Join me in celebrating the very substantive contribution to academia made by Professor Janet Carter and Professor Pedro Lee as part of the Professorial Lecture Series in 2018.
- Date: Thursday 15 November, from 4.30 – 6pm
- Location: E14 – Engineering Core
I encourage all staff and postgraduate students to attend this lecture series to actively support our new Professors, and take the opportunity to appreciate the fantastic research being undertaken in parts of the university you may be less familiar with. You’ll find further information on each presentation, below.
Ngā mihi
Professor Ian Wright
Deputy Vice-Chancellor | Tumu Tuarua
Presentation details:
Psychotherapy for depression; what works?
Presented by Professor Janet Carter, Department of Psychology and Dean of Science
Depression is a leading cause of disability and disease burden in society and has a huge impact on the quality of life and functioning of individuals affected. It is well established that psychotherapies are effective in the treatment of depression. Although therapy is effective there is much room for improvement.
Many people with depression only partially respond to treatment and relapse rates for depression are high. Several studies comparing different types of psychotherapy have also shown there are no or only minimal differences in the effectiveness of different therapies. Currently we know very little about which type of therapy is likely to be the most effective for a particular individual and we have limited understanding about which elements of therapy are fundamental to a response.
These questions have and continue to be the drivers of my work as an academic clinical psychologist. Understanding how we might better tailor therapy to an individual is a significant challenge, however, it is also one of the major ways we can improve mental health outcomes.
In this Professorial lecture I will summarise my research findings examining predictors of response to psychotherapy in adults with depression and also highlight some of the common elements of therapy that are thought to contribute to a positive outcome.
Can pipelines be used for communication?
Presented by Professor Pedro Lee, Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering
For decades, civil pipeline engineers have been focused on the destructive properties of surge events in their system and have dedicated their efforts into suppressing these pressure waves. In electrical systems, similar destructive surge events occur but electrical engineers have long realised that small, customised surge waves can be used to transmit coded information across large distances. This idea forms the basis for communication through conductors and is central to many technologies we see around us today.
On a fundamental level, pressure surges in water pipes are nearly identical to voltage surges in electrical systems. We can take inspiration from established technologies in the electrical field to evolve our extensive water supply networks so that they are capable of transmitting and receiving information through the water within the pipe. Our essential water infrastructure can be more than just buried tubes for transporting water.
This presentation will cover the development of this idea and the technical challenges with creating coded, high controlled pressure pulse sequences in pressurised pipelines. The results of an international pilot testing programme of a pipe condition assessment technology will be presented as a case study to demonstrate the real-world potential of this field of research.
