Category Archives: Staff Success

Events, Staff Success, Videos

Tangata Tū, Tangata Ora: Celebrating Excellence

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UC’s inaugural Tangata Tū, Tangata Ora: Celebrating Excellence event was held on Wednesday 27 November, acknowledging the University’s accomplished Emeritus Professors and celebrating the winners of the UC’s 2019 Council Medals.

Congratulations to:

Community Notices, Staff Success, UC News

Food for Thought | Day One – Associate Professor Peter Field

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‘Food for Thought’ is a five-day series of 15-minute talks in Ōtautahi Christchurch so people can feed their minds while filling their tummies. Did you catch the story about it on Stuff?

Aimed at bringing the best of UC to the city, every day at midday from 9 – 13 December UC academics will be down at Riverside Market to cover a wide variety of exciting topics, from space to nutrition and mental wellbeing. See the full timetable of upcoming events throughout the week on UC Facebook>

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Yesterday’s speaker was Associate Professor Peter Field, who gave an engaging talk about higher education in the age of the smartphone.

TuneSoc provided music entertainment afterwards to end what was an interesting, funny and engaging way to engage with our audience in the city.

Keep up to date with the next ones throughout the week on UC Facebook, or head down and have yourself an informative lunch!

Announcements, Staff Success, UC News

December Staff Forum | Te Wānanga Kaimahi 2019 – thank you

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Thanks to all those who joined us for our Staff Forum | Te Wānanga Kaimahi this week. Some 520 staff attended the event.

Please take five minutes to complete the staff survey before 19 December. This will help us to improve these events in the future and ensure they remain relevant, engaging and informative.

If you missed the forum, a video recording is now available on the Staff Forum intranet page>

Chancellor | Tumu Kaunihera reflected back on the year, signifying the end of the UC Futures Programme.

Vice-Chancellor | Tumu Whakarae then looked forward, sharing UC’s future direction as it looks ahead to 2020 and beyond.

This year’s final staff forum was opened with a mihi whakatau and closed with a karakia to bless the food, delivered by mana whenua representative Corban Te Aika.

UC staff gathered to enjoy manaakitanga catered by locally founded Christchurch business Fritz Wieners, on our newly constructed Beatrice Tinsley Plaza.

Find out more on the topics raised:

  • Visit the UC Strategy website – Tangata tū, Tangata ora to read and download the full strategy.
  • Uni-Voice – an ongoing forum for people prepared to make a difference for the university, and for our community. Members of the university community are encouraged to write blogs and start conversations to inspire change in the workplace. Get in touch>
Community Notices, Staff Success

Dr Matt Hobbs named 2019 HRSC Emerging Researcher

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UC researcher Dr Matt Hobbs received the Health Research Society of Canterbury (HRSC)’s Emerging Researcher Award in a ceremony last week.

Dr Hobbs was recognised for a presentation outlining his research from within UC’s GeoHealth Laboratory, which focuses on the complexity of associations between adverse environments and childhood health.

“I have to thank family, colleagues, and friends who have helped support me to achieve this award over the past few years. A special thanks to the team at the GeoHealth Laboratory and to Professor Jim McKenna and Dr. Claire Griffiths of Leeds Beckett University,” Dr Hobbs says.

In his presentation, Dr Hobbs discussed his investigation into preventable hospitalisations, which account for approximately 30 percent of all acute and arranged medical and surgical discharges in Aotearoa New Zealand.

He is investigating how deprivation and water fluoridation are linked to preventable dental-related hospitalisations.

He explained that the persistent nature of oral health inequities have presented a significant challenge to policy makers.

Dr Hobbs’ article on this subject is currently under review.

Staff Success

The power of an image

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After an image of Prof Phil Butler’s ankle went viral last year, the MARS team discovered just how powerful an image can be. This year the members of the MARS programme, a joint research programme between the University of Canterbury and University of Otago, have continued to demonstrate how x-ray colour technology is going to change the future of medical and molecular imaging.

Highlights from the year have included a feature article in Nature Reviews Physics, several of our images making it on to the cover of journals, working with leading cancer researchers from ACTREC (Tata Memorial Centre) to produce a chapter in the newly released Springer Nature book “Unravelling Cancer Signaling Pathways: A Multidisciplinary Approach” and a very successful collaboration with the University of Maryland  producing images of hafnia nanoparticles targeted to bone microfractures.

The team is looking forward to more exciting results in 2020. Keep up to date with our latest research by following @MARSBioimaging on Twitter.