Winter Week encourages love of learning

With the New Zealand Government currently considering major reform of the country’s tax system, this hot topic is one which affects all New Zealanders.

Professor Michael Littlewood will address the subject of Tax Reform in New Zealand in 2018 as one of 15 stimulating and high profile topics to be discussed at the University of Auckland’s Winter Week on Campus, 2 – 6 July.

For more than 10 years the annual Winter Week on Campus has opened a window to the general public into some of the world-class research carried out at New Zealand’s leading university.

Current key issues are among the topics throughout the week-long event and feature lectures by distinguished University of Auckland staff members, chosen for both their subject expertise and their passion for teaching adult students.

In a session titled ‘Hot Air and Hard Choices: Climate Change Politics in New Zealand’, Dr Julie MacArthur will examine how and why the issue of climate change with such overwhelming scientific consensus is so challenging to solve. The session, which provides an opportunity for the public to engage in healthy debate with an expert in this area, will explore the unique ways in which New Zealand contributes to climate change, the effects we are currently experiencing, and the policy choices that are shaping how we move forward.

Other sessions include ‘Rewiring the Damaged Spinal Cord; Manipulating the matrix’ in which Dr Jarred Griffin will discuss his involvement in research that can change the lives of those with spinal cord injuries, ‘Big Food and the ‘war on childhood obesity’ will examine how ‘Big Food’ are using concerns about children’s fat bodies for their own business interests and Dr Darren Powell will propose the business strategies that are generally promoted as being healthy for children do carry a number of ‘dangers’ and may do more harm than good.

‘The Great Humpback Whale Trail’ examines the complex migration paths of whales and their role as ecosystem engineers and the effect on population recovery from climate change; ‘Compensating Civilians: Counterinsurgency, Condolence Payments, and the Politics of Grief’ will explore the politics of grief and the role of condolence payments such as those issued by the United States to ordinary Afghans and Iraqis killed or injured by military forces; and ‘What happens to our brains as we get older?’ will discuss some of the ways in which neuroimaging methods have helped shed light on how our brains’ structure and function change as we get older, and how this impacts how we think.

‘What’s it doing’, an interactive exhibition, ‘Personalised Healthcare, Computer Modelling and the Heart’, ‘A real gutsful: the gastrointestinal microbiome and human health’, ‘The Infinite Games: How to Live Well Together’, ‘How did Nemo really find his way home?’, ‘Preventing and Managing Burnout’, and ‘Computer says ‘No’: quantitative models in society’ round out the five day event.

Enrolment in Winter Week includes attendance at all morning and afternoon lectures each day and includes morning tea.

For more information on the full programme, enrolment options and registrations fees, visit: https://www.publicprogrammes.ac.nz/events/winter-week/

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