Latest news with #LibbyKirkby-McLeod
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Science
- RNZ News
Floating marae among designs by rangatahi showcased at science fair
Meremia and Ezra from Te Rangihakahaka Wakanoa and their model of a marae built to rise from floodwaters. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod A group of rangatahi have designed a marae that is able to rise above floodwaters and shown their work at New Zealand's only science fair that celebrates the intersection of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and science . Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā Mātauranga Māori Science and Design Fair took place in Rotorua from 23 - 25 July. The Rotorua-based science fair is run by Te Arawa Lakes Trust and has grown rapidly over the last five years and for the first time schools from around the country were invited to take part. Held inside the Rotorua energy events centre, students came up with ecological and climate solutions for tomorrow. Meremia, Miss-Mei, and Ezra are from Te Rangihakahaka. They designed a model of a marae built on a platform, Ta Waka Noa, which would be able to rise above floodwaters. They thought through inflation, flotation, and what was needed for survival while waiting for floodwaters to go down, including food and composting toilets. Hikareia and Kaitlyn from Te Kura o te Whānau a Apanui and their project counting birds at the river of Motu on the edge of Gisborne. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod Ezra said he hoped one day a system like it might save lives. "This is a disaster-relief system. So, when it floats, everyone will be in there, the whole iwi - anyone is allowed to come in here - so it's like a public marae," he said. Event co-ordinator Keeley Grantham said seeing projects like the one from Te Rangihakahaka was exactly why she was involved with the fair. "That's a real-life issue that we are looking at with climate change, rising sea levels and marae being on floodplains. That's an amazing solution." She said most New Zealand science fairs focus only on western science. "This science fair is all about enabling different types of knowledge, different types of sciences and embodying a te ao Māori lens." And there was a big focus on the environment, with categories including biosecurity, biodiversity and conservation, sustainability, marine and freshwater environments, Mātauranga Māori, and climate change adaptation and resilience. One of the fair judges, Te Rika Temara-Benfell (centre) with others from Te Puna Ariki Charitable Trust. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod One of the judges, Te Rika Temara-Benfell from Te Puna Ariki Charitable Trust, said the projects gave him hope for the future. "They're just far beyond anything I was doing at that age. Some of them [are aged] nine and ten and they are researching microplastics and things happening across our environment and community." An example of that is Hikareia and Kaitlyn from Te Kura o te Whānau a Apanui who counted birds at the river of Motu on the edge of Gisborne. "We do it to see if the nature is living," Hikareia said. They found terns, seagulls and plovers currently present in the environment. Temara-Benfell said he was amazed by the projects he saw. "It's been beautiful to see some of the solutions for these contemporary issues our rangatahi and children are facing, answered with Mātauranga Māori and not just that but from many different lens across other scientific fields and across community projects." An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the school as Te Rangihakahaka Wakanoa. The school's name is Te Rangihakahaka, and Te Waka Noa is the name of the project.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Science
- RNZ News
Floating marae among designs showcased by rangatahi showcase at science fair
Meremia and Ezra from Te Rangihakahaka Wakanoa and their model of a marae built to rise from floodwaters. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod A group of rangatahi have designed a marae that is able to rise above floodwaters and shown their work at New Zealand's only science fair that celebrates the intersection of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and science . Te Tūkohu Ngāwhā Mātauranga Māori Science and Design Fair took place in Rotorua from 23 - 25 July. The Rotorua-based science fair is run by Te Arawa Lakes Trust and has grown rapidly over the last five years and for the first time schools from around the country were invited to take part. Held inside the Rotorua energy events centre, students came up with ecological and climate solutions for tomorrow. Meremia, Miss-Mei, and Ezra are from Te Rangihakahaka Wakanoa. They designed a model of a marae built on a platform, which would be able to rise above floodwaters. They thought through inflation, flotation, and what was needed for survival while waiting for floodwaters to go down, including food and composting toilets. Hikareia and Kaitlyn from Te Kura o te Whānau a Apanui and their project counting birds at the river of Motu on the edge of Gisborne. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod Ezra said he hoped one day a system like it might save lives. "This is a disaster-relief system. So, when it floats, everyone will be in there, the whole iwi - anyone is allowed to come in here - so it's like a public marae," he said. Event co-ordinator Keeley Grantham said seeing projects like the one from Te Rangihakahaka Wakanoa was exactly why she was involved with the fair. "That's a real-life issue that we are looking at with climate change, rising sea levels and marae being on floodplains. That's an amazing solution." She said most New Zealand science fairs focus only on western science. "This science fair is all about enabling different types of knowledge, different types of sciences and embodying a te ao Māori lens." And there was a big focus on the environment, with categories including biosecurity, biodiversity and conservation, sustainability, marine and freshwater environments, Mātauranga Māori, and climate change adaptation and resilience. One of the fair judges, Te Rika Temara-Benfell (centre) with others from Te Puna Ariki Charitable Trust. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod One of the judges, Te Rika Temara-Benfell from Te Puna Ariki Charitable Trust, said the projects gave him hope for the future. "They're just far beyond anything I was doing at that age. Some of them [are aged] nine and ten and they are researching microplastics and things happening across our environment and community." An example of that is Hikareia and Kaitlyn from Te Kura o te Whānau a Apanui who counted birds at the river of Motu on the edge of Gisborne. "We do it to see if the nature is living," Hikareia said. They found terns, seagulls and plovers currently present in the environment. Temara-Benfell said he was amazed by the projects he saw. "It's been beautiful to see some of the solutions for these contemporary issues our rangatahi and children are facing, answered with Mātauranga Māori and not just that but from many different lens across other scientific fields and across community projects."
Otago Daily Times
22-07-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
News of new medical school welcomed in Waikato
By Libby Kirkby-McLeod of RNZ The announcement of a new medical school at the University of Waikato has been welcomed by local business, community, and medical leaders. The government confirmed yesterday it will fund $82.5 million of the school, with the university paying the remaining $150 million, backed by philanthropists. 'Otago is being overlooked' Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good said he had no concerns about the university being able to secure the money needed to get the New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine off the ground. "There are some very wealthy families in the Waikato that you probably have never heard of, and they are very community-minded," he said. Good said people who made money in the Waikato put it back into the region. While he spoke warmly about people in Waikato, he was not so impressed with some of the actions of those outside the region. He said there had been a long-running campaign against a Waikato medical school by the existing medical schools in Auckland and Otago. But the Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in Auckland, Professor Warwick Bagg, told Morning Report that while the university had put forward its case against a third school, it was pleased that the government had invested so heavily in medical student training. "If you are a patient waiting to see a doctor you are going to be pleased that in the years to come we will have more locally trained doctors to see, I think that's really good news," he said. Kawhia is a small coastal settlement west of Ōtorohanga, where John Burton has been a local GP for 33 years. He said he was thrilled the new medical school was happening and he wished it had happened 20 years ago. Dr Burton has trained many student doctors over the years and said he enjoyed it. But he said rural practices currently spent a lot of time training the wrong people and he was looking forward to students who were not coming from the big cities. "We have a lot of medical students come here, down from Auckland, and they all say they love it, it's wonderful experience, but for the majority of them they're Aucklanders and this is a foreign world for them and although it's a lovely adventure, it's not what they're going to end up doing." Rural Health Network chair Dr Fiona Bolden said students from rural areas who trained rurally were six times more likely to work as a rural doctor. Down the country a bit from Kawhia, Waitomo Mayor John Robertson said a Waikato-based medical school was a positive announcement for young people in his town. He said proximity to training opportunities was important. "The fact that it's so close is an advantage, and for some students they can live in the area, get a bus up to Hamilton each day," he said. A University of Waikato spokesperson told RNZ the New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine would be located within a new Division of Health precinct. Detailed designs were under way and work was expected to start later this year after the main contract had been awarded and the building consent had been received. The university said it also had plans for dedicated student accommodation next to the Health Precinct for medical school students. The first students are expected to be welcomed in 2028.
