Overseas students receive kiwi scholarships
The initial twenty recipients of the New Zealand International Postgraduate Research Scholarships have been announced
today by Education Minister Trevor Mallard.
"New Zealand will benefit from a significant academic shot in the arm with 20 of the world’s top scholars continuing
their studies in our universities under the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship scheme," Trevor Mallard
said.
"The combined talent of these exceptional students represents a real ‘brain gain’."
The New Zealand International Postgraduate Research Scholarship scheme was announced earlier this year as part of the
$40 million budget investment in the international education sector. The scheme will eventually allow for around 80
postgraduate scholars from around the world to pursue their studies in New Zealand.
‘New Zealand stands to gain considerably from this scheme. Top scholars at the postgraduate level bring a wealth of
benefits to the institution that they attend. Their work will inspire and influence many other students, and their
influence will extend beyond the host institution to others working in similar areas. The prestige of the New Zealand
postgraduate environment will be enhanced internationally and this will be great for international education in New
Zealand. And of course, New Zealand will benefit from the downstream application of their research’.
"It was good to see the huge level of interest in this new scheme, with 360 scholars from 15 targeted countries applying
for a scholarship. Education New Zealand managed the application and selection process, and a specialist team of
academics experienced in vetting scholarship proposals comprised the selection panel.
"The selection process itself has significantly raised the profile of New Zealand’s international education offerings.
Even more pleasing is the high calibre of the applicants, and especially the high rate of acceptance by the scholars.
These are by their very nature students who have many potential choices available to them around the world. That they
are coming here reflects enormous credit on our universities and academic leaders, and the international respect in
which they are held," Trevor Mallard said.
Recipients of the New Zealand International Postgraduate Research Scholarships 2005.
Daniele Abreu e Lima (Brazil) PhD Architecture, Ambient Comfort and Interior Design
This research has it’s base in two areas of architecture which are not used in combination by very many theorists.
Building upon research conducted at Masters level, the proposed hypothesis for this project is as follows, ‘Is it
possible that influences from the local culture or habits and the environment in NZ are strong enough to breed an
architecture that could be considered to have a national identity out of architecture of European origins?’
Alejandra Vasquez Delama (Chile) PhD International Business Administration and Management
Influences of culture in different aspects of international business occurring in the Asia-Pacific region.
This will include the internationalisation process of firms towards Asian countries and business practices within the
Pacific rim.
Horacio Bown (Chile) PhD Forestry – Tree Physiology and Modelling
Proposed research aims at the representation of plant nutrition in productivity process based models. More specifically,
the research targets constructing a nutrient balance model for Pinus Radiata, potentially useful in predicting
productivity from a mechanistic perspective.
The four main factors to be focussed upon are: storage and retranslocation, internal nutrient efficiency, allocation and
mycorrhizae.
Alvarro Vaccarezza Gonzalez (Chile) PhD Civil Engineering
One of the most revolutionary new processes in road construction engineering is recycling and stabilisation of pavement
materials using foamed bitumen. This technique consists basically of reclaiming the pavement material from the road with
a milling/pulverising machine and adding a small percentage of hot asphalt and water to produce foam. This produces an
excellent quality material while minimising the environmental impact and project costs.
The implementation of this technology has not been easy, mainly because of gaps in both theoretical knowledge and
research of foamed bitumen mixes. Two important aspects of this research proposal are the structural design method
(assigning a thickness to the recycled layer), and the development of distress models for foamed material pavements.
Jianyu Chen (China) PhD Horticultural Science – Floriculture
Zantedeshia Spreng (Calla) is New Zealand’s second largest export flower crop which contributed 17% ($6.8 million)
towards the export earnings from all cut flowers in 2003.
In collaboration with Crop & Food Research the proposed research programme will focus on identifying the critical gene expression of key enzymes
before and during spathe re-greening.
The identification of the critical gene expression will be achieved by comparing the genetic difference between Calla
cultivars which differ in their rates of re-greening as well as differences in response to experimental treatments such
as herbicides using bio-technology.
Yantao Song (China) PhD Environmental Science and Engineering
Research proposal is based upon new environmental protection technology and environmental evaluation.
This includes developing new methodology for monitoring pollutants in different samples, building up integrated models
of monitoring, controlling, evaluating and predicting pollutants.
Interested in the degradation of PAHs and agricultural environmental protection. This includes persistent pollutants
transformation regulation and developing low or free from pollution pesticides.
Qin (Sarah) Song (China) PhD Statistics and Computational Mathematics
It has been documented by the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation (2004) that New Zealand has the 6th highest death rate from
breast cancer out of 173 Developed countries. At the time, it was also reported that in NZ only 40% of patients with
breast cancer can be cured by chemotherapy after a mastectomy.
With the advent of DNZ microarrays, it has become possible to use gene expression profiles to predict disease subtypes.
However, many statistical and biological challenges exist in analysing data. Advanced statistical techniques are needed
to enable exploration and extraction of the useful data from mircoarray data.
This research aims to use data mining techniques to analyse the variation of gene expression in microarray experiments
and ultimately provide more accurate diagnosis and effective therapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
Wei Luo (China) PhD Screen and Media Studies
PhD research will compare and contrast the social acceptability of the local adaptations of the global Reality TV
formulas in New Zealand and China.
The majority of mainland Chinese audiences have never watched anything quite like Reality TV before. There is a need to
explore the reception and response of Reality TV in China and compare these with the situation in New Zealand.
The particular emphasis of this project could be on comparing and contrasting the social acceptability of the local
adaptations of the global formulas used in New Zealand and China. This can be explored from their relative television
industries, polity, culture and viewership.
Jin Fei Ying (China) PhD Engineering Management
‘Retrofit Solutions for New Zealand’s Earthquake Risk Multi-Storey Buildings.’
To develop rational and economical approaches, methodology and practical implementation guidelines for seismic
rehabilitation of substandard multi-storey buildings.
To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of proposed alternative solutions from a probabilistic life-cycle perspective,
accounting for capital outlay for rehabilitation implementation, plus operation, maintenance and insurance costs.
To implement rehabilitation solutions developed within the framework of New Zealand Standards.
To provide the engineering community with a Seismic Retrofit Manual having comprehensive guidelines for daily practice.
Shudong Fang (China) PhD Electronic and Computer Engineering (Control Theory, Information Science and Modern
Communication)
Develop analysis and design methodologies for future generations of networks. The lack of powerful analytical tools has
seriously handicapped the development of computer-based simulations and there is an urgent requirement for more tools.
Network Traffic Engineering on the Internet, including network modelling, AQM design and analysing dynamic behaviours of
networks. Results from these topics will play a great part in designing new transmission protocols and estimating
network performance.
Hardjo Koerniadi (Indonesia) PhD Corporate Finance and Financial Investment
A growing number of finance literature documents that future stock returns are predictable based upon accruals. This
phenomenon violates one of the principles in finance that stock markets are efficient. Several studies also find that
managers opportunistically manage accruals to achieve their own personal goals. This occurs because under Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), accrual accounting is subject to managerial discretion.
Although there are several studies which argue that managers may use accruals to convey future profitability to the
market, there has been no formal study undertaken to support his hypothesis. Therefore, this study is intended to fill
the gap in the literature. Moreover, it will also benefit investors, regulators and corporations in NZ.
Kyungi Chung (Korea) PhD Commerce/Marketing
Will compare and analyse the different and/or similar propensities between New Zealand and Korean consumers in terms of
the influence of each country’s economic and social structure on the behaviours of both groups of consumers.
This will include case studies on the recognition of a certain group of consumers or on the successful internet
marketing strategies of the firms.
Studying ways in which to improve the trading relationships between New Zealand and Korea with regard to each country’s
trade policy and marketing strategies of export/import firms.
Jae-Hoon Chung (Korea) PhD Bio-Engineering
In New Zealand, cancer is the leading cause of death among females aged between 25 and 44. A third of these deaths are
due to breast cancer. Early detection significantly increases chances of survival and mammography is currently
considered to be the best screening tool.
The current image registration of mammography is based solely upon image properties and as a result are subject to
alignment errors. The proposed research will construct a 3D finite element model to mimic the mammographic procedure,
allowing only physically plausible deformation of the breast in the registration process.
Using this model the aim is to improve the accuracy with which clinicians can track the location of suspected tumours,
thus aiding detection and treatment strategies for breast cancer.
Wee Sim Choo (Malaysia) PhD Food Science
The proposed research would look at encapsulating omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids along with a suitable antioxidant in a
carrier suitable for incorporation into foodstuffs.
To deliver health benefits to the consumer by providing proven nutritionally beneficial supplements not commonly
available in the diet which are likely to be lost during food preparation and storage unless protected by encapsulation.
Teck Hock Lim (Malaysia) PhD Chemistry
The proposed research involves synthesis, characterisation and investigation of novel smart hybrid materials which are
potentially useful in metal catalysis, waste metal recovery and as molecular sensors.
The chemical and physical properties of the hybrid materials relating to their application would be the prime target of
this research. This will be highly valuable for both the understanding of hybrid material sciences and the development
and advancement of new polymer technology.
Baljit Kaur Surjit Singh (Malaysia) PhD Linguistics – Oral Discourse, Pragmatics
‘Language in the Workplace’
The study aims at examining the many strategies used to help soften complaints and requests. It will bear in mind that
politeness strategies are not the same across languages and cultures and might mean different things in different
linguistic and cultural contexts.
Requests provide an interesting focus for research as they are frequent at customer service counters. Furthermore these
acts are highly face-threatening acts (FTA) in which the speaker imposes on the hearer with a risk of loss of face on
both parts.
It also aims to look at the politeness strategies available to a complainer who wants to avoid a direct confrontation
with the complainee.
Heng Jin Tham (Malaysia) PhD Chemical Engineering
‘Thermal Processing of Food Materials Using Ohmic Heating’
To investigate thermal processing of food materials using ohmic heating. The focus is primarily on dairy fluids and some
liquid foods, including vegetable soups.
A few parameters will be investigated such as properties of process fluid, types of heat exchangers and heat transfer
surface characteristics etc
The aim of this research is to move a step closer towards establishing the technology as a more economically and
technically viable option than that used currently.
Julian Moreno Chan (Mexico) PhD Forestry – Wood Quality
‘Prediction And Segregation Of Wood Properties For Structural Use And Solid Products Using Acoustics And Other
Non-Destructive Methods’
Currently one of the most important issues in plantation forestry in New Zealand and elsewhere is the quality of this
resource. It is now well accepted that short rotations and intensive silviculture have downgraded the internal quality
of the trees. Due to economical reasons, rotations cannot be lengthened over profitable limits so other solutions need
to be devised.
Considerations of the properties of individual trees is critical to developing more detailed strategies for segregating
logs using acoustics.
Aims to contribute to the development and validation of methods using acoustic tools for wood characterisation.
Ma. Socorro Diego Reyes (Philippines) PhD Psychology/Human Resource Management
The proposed research is on Human Resource Management issues in a cross-cultural working environment.
Within an industrial setting the study hopes to gather information on the conditions of Asian migrant workers in New
Zealand such as: adaptation concerns, compensation and benefits, gender issues and racism if any.
Results of the study aim to assist both home nations and New Zealand’s policy making bodies when looking at legislation
or appropriate policies in this sector.
Sinith Sittrak (Thailand) PhD Womens’ Studies
Western Development arrived in Thailand with large scale construction and industrialised agriculture, leaving in its
wake social, economic and environmental impoverishment.
Through a feminist approach to the politics of identity and difference, this thesis will argue for a rearticulation of
community knowledge as a critique of development. The core of this research is the exploration of the relationship
between the personal, social and political thought through the oral histories of rural women in Thailand.
The recipients of these scholarships will be able to study in New Zealand for up to 3 years.
Scholarship recipients will attend the following institutions:
Auckland University: 9
Victoria University: 4
Canterbury University: 3
Auckland University of Technology: 1
Waikato University: 1
Massey University: 1
Otago University: 1