Thanks to incredible community support, Nanogirl Labs are thrilled to confirm that their Nanogirl Live! tour of New
Zealand this November will continue as planned following this weekend’s burglary at their offices.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, two people broke into Nanogirl Labs’ Ponsonby offices and stole critical
equipment, jeopardising the upcoming Nanogirl Live! New Zealand tour. The project is expected to engage over 50,000
young New Zealanders around New Zealand, many of those in low-decile schools.
On Saturday morning the Nanogirl team arrived at work to find their office ransacked, and tens of thousands of dollars'
worth of technical equipment missing. Dr Michelle Dickinson, also known as Nanogirl, shared images from the CCTV camera
footage taken during the night showing two unknown intruders entering the office on her social media.
This morning, she arrived at work to find that some of the missing equipment had been returned and left on the doorstep
covered in a blanket.
“I arrived at work this morning, and was delighted and relieved to see that some of the technical equipment that had
gone missing was now neatly packed and placed by the front door of our office. As a strong believer in the good of
people, I put out a request over the weekend that the items be returned, and am delighted that this message was heard."
said Nanogirl Labs Co-Founder & CTO, Dr Michelle Dickinson MNZM.
"The support from the community has been incredible and I’d like to thank everyone who has been in touch offering to
help as well as to the thousands who shared the images on their social media. With some of the items now back, we are
confident that our NZ science tour can still go ahead.”
Nanogirl Labs Co-Founder & CEO Joe Davis said the team had received an incredible outpouring of support from the community since the news broke
over the weekend. “We’re genuinely humbled by the kindness people have shown. I’d also really like to acknowledge and
thank the wonderful New Zealand Police for their swift and expert assistance, and their efforts with the ongoing
enquiry.”
“To all those who have offered help, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We still have a lot of work to do, but we
are working hard and will not let this unfortunate event prevent us from engaging with young people around the country.
The very best way people can support us is to come along and see the shows, or to support our “Pay it Forward’
programme, which gifts a ticket to a child who would not otherwise be able to experience our impactful style of science
education. That will both help us pay for what’s still missing, and make a very real difference to the future of young
New Zealanders” said Davis.