MAI 2010 - the Otago Group

Some of my colleagues who attended the MAI 2010 Doctoral Conference included Donna and Tia both in the Psychology Department at Otago University. Donna has just submitted and Tia is at the business end of her data collection. If you were to ask me what they are studying I couldn't really tell you but what i can tell is that they are both great students with good minds for seeing through the fog and getting on with the business.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Tia and Darnell, Pete, Ann-Marie, Fallin.

The Otago Group was up first and there were some very interesting and challenging presentations.

Lorna rom the Botany department spoke about her research above Norway - it's to do with flowers that grow at 78 degrees latitude - fascinating research! A flower that generates 22 degrees C at an air temperature of 8 degrees C.

 

 

 

MAI Doctoral Conference 2010 - te Herenga Waka Marae Victoria University

Three days last week I attended the MAI Doctoral Conference (MAI - Maori and Indigenous) with a bunch of other Doctoral students from all the Universities around our country Aotearoa - New Zealand. A group of us went up from Otago University (Dunedin) early Monday morning and met up with several others at the airport before heading over to the Marae at Victoria University. We began with the customary Pohiri/Powhiri (formal welcome) onto Te Herenga Waka before retiring into the whare where proceedings began.

 

Emeritus Professor Les Williams (from Nga Pae o te Maramatanga) was the keynote speaker for the first session. He said that the PhD was merely the beginning of a journey and not the end; he also said that the purpose of our current and future research was to solve problems. I had a feeling that he was right so I tracked him down for a korero (talk) about his remarks. He told me about the beginning of his journey and how he set out a 30 year plan for academic research. He encouraged me to do the same and so the journey for me is just beginning!