| Item | Notes |
|---|
| Why Victoria? | - Having all these disciplines covered under one School creates unique possibilities
- This structure means they can cover things very broadly - you can take a problem and deal with it from many angles - Earth (earth movements), the Environment (climate change) and Social Impact (how does it affect people)
For example: On energy supply the school could research on all of the following questions:- How does oil form?
- Find it?
- Extract it?
- Ecology
- Fracking
- Impact on iwi
We work across these different areas but they aren't always linking/integrating their work as well as they could be - the is more aspirational. - individually very strong in disciplines
- collectively even stronger
Climate Change - School can cover How climate worked in the past, how the climate is changing and how things will be in the future. |
| Competitors | Otago - strong on geopgraphy and geology but these are seperate Auckland - School of Environment, similar to Victoria |
| Where students come from | - There is a programme where undergraduate students come from Leeds University and then they come back for posgrad.
- Masters in Environmental Sciences e.g. hydrology, XXmore examples on recordingXX, people might take the 180n who don't have a background in Sciences but want to have a deeper understanding e.g. Lawyer specialising in the environment.
- Masters in GIS - joint effort between Canterbury, AUT and Victoria.
|
| Areas of Strength | Earth Sciences Human Geography Becky Kiddel - urban design from a Maori perspective, only person in NZ undertaking this work. |
| Networks | Being in Wellington we can tap into key organisations - Geologists - NIWA - oceanographic and volcanographic
- Development Studies - NZ Aid, MIA
- Masters of Meteorology is done in conjunction with the Met Service and in NZ is unique to Victoria'. Working with and producing top quality meteorologists. This qualification is more of a training qualification than a research qualifcation.
- Outside academics want to work here, come and do studies, because of the landscapes e.g. volcanoes (4,500), alpine faults/faultlines. At the moment sometimes they are only here briefly and take the data with them - it would be good to strengthen these relationships and make them ongoing so there is more mutual benefit.
- Strong links to organisations in US, Uk and Japan.
- There are strong connections with teh School of Biology and the School of Mathematics. They would like to take these connections wider e.g. Law.
- Geography and Development Studies could be answering bigger questions if they worked in a more integrated way.
- Antarctic Research Centre - jewel in the crown, share students with ARC, however have stronger brand. CCRI not as strong a brand as yet.
|
| Future | Coming - Masters of Climate Science and Policy They have the largest number of course codes which makes things confusing - John would love to sort this. Would like to create clusters i.e. jointly hold workshops or make funding applications - for instance have a siesmologist, urban designer, volcanologist and some research from the Maori perspective. |
| Student Experience | - Summer Scholarships tend to be with GNS, NIWA, MetService, Regional Councils, NGOs. They don't tend to be with businesses.
- Environmental sciences - heart of the School
- has strong links to Hutt Council - they go back year on year and this relatioship continues to strengthen.
- Alpine Fault Drilling project - 120 scientists from XX countries, 1/2 of the scientists are post doctoral students
- IDOP?? - Victoria and Auckland Regional Council
- They are currently negotiatiating 8.5m in funding with MBIE to explore geothermal of West Coast - can't yet be discussed as it isn't confirmed.
- students are very much integrated and integral to the School and their activities
- PhD student might work on a particular topic and collect data for this as part of a larger project e.g. Alpine Drilling. While doing this they might be also collecting data for one of their peers.
- The research done by the school has very practical applications but they haven't done alot of work in commercialising this - they hope to tackle this in the future.
- For students it is common they would have two supervisors e.g. one at Victoria and one at GNS. GNS do this with other Universities as well.
- Lots of travel that is fully funded by grants e.g. Marsdens
- go to Antartica, South America, South Africa etc.
- Get to fly around in helicopters
- some students self fund but this isn't common
- conferences - almost all would go to conferences
- most students do field work - focus on earth means you get out and about. In many parts of the world students wouldn't get to do field studies. By doing field studies they grow transferable skills around planning and logistics. When they do fieldwork they are with a mix of UGs, PGs and staff and by having this shared experience it strengthens their relationships - work during the day and talk into the evening.
- Student cohort work together on projects. Often from diverse disciplines they will work together to solve similar frustrations e.g. struggling with Python.
- Victoria doesn't teach GeoTechnical, these students might do UG at Victoria and then go to Canterbury for PG
- Weekly seminar series - bit of a work in progress as they are currently by disciplien and therefore preaching to the converted, John would like this to be across the school so people can debate things from various perspectives e.g. pro and con of fracking.
|
| Funding | John Townend has 10-11 students, of these 8-9 are International, John has organised scholarships/funding for them. Type of students - Students with External Funding / big projects - people might work across various funding initiatives
- Vic funded - do their own research, can be risky as students can become isolated.
- Unfunded - do their own research, can be risky as students can become isolated.
|
| Employability | Waxes and wanes depending on where gold and oil markets are at. |
| Pathways | Bachelor - sets students up with a set of skills and teach them the words. This degree helps them clarify what they really want to do. Earth Sciences is weak in the High School curriculum e.g. no Geology. Posgrad - deeper understanding of an area, create both focus and breadth. e.g. if you were interested in Kayaking and the environment you could choose to study hydrology. |