Science staff and students at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand are fighting to save their jobs, and their studies.

The cash-strapped university is proposing to slash science courses from its Albany campus, which would hollow out a new high-tech building full of specialised labs.

It is part of Massey’s scenic grounds on Auckland’s North Shore, which are shrouded with an air of uncertainty as proposed job cuts hang over this campus.

• LISTEN TO RNZ CHECKPOINT:  Fighting to save Massey jobs, studies

More than 100 jobs are on the line at Massey, the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) says, including from the schools of natural sciences, and food and advanced technology — programmes that would cease to exist in Auckland.

Only a year ago, a new Innovation Complex opened its doors in Albany, reportedly costing $120 million. The university would not confirm the price.

It was to be called the Innovation and Science Complex, but the science part of the name was quietly dropped, although it remains on some signs in the building.

Professor Dianne Brunton — a specialist in conservation biology whose job is on the line — showed RNZ what the complex had to offer this week.

Building for the future
“This space — all of these labs, the whole building, really, is a building for the future, a building for the next 20 to 40 years,” she said. “And [for the] students and the staff and the growth we’ll see in the sciences here on the North Shore, where the population is just ballooning.

“It’s not going to stop. It’s just going to keep going.”

Staff and students have until Friday to have their say on Massey’s science proposals as the university deals with an expected shortfall of about $50 million for the year.

“We were in little huts. They were temporary buildings and they were fitted out,” Professor Brunton said of the previous office and lab space.

“They were like Lockwood houses, if you remember that far back. They’re little prefabs, but they worked.

“In fact, some of the best covid work was done on that campus by researchers that were here with us then, and they’ve since gone.”

Professor Brunton said Albany staff were determined to offer solutions to the university, and work with it so they could remain, including on how they pay to use their space.

Floor space rented out
Massey effectively charges rent for floor space to its colleges, and science takes up room.

“There are some solutions to that and one of them is to have biotech companies in. We’ve had a number of biotech companies working in the molecular lab, basically leasing it out,” Professor Brunton said.

“We’ve got lots of ideas about other things, but the instability that we’re seeing at the moment makes that a bit tricky.”

The Innovation Complex is an award-winning building, and a leader in its field.

“It’s not just a science building — make that clear. There’s lots of student space, work space, flexible teaching space, but really state-of-the-art, really efficient labs,” Professor Brunton said.

Among its jewels are a chamber for detecting spider vibrations and a marine wet lab which allows for experiments using live animals thanks to a reticulated salt water system.

In the previous buildings, buckets of salt water sourced from the sea had to suffice.

Specialised spaces
Professor Brunton said she did not know what would happen to specialised spaces or equipment if the Massey proposal went through.

“Some of these pieces of equipment are not the kind a local company could come in and use.”

Staff had to have hope the proposal would not go through, she said.

She also raised concerns about the quality of the financial information made available on which staff and students could make submissions.

Many students are in limbo due to the threat to cut courses from the Albany campus.

Third-year food technology student Cynthia Fan, 21, said those affected were trying to prepare for exams, while worrying about where they would be next year and organising submissions.

Under the proposal, food technology students were among those who might have to continue their studies at Palmerston North, unless Massey decided to stagger the cessation of the courses in Albany.

“The thing that really sucks is I have no idea and we have no idea. The uni has said that they will not speak to students,” Fan said.

Fan would like to see the university focused on helping its students.

“I think in the first week [after the proposal was announced] everyone was hard panicking. I think a lot of people missed lectures because they didn’t have energy.”

‘Financial sustainability is urgent,’ university says
In a statement, Professor Ray Geor, pro vice-chancellor for Massey’s College of Sciences, said the university’s financial statements were inspected and approved by Audit NZ.

“During a financial year, it is expected there could be adjustments. Additionally, during the close-inspection focus of the proposal for change processes, we expect there will be refinements of information,” Professor Geor said.

“Organisational finances are never static. However, we are confident that adjustments will be minor and not substantive to the financial drivers for the need for a proposal for change,” he said.

“As we are funded by taxpayers, part of being a financially responsible organisation is exploring revenue streams, as many tertiary education providers are doing within New Zealand.

“Staff can provide avenues for exploration and the College of Sciences will consider all feedback. However, the need to reduce costs and generate income to ensure financial sustainability is urgent for this year and for the near term — 2024-2027.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

On Friday I watched Ashley Bloomfield’s last afternoon health update. After all we’ve been through over the past couple of years, and the major role he had in communicating to us and keeping us safe, I’ve got to say I felt a bit emotional.

The end not of an era, sadly the virus is still very much with us, but in a way a part of what has been one of the major events in all of our lives.

His humble, calm, well informed voice was a great antidote to some of the stupidity that we saw overseas in the early days of the pandemic, I’m looking at you America, but sadly we see more and more of that here in Aotearoa.

• READ MORE: Other Nick Rockel articles at Asia Pacific Report

Maybe it was always there; I guess you’d have looked pretty stupid slagging the guy off in the comments section two years ago.

Not anymore apparently.

I was going to include some of the negative comments here from during his last briefing to demonstrate how full of hatred, conspiracy theories, and misinformation these people are. But when I went back and looked at them they just made me feel sad and I decided I didn’t want to repeat any of them even to mock them.

Of course the poisonous hatred and stupid fuelled negativity aimed at Dr Bloomfield on social media is minor compared to the Tsunami of Bile frothed by those attacking Jacinda for things like — it being her Birthday the other day.

Rewinding back
Isn’t it reassuring to know we live among people who see red fury at people wishing the Prime Minister a Happy Birthday, or a Doctor giving medical advice?

What must celebrations be like at their place?

“Don’t say Happy Birthday to that little bastard he hasn’t even finished putting 100 pins in his Jacinda and Ashley dolls yet”

“C’mon Kev he is only four!”

But let’s rewind back to the beginning, the early days of the daily update…

We were listening to scientists not business people. The messages were clear about putting our lives, our family’s lives, and the lives of those around us in the community first; the message wasn’t filtered through what CEOs or corporate sponsors wanted.

We were told saving lives mattered, washing hands mattered, and commerce would just have to wait for once as much of it was put into an induced coma until it was safe to listen to business people, or certain politicians, again.

The cryogenic switch
And who was flicking that great cryogenic switch, who was saying “don’t go to work stay at home and chill, if you’re able work online in your underpants” as if some deadbeat mate you knew in high school had turned up to stay indefinitely.

It was Dr Bloomfield.

Who told us of each new outbreak, scientific break through, the vaccine rollout, or sadly life lost?

It was Ashley. I’m sure we can all remember certain updates, I particularly remember the spread in a West Auckland old peoples home, which wasn’t far from us and brought it very close to home.

The youngest member of our household would listen to the updates hoping there would be an increase in numbers, not too many he didn’t want people to be ill, but just enough to keep schools closed a bit longer. Funnily enough he was less enthusiastic about the restrictions applying to football and dance classes.

Dr Bloomfield called those making racist comments about people infected with covid “gutless” — could he have been any more awesome?

And who could forget the day we went to zero community cases – what a day! It was like we had won the World Cup except it was something that actually mattered.

The Vaxathon spirit
A little later there was the Vaxathon that made those of us of a certain age fondly remember Telethons of old. It even remarkably captured some of that same spirit in the age of everything on demand — or maybe it was just us oldies that thought so.

We had this guy telling it like it is, the Doc was giving it to us straight. Of interest especially to we middle aged white guys was the fact here was a guy capturing the nation who if push came to shove and he had to take to the dance floor he’d probably dance a lot like us.

So what turned people?

Was it the positivity, the being well informed and not putting up with any nonsense? He didn’t outright mock “alternative theories” but it was pretty clear what he thought of them.

Was it standing alongside The Prime Minister the two singing in unison how we could all be kind in our socialist utopia that put people first?

Was it having certain media people and opposition politicians finding any angle to criticize the approach we were taking and attacking Dr Bloomfield for his performance? I remember one of the reporters at a press conference even asked him if he should offer his resignation.

Or was it having a nerd tell them whether they could go out and play with their friends and their toys or not?

The silent majority
It struck me, as it often has looking at comments; surely the silent majority are decent people grateful for how well we have been served by Dr Bloomfield. Is it really possible that this many people are filled with anger and disinformation, or are they just the loudest and actually mainly fake?

We saw people opposing health measures increasingly of course. First they were anti the vaccinations, then anti the mandates that were there to keep people safe and could so easily be avoided with a little prick.

Now that life is by and large back to normal, albeit with a disturbing number of daily cases and deaths, they are anti any ongoing measures — anti the wearing of masks!

People who genuinely believe, or at least claim, that masks not only don’t inhibit the spread of disease but will actually say until they are blue in the face that masks make the spread worse!

The mind goggles. Imagine if the anti-mask crowd took that approach to other areas of life?

“Don’t you throw that water on me everyone knows it only makes being on fire worse!”

What else do people decide — meh I’ve been doing this a couple of years I can’t be bothered any more?

Seat-belt lessons
We didn’t decide a couple of years after seat-belts were introduced that, you know what, people are still dying in car accidents so I’m not wearing one any more — in fact if you do your research you’ll find seat-belts make car crashes more dangerous!

People don’t say you know when I’m driving home tonight in the dark I’m going to go with Natural illumination – the light from the moon. No more artificial illumination for me, everyone knows this has worked for thousands of years.

Walking on the footpath instead of the road or wearing a parachute jumping from a plane? Not for them, you can only hope they’re wearing condoms.

Have these people always been around? Will they always be like this? Is this Darwin at work?

Evolution is painful to watch.

For the rest of us Covid hasn’t actually gone away but could it be that some us are already looking back to the height of the pandemic, the lockdowns as inconvenient as they were on occasion, as a better simpler time?

Getting our priorities right
A time when we got our priorities right of family and caring for each that doesn’t always occur?

A time of people over profits – it was a bit of an adventure – it didn’t feel much like it queuing in the rain for groceries, but in hindsight….

Didn’t he do well – Ashley, there he was yesterday getting a standing ovation, still smiling, still calm – he really did us proud!

Thank you Dr Bloomfield, we will remember what you did.

Nick Rockel is a “Westie Leftie with five children, two dogs, and a wonderful wife”. He is the publisher of The Daily Read where this article was first published. It is republished here with the author’s permission.

The Post-Courier newspaper says a company, Niugini BioMed Ltd, set up just a month ago, will be be commissioned to create a new “miracle drug” that will save people in Papua New Guinea and around the world from coronavirus.

The newspaper said several ministers were not happy with the K10.2 million (US2.8 million) grant because they did not believe proper processes were followed, reports RNZ News.

But Prime Minister James Marape said the report was based on leaked national executive committee (NEC) documents and was a deliberate attempt to discredit his government.

He said the government had yet to make a decision on the grant.

Two commentaries about the controversy have been published this weekend on journalist Scott Waide’s independent blog My Land, My Country.

• READ MORE: ‘Million kina covid cure’ – K10 million awarded to company started just one month ago
• PNG leader says covid-19 esearch grant not yet decided

View 1: Explaining the process of drug development
By Barbara Angoro, a PNG doctoral student in Auckland

Reading the news on covid-19 drug production in Papua New Guinea has prompted me to do my take on it. Those who are familiar with drug research and development will agree with that screening for possible drug leads is just the start to call it a drug, there has to be research done and data available on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of the drug.

Drug screening is the most basic step
Based on what I read in the Post-Courier, I get the impression that the academics have done simulations using existing drug molecules that are likely to have some drug activity against covid-19.

In a drug development timeline, this is the most basic step – you screen a whole heap of possible molecules and come up with a few potential candidates. After this step, the real drug development research happens in the lab:

Is it safe? What’s the mechanism of its actions? How is it absorbed, broken down, distributed in the body, excreted ? What is the best dosage to give? What are the side effects?

How does it work in different groups of people? If there are existing treatment, does this one do better? How do you dispense this drug – through the mouth, injection etc?

Drug development is a lengthy process
After these parameters are determined, it leads to next stages that involve clinical research and finally a review done by regulatory authorities to get approval to be used as a “drug”.

These steps can take up to 10 years, and one must have an equipped and accredited laboratory in order for the developed drug to be recognised. Because of the pandemic situation, teams around the world are fast tracking processes to find a possible vaccine for covid-19.

Covid-19, being a virus, makes it hard to find a drug cure – it is always several steps ahead, mutating and changing.

Not only that, but unlike bacteria which have their own machinery to survive, viruses tend to use the host machinery (body) to replicate.

Scientists around the world stick to vaccine development
Development of a drug that will target only the virus without causing toxicity to the human host has proved difficult. Hence, many scientists worldwide are sticking to vaccine and not drug development.

While I believe in PNG taking lead in drug research and development, I strongly feel that taking an approach that involves building the necessary infrastructure first, getting accreditation and looking at developing drugs that will target common illnesses seen in our country would be the way to go.

A well thought out plan with solid financial backing would do – not a novelty concept for covid-19 which quite frankly, based on past virus outbreaks, could quickly resolve just like it appeared, making this endeavor come to nothing.

This is my personal view as a PNG citizen (with a pharmaceutical science and pharmacology background) and does not represent that of any organisation that I am associated with.

View 2: Other priorities outweigh giving K10 million to a start-up
By Deborah Ruth Telek

We cannot even get National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) accredited laboratories up and running around Papua New Guinea for various lab testing our requirements.

These labs are used for testing water supply samples and processed food samples for public safety. But we want to leap frog over all the other things this country needs and do drug research.

Wow!

The National Institute of Standards and Industrial Technology (NISIT) is failing and cannot handle the local calibration of weights, thermometers and other standard measurement equipment so it needs to be outsourced or referred to the private sector.

It seems we have forgotten about the necessity of this associated enabling environment and are considering paying a start up entity for drug research.

Shocking!

Let’s say goodbye to our tax money! I mean, the government has just restructured an existing loan with the Bank of the South Pacific (BSP) and given us some breathing space so that K10.2 million is possibly just loose change that fell out of the Prfime Minister’s pocket while he was listening to their spiel.

I wonder if the EMTV news item, about Niugini Biomed justifying themselves, is reminiscent of how they presented to Prime Minister Marape?

Imagine if they were rambling like that in front of the PM too? Would he still buy it, hook line and sinker, with that poor presentation?

Right thinking Papua New Guineans would say NO to the Biomed proposal in its current form and at this time.

We have other pressing priorities!

Articles from Papua New Guinea journalist Scott Waide’s blog My Land, My Country are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

Indigenous Pacific knowledge should inform the science to save the world’s oceans.

That was the consensus among Pacific ocean scientists and other regional stakeholders who gathered in New Caledonia recently for the first global workshop aimed at arresting the decline of the world’s oceans.

RNZ’s Dominic Godfrey reports:

LISTEN: Indigenous Pacific knowledge to help save the ocean

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

The United Nations’ World Ocean Assessment Report recently confirmed the seas are in a bad state, with increased temperatures and acidity negatively impacting fish stocks and biodiversity.

The Pacific Community’s ocean affairs manager Jens Kruger says the UN has called for a concerted effort over the coming decade to reverse the decline.

“And we are kicking off a series of regional consultations. And we in the Pacific, we are the very first of eight or ten regional consultations that are going to happen.”

The Noumea gathering launched the development phase of the Pacific’s science action plan to feed into a global summit in March.

A broad swathe of Pacific academia, indigenous and traditional knowledge holders, youth, government and NGOs were there.

But there were concerns the Pacific’s voice would be lost or diluted.

The University of the South Pacific’s director at the Oceania Centre, Frances Koya-Vaka’uta, says Pacific people need to see themselves reflected in official language for it to resonate properly and this includes plans for the coming “Decade of the Ocean“.

“Because it’s so critical to our very survival and livelihoods, it has to be in a language our people can connect with. That doesn’t necessarily mean having to include Pacific words or language but seeing that you are represented and that your voices are reflected in the generic language and representation.”

Others spoke of the need for scientific solutions to be complemented by traditional indigenous knowledge which has a foundation in millennia of practical science.

The oceans officer from Samoa’s Foreign Office, Matilda Bartley, says she wanted to see improved reporting on UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 on ocean conservation.

“And also how ocean science was able to incorporate the humanities in the cross-cutting issues that have been raised.”

Various themes were established to link working groups, looking at the ocean as clean, healthy and resilient, predictable, safe, sustainable and productive, and transparent and accessible.

But it was indigenous knowledge which most strongly tied the science across the groups.

A member of the UN’s executive planning group for the “Decade of the Ocean”, the Australian scientific research body’s CSIRO Karen Evans says it’s important to bring coherence of message across these groups.

“The Pacific and Pacific Community can bring something quite unique that no other region can bring to the decade; that culture is inherently important and should be a consistent thread through everything that is done through the decade, particularly for the Pacific region.”

Dr Evans says there is a real energy and commitment from the Pacific to be involved in setting the Ocean Decade’s agenda.

It has endorsement at the highest level.

The head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Vladimir Ryabinin, says it’s important the Pacific’s indigenous knowledge helps establish conservation science.

“Traditional knowledge for us would be the way to gauge the usefulness of scientific solutions and then also transform the solutions into something that is useful, really useful.”

Dr Kruger from the Pacific Community says the Noumea workshop was a great start in establishing the priorities for the coming decade but it’s important to get more people engaged.

“We’ve got a lot of sectors that have a great interest in the decade so when we go down to the national level we might broaden the discussions there, for example, I think we’ve had a lot of voices here from fisheries. The ocean provides a lot of resources besides fish so those are also something that we need to look at at the national level.”

Jens Kruger says it’s important that Pacific island countries, with their special links to the ocean, help create the science we need for the oceans we want.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand

The social aspects of climate change must be considered in efforts to protect the environment, says Guam’s coadjutor archbishop.

Archbishop Michael Byrnes was on a climate change panel for the University of Guam’s eighth Island Sustainability Conference.

Aside from his position with the church, Byrnes has a science background, with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology.

He was joined by Kate Brown, executive director of Global Islands Partnership; David Helweg, director of Pacific Islands Climate Science Center and Xavier Matsutaro, national climate change coordinator of Palau.

“Climate not only changes the community. The community changes climate,” Byrnes said. He referenced Pope Francis’ letter on “integral ecology,” which is the idea of preserving the nature of the world to protect those most vulnerable.

Byrnes said that for people who followed the Bible’s teachings, there was a moral responsibility to treat the Earth well.

Disregarding the nature of the Earth was a misunderstanding of God’s intentions, he said.

Efforts of many
It took the effort of many to make aware the impact of climate change, Brown said.

Brown was the keynote speaker for last Thursday’s conference. In her speech, she shared how sustainable actions were being implemented in the Pacific islands.

UOG President Robert Underwood asked the panel how they responded to people who did not believe in climate change, despite years of scientific research.

Helweg said one reason climate change was not being accepted was because of poor translation of the scientific research. A deeper connection needed to be made with those people to help them understand, he said.

“We need to go out into the community, in the villages and work with them to find out what they value highly,” Helweg said.

That way, information about climate change could be transformed to relate to their needs, he said.

Matsutaro said an economic factor sometimes played a role in people oblivious to the impact of climate change. The coal industry, for example, could harm the environment but it was also a necessary industry for revenue in some areas.

“If you know that you are extracting resources and you know that that resource is causing environmental problems, at some point you’re going to have to shift that behavior,” Matsutaro said.

Everybody wants to live in a clean environment. Parents would want their children to be in a healthy environment, he said.

John I. Borja is a Pacific Daily News reporter.  

Hosted annually by the Pacific Cooperation Foundation, this year’s Pacific Wave event was held at Aotea Square, Auckland, where guests spoke about the importance of Pacific youth playing an innovative role in technology.

A significant keynote speaker was Dr Michelle Dickinson, director of the science and technology organisation Nanogirl and a senior University of Auckland lecturer.

Dr Dickinson, who describes herself as a “passionate engineer who wants to make a difference in the world”, stressed the importance of having diversity in science and engineering industries.

A call for diversity
“We need to talk more openly about having more female and especially Pacific and Māori students in this industry,” Dr Dickinson said.

“I get students to draw what they think a scientist looks like and it’s always a guy,” she said during her presentation.

“I’ve probably had over a thousand kids draw a picture of a scientist and I’ve never had one of them draw a women and I’ve never had one of them draw a picture of someone from a minority group… we need to change that.”

Speaking to Asia Pacific Report, Dickinson explained: “Diversity in science and engineering is really important because what we do is solve problems. The best way to solve problems is to have teams and if you have a team of people that are just like you and think like you, you probably are not going to problem solve as well as if you had a diverse team.”

Diverse teams ensure people are coming with different experiences and backgrounds, which help create the best science solution or engineering product, she said.

Also a co-founder of OMG Tech! A programme that is focused on state of the art technology, allows children in primary and intermediate schools across the nation to take part in workshops, learning aspects of 3D printing, coding and building robots.

Passionate about her cause, Dr Dickinson said she did not run a workshop unless the class was 50 percent female and 50 percent low decile Māori and Pasifika students.

“Because I want to create a technical space of education where the minority become the majority,” she said.

Pacific innovation
Pacific high school students who attended the conference were encouraged to be creative and to think of innovative ways of using technology to add value to society.

Mike Usmar, the chief executive for High Tech Youth, an organisation which allows young people to use technology to change economic environments, said technology creates room for groundbreaking ideas.

“There is amazing innovation in the Pacific community and they’re utilising technologies in ways probably the designers didn’t think. That is just a hallmark of where our future is with our young people.”

New Zealander and global entrepreneur Jamie Beaton also spoke at the event.

The Kings College graduate is the chief executive of Crimson Consulting, a company that has made almost $90 million within three years.

The institution helps young professionals gain the mentoring and assistance they need to study at world-class universities.

“Basically after high school I had applied to all these universities around the world. After I gained admission to them I realised there was this massive need in New Zealand to help students with the resources necessary to break these geographical boundaries – that was the starting block,” he told Asia Pacific Report.

More Pacific needed
The 21-year-old reinforced the theme of empowering youth with technology.

Beaton explained he is particularly focused on helping universities which are actively trying to recruit students from the Pacific.

“But there isn’t enough representation right now from Pasifika, so we need more applicants.”

“I want to help inspire more of these students by providing the tools necessary to get into these places.”

He said it was important for young people to remember that their potential is not bound by their community, but instead bound by the world.

Pacific Wave speakers