Professor Professor Mark Stirling's inauguaral lecture: 14 March 2017

Sciences Lectures

IPL: Earthquakes, Quaternary faults, and seismic hazard in New Zealand and beyond

The talk describes David's personal journey as a pilot and psychologist to understand the role of decision making in aviation safety.

IPL David O'Hare - Above Us Only Sky: Human Error, Accidents, and Aviation Safety

Prof Abby Smith has been fascinated by shells and how they are formed since she was a child. She takes us on a journey with her, and we learn that shells have a lot to tell us!

IPL - Abby Smith - Sea, Sand, Shells

Professor Lisette Burrows of the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences gave her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 19th of April, 2016. She talks about her research into teh demonising or larger body shapes and how effective - or not - the current educational campaigns are in providing balanced information about healthy eating and exercise, and whether in fact there is an obesity epidemic. It was very thought provoking and engaging - have a listen!

IPL Lisette Burrows "I like the sausage sizzle but it makes me feel gulty" - Shaping the healthy child in obesogenic times.

Professor Cliff Law delivered his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 16th of February. Professor Law holds a joint appointment between Otago and NIWA, exploring the chemical interactions at the interface between the sea and the sky.

IPL Cliff Law "Between the sea and the sky: marine microbes, chemistry and climate"

Professor David Hutchinson delivered his IPL on the 15th of December, exploring theories of light as wave and particle, explaining that the description of something is not necessarily its reality, and talking about how his theoretical work builds into the exciting research taking place the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonics and Quantum Technologies.

IPL David Hutchinson "Curiosity doesn't kill the cat".

Professor David Larsen delivered his IPL on the 17th of November in 2015. He described his work in synthesising organic molecules . This work is in collaboration with biologists primarily, developing therapeutic molecules - PIMs - aimed at reducing asthma, and also looking at molecules designed to slowly release carbon monoxide to support organ transport. This very practical work has required entirely new methodologies and many years' dedication.

IPL David Larsen: Therapeutic molecules from sweet sugars and toxic gases

Professor David Bowman discusses the complex interactions between fire and food webs, and the part humans have played in manipulating that system; how fire impacts on biodiversity, and how some animal species impact on the severity of landscape fires.

John Smaillie Tennant Lecture : David Bowman "Humans and fire in Australian food webs from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene"

The Geoff Baylis lectures are a joint initiative between the Otago Botanical Society and the Department of Botany, University of Otago. Steve higgins talks about how impressive plants really are - the biggest, tallest, oldest and most dangerous living oprganisms on teh planet. He discusses how grasses evolved and changed the face of the planet, and how leaf phenology can help us map changes in atmosphere and climate. This lecture was given on the 9th of September 2015

Geoff Baylis Lecture 2009 - Steve Higgins " The Discovery of slowness - life in the plant lane"

Sir Geoffrey Palmer reflects on regulatory efforts to deal with Climate Change, both in New Zealand and internationally. He describes climate change as a slow motion tragedy, and discusses mitigation of the effects of anthropogenic climate change. This lecture was given at University of Otago on Monday 5th of October 2015.

Sir Geoffrey Palmer: Climate change in New Zealand - is it doom or can we hope? gases to rotary motors

Professor Nancy Longnecker delivered her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 15th of September 2015. Nancy's journey from Biologist to communicator to researcher in Sciecne communication has been a fascinating one, and her current work in evaluation of science communication experiences is vital in validating, fine-tuning and and sometimes revolutionising the field.

IPL: Nancy Longnecker "Effective Science Communication - a scientific approach

Janice Lord won this year's Leonard Cockayne prize from the New Zealand Royal Society. This is her commemorative lecture, outlining cutting edge work on the pollination of sub-antarctic plants. There's a number of large, brightly coloured flowering plants in the sub-antactic, which is a sharp contrast with NZ alpine plants with thei predominantly white flowers. Janice explores the reasons for both of these phenomena. The talk was given on the 3rd of September 2015.

Leonard Cockayne Lecture - Janice Lord "Flowers in the fridge"

Professor Christina Hulbe gave her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 1st of September 2015. She talked about her work on mapping deformations in West Antarctica, and how GPS technology has changed her work. Satellite imagery of meltwater ponds has led to a clearer understanding of the creation of deep crevasses and shattering of icesheets.

IPL: Christina Hulbe "West Antarctic building blocks"

The Physics Department celebrated the International Year of Light with its luminescence festival. Here is one of the talks, from Jorg Frauendiener. Jorg explains how black holes happen, what they do to light and why.

Luminescence - The Lightbenders: How black holes influence light

The Physics Department celebrated the International Year of Light with its luminescence festival. Here is one of the talks, from Niels Kjaergaard who works in the Centre for Quantum Science. Niels talks about manipulating groups of atoms, dividing them, the patterns they make etc.

Luminescence - Peeking and poking at atoms using laser light

Inaugural Professorial Lectures, public lectures and events from the Division of Sciences.

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Sciences Lectures

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