Erosion to earthquakes with geologist and paleontologist Dr Hamish Campbell from GNS science. Chatham Islands geology and it's links with Christchurch and Canterbury.
Dr Hamish Campbell of GNS Science talks about the Christchurch earthquake and it's subsequent aftershocks.
Christchurch based science commentator Simon Pollard, talks about his earthquake experience.
"The nuclear meltdown at Fukushima ... the Fonterra botulism scare ... the Christchurch earthquakes – in all these recent crises the role played by scientists has been under the spotlight. What is the first duty of scientists in a crisis – to the government, to their employer, or to the wider public desperate for information? And what if these different objectives clash? In this penetrating BWB Text, leading scientist Shaun Hendy finds that in New Zealand, the public obligation of the scientist is often far from clear and that there have been many disturbing instances of scientists being silenced. Experts who have information the public seeks, he finds, have been prevented from speaking out. His own experiences have led him to conclude that New Zealanders have few scientific institutions that feel secure enough to criticise the government of the day." - Publisher information. http://librarysearch.auckland.ac.nz/UOA2_A:Combined_Local:uoa_alma21259423940002091
Why some male spiders become eunuchs during mating and how the earthquakes in Christchurch may have increased mosquito numbers.
A public talk by Dr Kelvin Berryman, Director of Natural Hazards at GNS Science. This talk, entitled 'What's underneath? Understanding seismic science', formed part of the Plenary Two session, 'Clearing the decks'.
Jarg Pettinga, Geological Science, photographed on the beach at Sumner.
Blog of Julian, educational outreach facilitator at GNS Science. Includes information on GNS Science field trips; explanations of New Zealand geology; video clips; and sections on the Christchurch earthquakes, and New Zealand fossils.
Bill Davison from Biological Sciences checks equipment in the Rutherford building.
Bill Davison from Biological Sciences checks equipment in the Rutherford building.
Students return to work in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library.
Students return to work in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library.
Students return to work in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library.
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Senior Siemologist at GNS Science comments on this morning's earthquake in Canterbury.
Mark Quigley, Geological Sciences, photographed outside his red-zoned property in Avonside.
A video of a presentation by Andrew King of GNS Science on "The Natural Hazards Research Platform and National Science Challenge". The presentation was delivered at the Learning from Lifeline Week and Planning Collaborations forum as part of the University of Canterbury's Lifeline Week.
One of the most interesting things about being an archaeologist or a historian is seeing the development of ideas and knowledge throughout the ages. We are reminded, time and time again, that the ideas and theories that we consider primitive … Continue reading →
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John Townend is an Associate Professor at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences.
Geologist and paleontologist at GNS Science Hamish Campbell discusses the geology behind the Christchurch earthquake.
Clock Tower at old ChCh central Train station (Now movie theatre and science alive activity centre)
Clock Tower at old ChCh central Train station (Now movie theatre and science alive activity centre)
Disaster recovery involves the restoration, repair and rejuvenation of both hard and soft infrastructure. In this report we present observationsfrom seven case studies of collaborative planning from post-earthquake Canterbury, each of which was selected as a means of better understanding ‘soft infrastructure for hard times’. Though our investigation is located within a disaster recovery context, we argue that the lessons learned are widely applicable. Our seven case studies highlighted that the nature of the planning process or journey is as important as the planning objective or destination. A focus on the journey can promote positive outcomes in and of itself through building enduring relationships, fostering diverse leaders, developing new skills and capabilities, and supporting translation and navigation. Collaborative planning depends as much upon emotional intelligence as it does technical competence, and we argue that having a collaborative attitude is more important than following prescriptive collaborative planning formulae. Being present and allowing plenty of time are also key. Although deliberation is often seen as an improvement on technocratic and expertdominated decision-making models, we suggest that the focus in the academic literature on communicative rationality and discursive democracy has led us to overlook other more active forms of planning that occur in various sites and settings. Instead, we offer an expanded understanding of what planning is, where it happens and who is involved. We also suggest more attention be given to values, particularly in terms of their role as a compass for navigating the terrain of decision-making in the collaborative planning process. We conclude with a revised model of a (collaborative) decision-making cycle that we suggest may be more appropriate when (re)building better homes, towns and cities.
John Townend is an Associate Professor at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University Wellington.
John Townend is an Associate Professor at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University Wellington.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Mayor Bob Parker checks his watch before starting the earthquake-stopped clock at Science Alive".
Clock Tower at old ChCh central Train station (Now movie theatre and science alive activity centre) Cracked.. Badly
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