin. He is Co‑Editor‑In‑Chief of the Journal of Primary Health Care and a ministerially appointed member of the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC), Pharmac.
Professor Stokes conducts Health Care Delivery and Implementation Research using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. He is particularly interested in new ways of delivering health services for acute and chronic clinical conditions in primary care and across the primary/community–secondary care interface; and evaluating complex health system interventions, including whether and how collaborative partnership working in the New Zealand health system can improve service integration and health outcomes
Ahorangi/Professor Jo Baxter
Ahorangi Jo Baxter (Poutini Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō) is a Public Health Medicine Physician, Dean of the Te Kura Whaiora a Ōtepoti, the Dunedin School Medicine and Co‑Director of the Māori Health Workforce Development Unit in the Division of Health Sciences. She is also a member of the Ministry of Health’s Health Workforce Advisory Committee and the Māori Monitoring Group for Covid.
She is recognised for her teaching in Māori health, and her research on Māori mental health, health inequity, indigenous medical education, Māori health curricula and health workforce development.
Ahorangi Baxter has played a critical role in strategic Māori development within the Health Sciences Division including working alongside a team to dramatically increase the recruitment, retention and achievement of Māori students in health sciences and health professional programmes.
Wednesday 3 August 2022
What has COVID taught us about sustainability?
The issue of sustainability has been an elephant in the room for years, the pandemic turned the world upside down but also provided us with new ways of living. Our panel of experts will discuss the impact COVID has had on everything from transport to food security and energy use.
Panellists
Professor Hugh Campbell
As a Chair in Sociology, Professor Hugh Campbell has published work on the social and economic dynamics of “greening” food systems, the politics of sustainability under neoliberal governance, achieving sustainability via audits, food waste, transitions in agriculture and food systems in New Zealand, and theories of global food regimes. Professor Campbell has led major projects on these topics, including Greening Food, which studied the political economy of new commercial alternatives in agri-food systems; and the 12-year ARGOS project which studied sustainability dynamics on more than 100 New Zealand farms and orchards. He was Director of the Centre for Sustainability from 2000–2010 and is a member of Food Waste Innovation, a University of Otago Research Theme which measures food waste, develops reduction strategies, applies innovative technology, and works to modify producer and consumer behaviour.
Associate Professor Michael Jack
Associate Professor Michael Jack is Co-Director of the Otago Energy Research Centre. Based in the Department of Physics, his research focus is on fundamental and applied research into a wide range of sustainable energy areas. He specialises in applying methods from theoretical physics to renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, collaborating closely with a wide range of other disciplines. His areas of focus include understanding what our future energy system will/should look like and smart, flexible electricity grids that are better at integrating variable renewable energy sources.
Professor Craig Bunt
Professor Craig Bunt (Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Maui) is the University of Otago's Inaugural Professor of Agricultural Innovation. Dr Bunt completed his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Otago and has worked in a number of roles in industry, academia and government research institutes. As well as being a member of Food Waste Innovation, Dr Bunt is a co‑leader of the Agriculture at Otago research theme which investigates both production and the value of our primary products, while minimising the impact of agriculture on the environment.
Associate Professor Lisa McNeill
Based in the Department of Marketing, Associate Professor Lisa McNeill’s research focuses on consumer behaviour and consumption, particularly regarding retailing, brand management and sustainability. Her recent research highlights the increasing sustainability focus of the fashion industry and explores consumer motivations to become more sustainable in their choices, use and disposal of fashion products. She has also carried out work around sustainable packaging alternatives in supermarkets, and consumer acceptance of clean meat products. Associate Professor McNeill is a member of Food Waste Innovation, a University of Otago Research Theme which measures food waste, develops reduction strategies, applies innovative technology, and works to modify producer and consumer behaviour, and Sustainable Fashion Consumption network, an international network of scholars and practitioners dedicated to examining the sustainability issues surrounding the fashion industry.
Wednesday 31 August 2022
Inequality in Aotearoa
Whether in our workplaces, houses or our health system, inequality is rife across Aotearoa. Our panel of experts will share their insights on the current state of the nation and what needs to change.
Panellists
MC: Wayne Te Kaawa
Reverend Dr Wayne Te Kaawa (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Awa, Tuhoe) completed his PhD in Theology at the University of Otago and now works as a lecturer in the Department of Theology, lecturing on Māori Theology. His research interests also include indigenous theology. Revd Dr Te Kaawa is also a licensed and ordained minister of the Presbyterian church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman
Philippa Howden-Chapman, Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, is co‑director of He Kāinga Oranga / Housing and Health Research Programme and director of the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities. She conducts randomised community housing trials in partnership with local communities, which have had a major influence on housing, urban policy and health. Her work focuses on reducing inequalities in the determinants of health and wellbeing.
She is a director on the board of the Crown Entity Kāinga Ora-homes and communities, a fellow of the Royal Society of NZ and chair of the International Science Council Committee, Urban Health and Wellbeing: a systems approach. She has received numerous awards, including the Prime Minister's Science Team Prize and the Royal Society of NZ Rutherford Medal. She was awarded a Queen's Service Order and for contributions to public health a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit.
Melissa Lama
Melissa Lama is the President of the Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) and sits on the National Council of the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations. She is of Tongan descent and is a Pacific community advocate, particularly in advisory and representative roles for youth.
Melissa has more than nine years' experience in the NGO and public sector, including working as an adviser for the Ministry of Pacific Peoples. She has recently completed a Master of Business Administration at the University of Otago and is currently studying towards a Doctorate in Business and Administration, focusing on the political and economic influence of foreign aid in the Pacific region.
Professor Richie Poulton
Professor Richie Poulton CNZM FRSNZ is the Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Research Unit, responsible for running the well-known Dunedin Study. He established and is co-director of the National Centre for Lifecourse Research. In 2014 Professor Poulton was also appointed as Chief Science Advisor to the Ministry of Social Development, and serves on many NZ government, public and academic statutory bodies.
Associate Professor Helen Roberts
Otago Business School Accountancy and Finance Associate Professor Helen Roberts is the Director of the Master of Finance programme and the Deputy Director of the Climate Energy Finance Group. She has conducted research projects on gender equity in the workplace, pay gaps between chief executives and workers, and the financial vulnerability of older New Zealanders.
Shayne Walker
Shayne Walker is a Senior Lecturer in the Social and Community Work Programme at the University of Otago, specialising in Māori social services development, alternative care, social service agencies, and care and protection. In 2019 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to fostering children and social work, recognising his experience fostering 192 young people, predominantly Māori and Pacific young men.
Mr Walker is currently on the Family Violence Death Review Committee, the Minister's Arms Advisory Group, and is former Chair of the Social Workers Registration Board. He is also Board Co‑Chair of VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai, a charity organisation that helps advocate for approximately 6,000 children with care experience in Aotearoa.
