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Otago Daily Times
an hour ago
- Science
- Otago Daily Times
Chathams ideal spot for scientific gathering
Waitangi West Beach, on the northwest tip of the Chatham Islands. PHOTO: DAVID THOMSON Often referred to as a "canary in the coalmine", the Chatham Islands serve as a natural barometer for climate and ecological change. That is why it makes it the ideal place to hold a gathering for high-profile scientists, conservation leaders and environmental experts. The fifth annual Chatham Islands Festival of Science on August 11-17 is expected to draw people from around the world, including scientists and researchers from the University of Otago. Festival organiser and Chatham Islands Tourism manager Jackie Gurden said the Chathams were one of New Zealand's most remote inhabited regions, and for more than 150 years, scientists from around the world had visited to study everything from geology and climate, to marine life and astronomy. International Union for Conservation of Nature World Commission on Protected Areas vice-chairman Lou Sanson will be the keynote speaker at this year's Chatham Islands Festival of Science. PHOTO: SUPPLIED The event will showcase cutting-edge research and conservation efforts in the area. "This festival raises awareness of the islands' crucial environmental role, both nationally and globally." Local residents would also attend the event, offering visiting experts a rare opportunity to engage with the local community directly with scientific research that had often remained behind the scenes. Major themes of the festival would be the presentation of key scientific findings, a forum for discussion on future conservation strategies, and the Chatham Islands' aspiration to become a certified Dark Sky Sanctuary. University of Otago zoology and ecology senior lecturer Dr Travis Ingram with a Chatham Islands fish. PHOTO: SUPPLIED The keynote speaker for the festival will be International Union for Conservation of Nature World Commission on Protected Areas vice-chairman and former Department of Conservation director-general Lou Sanson, who will share insights from his global conservation work and highlight the international significance of local initiatives. University of Otago zoology and ecology senior lecturer Dr Travis Ingram will also be presenting on the results of undergraduate student work on how lake webs will be affected by climate change. He will be joined by PhD student Grace Fortune-Kelly, who will present on the impacts of sea-level rise on the Chatham Islands' coastal lakes, specifically in relation to mudfish. Earth Science New Zealand fisheries chief scientist Dr Richard O'Driscoll will also share findings from decades of research on the Chatham Rise — one of New Zealand's most productive fishing grounds — while the Ministry for Primary Industries will present new strategies to support the recovery of the paua fishery.
Otago Daily Times
19 hours ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Four-day week means happier workers: study
By Krystal Gibbens of RNZ Working a four-day week reduces burnout and improves job satisfaction, a large-scale new study has found. The research from Boston College in the United States tested the effect of reducing employees' hours to a four-day week with no reduction in pay. The study held six-month trials reducing the working hours for 2896 employees across 141 organisations in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the US. Outcomes of the trials were then compared with 12 control companies that did not transition to the shorter work week. Researchers found that employees with a reduction of eight hours or more per work week self-reported experiencing larger reductions in burnout and improvements in job satisfaction and mental health, as compared with those at companies that maintained a five-day work week. A small change in physical health was also seen, but the researchers said they expected this was less significant because changes in physical health take time to manifest. Associate Professor Paula O'Kane, from the University of Otago's business school, said it was good to see growing evidence that reductions in working hours could significantly impact well-being, reduce burnout and improve job satisfaction. "While the study centred on a four-day week, the broader implication is clear: flexible and potentially individualised working arrangements can deliver similar benefits." O'Kane said research globally was showing that work structures needed a rethink. "Traditionally, time spent working is used as a proxy for productivity, when in fact better rested and healthier people can be more productive in less time. "Moving forward, it would be really good to think about output based measures of production and productivity - making sure that we understand what it is we want our employees to do in a week rather than how much time we want them to spend at work. The traditional 9am to 5pm shift did not work for everyone, she said, and there was a growing body of evidence that non-traditional models of working were in fact working better for people. It was also already clear that the younger generation would be demanding more flexibility. "If we look at the students that are coming through university and looking at how they operate their lives, they are going to want flexibility. We can see it already - they're not going to accept the traditional structures." Organisations would have to start thinking about organising work structures differently if they wanted to keep attracting top talent in the future, she believed. Dr Dougal Sutherland, principal psychologist at Umbrella Wellbeing, told RNZ's Morning Report programme many studies in this area had shown productivity remained the same or even increased when dropping down to 32 hours of work a week over four days. He said it also had positive effects on people's overall well-being. "Four-day weeks force businesses to look at productivity to use worker time more efficiently." The research is published in the Nature Human Behaviour journal.
Otago Daily Times
20 hours ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Dunedin Study gets world-wide attention
The Dunedin Study. Photo: Dunedin Study/University of Otago The landmark Dunedin Study of babies born in the early 1970s has caught the eye of the OECD. The study followed the lives of 1037 babies babies born at Queen Mary Maternity Hospital, Dunedin, in 1972. The participants were assessed every two years, then as adults every five to seven years. Using over 52 years of data, the Dunedin researchers identified eight different pathways strongly linked to early factors like mental health, childhood trauma, and cognitive skills. The OECD plans to use these findings to help policymakers around the world understand how early life experiences shape futures that thrive or struggle. Dorothy Adams, an independent adviser who worked at the OECD on secondment from the NZ Ministry of Social Development, told Morning Report the collaboration was "incredibly valuable". While there are other overseas longitude study, with a couple done over a similar timeframe, the Dunedin Study is unique, partly due to its very high retention rate of about 90 percent. "The OECD, in their view, it [the Dunedin Study] is world leading in many regards," Adams said. She said a particularly interesting finding from the study was the role IQ plays throughout an individual's life. "Young ones found to have good, or high IQ were more likely to do better in life then those with low IQ," she said. She said IQ is amenable to intervention, and research findings are starting to be implemented in programmes. For example, the study found ages three to four were critical for development of self regulation - how you think, behave and feel. "The Dunedin Study didn't necessarily give the answer about what to do, but it really narrowed down the search," Adams said. In response, a programme called Engage was developed, a game that helps develop cognitive skills in children, and was implemented in about half of New Zealand's Early Childhood Education (ECE). "It's being measured, it's being monitored and we are seeing results," Adams said. "I think that is a really lovely example of how these research findings are starting to be used in intervention." She said researchers are starting to look at how the Dunedin Study could be used more for contemporary challenges and to guide intervention development.
RNZ News
20 hours ago
- Health
- RNZ News
The famous Dunedin Study gets world-wide attention
The Dunedin Study. Photo: Dunedin Study/University of Otago The landmark Dunedin Study of babies born in the early 1970s has caught the eye of the OECD. The study followed the lives of 1037 babies babies born at Queen Mary Maternity Hospital, Dunedin, in 1972. The participants were assessed every two years, then as adults every five to seven years. Using over 52 years of data, the Dunedin researchers identified eight different pathways strongly linked to early factors like mental health, childhood trauma, and cognitive skills. The OECD plans to use these findings to help policymakers around the world understand how early life experiences shape futures that thrive or struggle. Dorothy Adams, an independent adviser who worked at the OECD on secondment from the NZ Ministry of Social Development, told Morning Report the collaboration was "incredibly valuable". While there are other overseas longitude study, with a couple done over a similar timeframe, the Dunedin Study is unique, partly due to its very high retention rate of about 90 percent. "The OECD, in their view, it [the Dunedin Study] is world leading in many regards," Adams said. She said a particularly interesting finding from the study was the role IQ plays throughout an individual's life. "Young ones found to have good, or high IQ were more likely to do better in life then those with low IQ," she said. She said IQ is amenable to intervention, and research findings are starting to be implemented in programmes. For example, the study found ages three to four were critical for development of self regulation - how you think, behave and feel. "The Dunedin Study didn't necessarily give the answer about what to do, but it really narrowed down the search," Adams said. In response, a programme called Engage was developed, a game that helps develop cognitive skills in children, and was implemented in about half of New Zealand's Early Childhood Education (ECE). "It's being measured, it's being monitored and we are seeing results," Adams said. "I think that is a really lovely example of how these research findings are starting to be used in intervention." She said researchers are starting to look at how the Dunedin Study could be used more for contemporary challenges and to guide intervention development.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
‘Crate diggers' in for treat at sale
Regent Theatre Music Sale co-ordinator Mark Burrows examines a pressing of Eccentric Soul: The Nickel & Penny Labels amid boxes of DVDs at the theatre before its annual music sale on Saturday. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH Whether it is French field recordings, esoteric minimalist music or a 1959 concert at Dunedin's Town Hall, "crate diggers" are in for a treat at this year's Regent Theatre Music Sale. CDs, vinyl records, cassettes, DVDs, music sheets and more will be up for grabs at little cost on Saturday for the theatre's third annual sale. Sale co-ordinator Mark Burrows said about 1000 banana boxes worth of stock had been received so far. The music sale began as an off-shoot of the Regent Theatre's 24 Hour Book Sale to raise funds for the theatre. They were expecting a "real range" of customers on Saturday, Mr Burrows said. "Old guys like me, there'll be a bunch of them, crate diggers, but there's students who will turn up and look for a bargain or just out of curiosity." While the volume of donations was similar to last year, the quality this time around was better, he said. One particular donation contained next-to-new vinyl records that were "so outside the 99.5% of people's listening experience". This included a collection of electronic "non-music", which he believed were French field recordings of which only 350 copies were ever made. Also received was "a bunch of really interesting esoteric unusual music" of a "minimalist vein". "It'll be basically meaningless to the whole public, except for two people down at the music department in the University of Otago." Music from New Zealand bands such as the JPS Experience and Sneaky Feelings were also among the mix, as well as a recording of selected items from the King Edward Technical College Jubilee Music Festival, performed at the Dunedin Town Hall in August 1959. Vinyl records and CDs were good because they were physical mediums you could pick up and look at, Mr Burrows said. They had "just got cool". "So, I think it reflects a bit of that fringe edge of society. There's always people who are looking for cool stuff that the rest of the 95% don't know about. "And then there's the other side of it, the audiophile community, who believe, for good reason, that vinyl sounds better." The music sale runs from 10am to 6pm.
