Think Science Day - Panel

11.00am-2.00pm

Short and sharp talk-sessions that lift the scientific lid on Auckland's infrastructure, planning and population. 

Learn what makes our city tick. 

Three science experts deliver fast-and-furious 25-minute presentations followed by Q+A sessions, and then panel members debate Auckland's future.

Sessions:

11.00am

12.30pm

The panels bring together some of Auckland's top thinkers, exploring how science can predict and shape the future of the city.

What makes the city work: human and natural networks. If a city is a machine; how does the machine work, and what can the machine do for us? (11am -12:30)

Tim Hazeldine, (University of Auckland, Economics)
Victoria Crone (Xero, Managing Director)
Steve Pointing (AUT ¬ Ecology)
Ella Henry (AUT, Te Ara Poutama)

Ideas and Innovation (12:30 -2:00pm)

How can ideas chance our world?
Can we live off knowledge not nature?

Where do ideas come from, how can we get more of them, and how do we get better value from them?

Lillian Grace (Wiki NZ)
Shaun Hendy (University of Auckland, Physics)
Vaughan Rowsell (Vend, CEO)
Cather Simpson (U of Auckland, Physics and Chemistry)

Both of them are being Convened by Jon Bridges.

TIM HAZLEDINE
Tim Hazledine was born in Dunedin, and educated at King's High School and the universities of Otago, Canterbury and Warwick. He has taught at Otago, Warwick, Balliol Oxford, Queen's Canada, UBC Vancouver, and at the University of Auckland, where he has been a professor in the Economics Dept since 1992. 

VICTORIA CRONE
Victoria Crone is a highly collaborative Marketing and Sales Executive, with extensive experience in the communications sector. Her experience spans from start-ups to mature products. Victoria joined Xero earlier this year as Managing Director NZ after 18 years with Telecom and Chorus - most recently as Chorus General Manager, Marketing and Sales. Director of Aura Information Security and CreativeHQ. Trustee of NZ Hi-Tech Trust. Victoria is a tech enthusiast, Mum and wanna be long distance sports freak. She is a passionate kiwi and and a member of NZ Global Women.

STEVE POINTING
Professor Steve Pointing earned degrees in biochemistry and microbiology in the UK. He won the prestigious Sainsbury Scholarship for postgraduate environmental research at the Bermuda Ocean Institute, and was awarded a PhD in marine microbiology in 1995.  Steve gained his MBA in Education Management from Leicester University in 2010. He is Director of the Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand at AUT University.  His current research interest is the dispersal and survival of microbes in the atmosphere.  He is lead investigator on a multi-national project investigating the spatial and temporal dynamics of airborne microbes in built environments. Professor Pointing has published extensively in the world¹s leading scientific journals and is also a very active science commentator in the NZ media.

 


ELLA HENRY
Dr Ella Henry is a  Senior Lecturer at AUT University, and her research interests are in the fields of Māori development, Māori entrepreneurship, Māori careers, Māori media and screen production. Dr Henry's academic background is in Sociology, Māori Studies and Management Studies. Dr Henry has been actively involved in M?ori broadcasting having recently served as the president for Ngā Aho Whakaari, the Association of Māori in Screen Production.  

LILLIAN GRACE
Lillian Grace is Founder and CEO of Wiki New Zealand, the first organisation to designate everyone as a user of data and to build systems and software to deliver to this standard. Lillian believes societies and individuals will benefit greatly when anyone can use data to inform their thinking and insights without requiring intermediaries. Lillian credits her experience of working in a variety of industries with helping her think differently about idea generation and approaches to execution. She was Manager of Corporate Projects at Academy Award-winning Massive Software, a secondary school Physical Education teacher, associate at think tank The New Zealand Institute and at boutique strategy consulting firm Stakeholder Strategies.

SHAUN HENDY
Shaun Hendy is Director of the Te Pānaha Matatini, a Centre of Research Excellence, and a Professor of Physics at the University of Auckland. Shaun has a PhD in physics from the University of Alberta in Canada and a BSc(Hons) in mathematical physics from Massey University. He has a wide range of research interests, including computational physics, nanoscience, complex systems and innovation. Shaun is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Shaun blogs, writes for Unlimited Magazine and has a regular slot on Radio New Zealand Nights as physics correspondent. In 2012, Shaun was awarded the Callaghan Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Prime Minister's Science Media Communication Prize for his achievements as a science communicator. His first book, Get Off the Grass, co-authored with the late Sir Paul Callaghan, was published in August 2013.

VAUGHAN ROWSELL
Vaughan Rowsell is a software engineer with more than 15 years experience. He's a veteran of several start-ups, including Kiwi auction site Trade Me. Vaughan founded, coded, and publicly launched Vend in late 2010, where he is now CEO.  

CATHER SIMPSON
Cather Simpson is an Associate Professor  in Physics and Chemistry, and Director of the Photon Factory, at the University of Auckland.  Cather received her Ph.D. in the USA in Medical Sciences with a focus on the ultrafast vibrational dynamics of heme proteins. After a Department of Energy Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship, she joined the Chemistry Department at Case Western Reserve University as an Assistant Professor to pursue research in ultrafast energy conversion in molecules. After earning tenure and promotion at CWRU, Cather moved to the University of Auckland, where her research now spans fundamental spectroscopy to advanced laser micromachining and applied device development.