Tumu Whakahaere Chief Operating Officer's Update

At the beginning of the month, one new Councillor was elected to represent the ECR membership for three years, and one membership representative on the Society’s Council was elected for a second term.

The Society would like to thank Dr Tom Baker for his service on the Council as the ECR representative for the past three years. Tom’s contribution to both the Council, and prior to that to the ECR Committee, has been very positive. Tom also served on the Society’s Audit, Investment & Risk Committee of Council. The election for a new ECR councillor saw Dr Sereana Naepi elected for a term of three years from 1 Hōngongoi July 2022. Welcome to Council Sereana!

The election for a councillor to represent the Constituent Organisations saw Associate Professor Cate Macinnis-Ng re-elected for a further term of three years from 1 Hōngongoi July 2022. Congratulations Cate! Cate chaired a highly successful Constituent Organisations Forum in early July. More on that below.

On 1 Hōngongoi July, Jenny Pollock chaired the quarterly forum (on Zoom) for the Branches. Jenny is the Branches’ representative on Council. Discussions included maintaining and enhancing the relationship between the Branches and the Society, the recently passed Incorporated Society’s Act, technical support and ideas for running Branch events, social media platforms, and the annual Council visit to a Branch. The newly instituted quarterly Branch Forums will continue with the next meeting to be scheduled for October.

On 8 Hōngongoi July a forum was held at Te Whare Apārangi with 39 representatives from our Constituent Organisation members. Ngā mihi to Council member Associate Professor Cate Macinnis-Ng MRSNZ for chairing and all those who participated. Topics of discussion included support for Constituent Organisations from the Society, the Incorporated Society’s Act, as well as processes and opportunities for Constituent Organisations to provide expert advice to and with the Society. There was also a talk on academic freedom by Associate Professor Matheson Russell, Department of Philosophy, University of Auckland, and a presentation entitled Rare birds and checklists: An NGO's contribution to NZ Inc. by Colin Miskelly and Ian Armitage from the Ornithological Society of New Zealand (Birds NZ).

The Society’s ECR Forum was very busy in July organising a lunchtime Zoom Webinar entitled Ideas for Aotearoa New Zealand’s future. The webinar, held on 27 Hōngongoi July, featured three presentations by ECRs who are working at the interface between mātauranga Māori and science to tackle some of the most pressing environmental issues in Aotearoa. The webinar opened with some reflections from Dr Karen Fisher on the need and opportunities for researchers to engage with multiple knowledges, and at the end of the webinar there was a lively Q&A with the speakers. The webinar included speakers: Associate Professor Karen Fisher from the School of Environment, University of Auckland (Ngāti Maniapoto), Heni Unwin, a Kairangahau at Cawthron Institute (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Atihaunui-a-Papaarangi), Taryn Shirkey, Research Manager from Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust Board (Ngāpuhi, Ngātiwai, Patuharakeke, Ngāti Kahu o Torongare), Richard Yao, an Environmental Economist at Scion, and Aisling Rayne, who is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago & Te Pūnaha Matatini.

A big thank you to the Early Career Researchers for organising the webinar event (which received 232 registrations) – particularly Kiely McFarlane, Annette Bolton, Lydia Liew and Kwasi Adusei-Fosu!

The ECR Forum Committee is in a period of change. The current co-Chairs Dr Sarah Moss (Plant and Food Research) and Dr Sereana Naepi (University of Auckland) have completed their terms. Watch this space for the announcement of the new ECR Forum Committee co-Chairs, but in the meantime ngā mihi nunui to both Sarah and Sereana for your mahi!

James Henry

Tumu Whakahaere Chief Operating Officer