Tag Archives: engineering

Careers, Study@UC

Fantastic fulltime job in biosecurity

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Do you want a fantastic fulltime job in biosecurity?

Are you into engineering, plastics, design, 3D printing, CAD and product development? Are you interested in conservation?

Envico Technologies in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, works nationally and internationally with leaders in conservation to eradicate introduced animals from remote islands.

Supported by Predator Free 2050 and UC Biosecurity Innovations, EnvicoTech invites your expressions of interest to improve an aspect of the spitfire devices, prototype and test it, then identify a manufacturer to produce it.

Find out more and get in touch!

biosecurity.innovations@canterbury.ac.nz

To protect our unique flora and fauna, EnvicoTech have made 3 different “spitfires” for control of stoats, possums and rats.

Possum spitfire EnvicoTech

Rodent spitfire Envicotech

Stoat spitfire Envicotech

The “Spitfires”  are a long-life targeted-toxin delivery device for remote locations.  A sensor detects the target animal based on physical features.  Once the target  is detected,  a  dose of liquid toxin is sprayed onto their fur. The device then resets. The animal ingests the poison when it grooms and is humanely killed.

 

Postgraduate study, Scholarships, Study@UC

Masters scholarship

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Apply for a Masters scholarship, 28K tax free for up to 18 months.

This is an exciting project with potentially high conservation impact with a commercial partner and supported by UC Biosecurity Innovations (UCBI).

Design a chemical to humanely kill introduced vertebrates. 
Photo by Airwolfhound

You will have

  • a chemistry or chemistry engineering background
  • a first or second-class honours
  • an interest in  conservation and pest control
  • and ideally an  understanding of reaction kinetics of NMR  however training will be provided.

Your Masters in Chemical Process Engineering or Masters in Science will develop a novel vertebrate toxic agent (VTA). The VTA is a mixture of two compounds and there is a possible production route for the active species.  You will develop a process design on the reaction kinetics or mechanism.  The measurements will be used to inform a New Zealand company, your funders, and to determine whether or not the production is commercially viable.

Key objectives are

  • To identify whether the reaction an equilibrium reaction.
  • To determine the reaction rate constants, and how these vary with temperature.
  • Recommend a probable reactor type for small scale production of the substance.

We will address these objectives using a novel benchtop NMR spectroscopy setup to perform online monitoring of the reaction kinetics. We will use NMR to perform structural identification of the products of the reaction, and to perform quantitative analysis of the changing composition throughout the reaction.  We will also design and build a system to enable real-time sampling of the reaction mixture.

Find out more and get in touch!

Biosecurity.innovations@canterbury.ac.nz