Victoria University of Wellington - Podcast

Is it time to step into your first management role? How do you know when you should make that move, and how do you prepare?Hear from fellow alumni who’ve made the journey into management at this Breakfast with the Experts alumni event. From demonstrating your leadership potential to developing an outstanding team culture, you’ll hear from Dr Ben Walker from the School of Management, in discussion with Leigh-Ann Ung, Executive HR at Habit Health, and Nic Barkley, Manager Ministerial Services at the Department of Corrections.

Learn more about the complexities and challenges facing Aotearoa New Zealand in managing its freshwater resources in this talk given by Chief Executive of the Ministry of the Environment James Palmer. Drawing from his experience in regulatory law and local and central government, James unpacks some of the major factors and considerations shaping freshwater management. This session is taken from the Wai Aotearoa seminar series organised by the Stout Centre for New Zealand Studies in April-May 2023 on the state of freshwater in Aotearoa New Zealand. Video recordings of the series are available here: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/stout-centre/about/previous-events/wai-aotearoa-seminar-series

The drive for collaboration and collective support is a cornerstone of sustainability, and the guests in this episode introduce a variety of ways that partnership is being implemented at the University level, as well as at the global scale. The University’s Living Pā project is in the spotlight as a key example of what can be achieved when diverse people and ideas come together for the greater good. The discussion touches on New Zealand being uniquely positioned as a small nation where communication across disciplines is relatively easy, and where everybody can contribute to addressing our sustainability challenges. Our host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Connor is joined by guests Senior Advisor in the office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori, Rhonda Thompson (Poutini Ngāi Tahu) and the Director of Sustainability, Andrew Wilks, to discuss the importance of partnership in working towards sustainability.

In this episode host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Conner is joined by guests Dr. Hiria McRae from the School of Education and Prof. Warwick Murray from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences to talk about the relationship between equity and sustainability. This is exemplified through the guest’s work supporting communities that experience educational, social, economic, and political marginalisation, as well as through the development of ethical trade and educational programmes. A theme that runs through the conversation centres on the connection between equity and sustainability and the need to develop ways of being in the world that celebrate connectivity rather than divisiveness.

In this episode host Dr Sarah Jane O’Conner is joined by guests Dr. Ben Walker (School of Management) and Hannah Blumhardt (Institute for Governance and Policy Studies) to discuss the circular economy. A circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change through the elimination of waste and pollution, reusing products and materials, and regenerating nature. The guests discuss ways to re-think how resources are consumed and disposed, and how this framework might encompass and shift value perceptions of skills-based and sharing economies. They introduce these ideas through the lens of the individual consumer and the business sector, and propose strategies for government-led action and implementation.

Clean, fresh water is essential to our health—and is threatened, in Aotearoa New Zealand not only by climate change, but by poor industrial farming practices, population growth, and under-investment. This conversation illuminates the need for strong governance in addressing water security, as well as addressing the issues underlying the Three Waters discussion, and the place freshwater and the 100% Pure New Zealand concept play in our cultural identity. Our host Dr Sarah Jane O’Connor is joined in this episode by guests, green criminologist Dr Sarah Monod de Froideville, and environmental economist Dr Julia Talbot-Jones to discuss the murky depths of our clean water discourse.

Maintaining biodiversity is a cornerstone of sustainability. In this episode of our Sustainability podcast, our guests discuss the decline of native species, management of predatory species, ecosystem restoration, and how biodiversity loss impacts our oceans, wetlands, and forests. They discuss the value of diversity, with a focus on tracking pests and restoring the Toheroa shellfish, along with the value of maintaining partnerships with Māori and local communities when developing sustainable solutions. Our host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Connor is joined by two Master’s students, Tessa Thomson (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Tukorehe) and Ellen Carlyon, to talk about their current research around biodiversity in the New Zealand context.

Climate action is a broad term that Dr Amanda Thomas defines as “the tools people put together in order to address climate change”. Climate justice, on the other hand, looks at the equitable implications of our climate actions. Climate justice is important in addressing sustainability because climate change is one of the biggest threats to the long-term health and wellbeing of the planet and its inhabitants, and its impacts are often disproportionately felt by marginalised and vulnerable communities. Throughout this episode key considerations related to both climate action and climate justice are discussed, including the role of industry and technology in addressing our climate challenges, as well as implications of climate change on social and gender equity. This episode highlights the need for climate justice to be at the forefront of our actions in contending with our broad sustainability challenges. In this episode our host, Dr Sarah Jane O’Conner, is joined by co-founder and CEO of TasmanIon, Dr Shalini Divya, and feminist political geographer, Dr Amanda Thomas, to discuss climate action from both a technological and a societal perspective.

“Globally, not just in New Zealand, we are seeing a very rapid increase in youth anxiety and depression,” says Associate Professor Terry (Theresa) Fleming. She talks to writer Guy Somerset about her research on youth mental health and her work at the University’s Digital Mental Health Lab. This podcast is part of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington's Maranga ake ai! Research series. Discover more of Terry's research: https://wellington.wgtn.ac.nz/addressing-teenage-mental-health/index.html

In this korero, Dr Sam Hassibi talks with Dr Michael Brown about rebellion and music at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Focusing on group singing, they talk about the students’ political and social activities and activism in the mid-20th century. Michael’s article that is mentioned in the podcast, ‘Many happy song-sessions: Kiwi youth sings’, was published in the Labour History Project Newsletter (pp. 14-19). [https://issuu.com/labourhistoryproject/docs/lhp_newsletter_55_aug_2012] Sam is a Research Fellow at the Stout Centre for New Zealand Studies and her research interests are cultural studies, food culture, and media. Dr Michael Brown works as Curator, Music at the Alexander Turnbull Library (part of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa). His research interests include folk music, New Zealand popular music and music archiving. In 2023, he takes up the JD Stout Fellowship to work on a study of electronic music and the internet.

The dire consequences of a rapidly warming planet were laid bare at COP27, the global climate change negotiations held in Egypt in November 2022. In this podcast, writer Paul Gorman talks to climate scientists Dr Dave Lowe and Hunter Douglas about their views on what needs to be done to forestall runaway temperatures. Dave is an atmospheric chemist who first measured southern hemisphere carbon dioxide levels at Baring Head near Wellington in the early 1970s. His memoir The Alarmist: Fifty years of measuring climate change was published in 2020. Hunter Douglas is at the other end of his career. Hunter is a PhD candidate in Geophysics at the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

'Complicating resistance: power, emancipation, and sociology’ examines knowledge, power, and the importance of critical self-reflection as it relates to liberation and democracy. In this kōrero, Dr Sam Hassibi talks with Dr Jennifer de Saxe, Alex Ker, and Danielle Hanna about a course they teach at Te Herenga Waka and the aims to dismantle and undermine racism through education. Highlighting the importance of self-reflection and critical thinking, Jennifer, Alex, and Danielle discuss students’ and own experience with race and racism and explain their efforts to make this course a meaningful experience for all the learners.

Dr Sam Hassibi talks with criminologist Dr Samantha Keene about her ‘rebellious’ work. In this conversation, they delve into Samantha’s ‘dirty work’ and the challenges of teaching and researching about sex and sexuality, pornography, and sexual harm. In remembrance of the rebellious mind of the late Dr Cat Pausé, they briefly discuss issues associated fat, fatness, and fear of fat.

Hear from two intriguing speakers on trends in religious beliefs among Māori and Cook Island Māori in New Zealand in this conversation produced as part of the Stout Research Centre’s Rebellious Minds seminar series. Historian Dr Steven Loveridge talks with Te Henare, a leading voice in the Māori Atheists and Freethinkers group Atuakore, and Arama Tairea, a postgraduate scholar at Victoria University of Wellington. The conversation considers their insights and private opinions, explores changing patterns in religious and spiritual beliefs and asks what wider implications these changes may hold for communities and cultural identities.

Learn more about the student magazine Salient and its perspectives on the turbulent issues of the 1980s in this podcast, produced as part of the Stout Research Centre’s Rebellious Minds seminar series. Historian Dr Steven Loveridge talks with Master of Arts alumnus Max Nichol about his Master's research into Salient. The conversation covers the history of student media at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, examines its approach to the issues of the 1980s, reviews the factors and conditions which shaped student media and reflects upon its animating spirit (then and now).

Learn more about the history of the 1972 campaign to end compulsory military service in New Zealand with this podcast, produced as part of the Stout Research Centre's Rebellious Minds seminar series. Bachelor of Arts with Honours student Arie Faber talks about his original research into OHMS (Organisation to Halt Military Service) and its 1972 campaign to end compulsory military service in New Zealand. The conversation, led by historian Dr Steven Loveridge, discusses the history and motivations of OHMS’s members, the campaign’s relationship with Victoria University of Wellington and reflections on the campaign five decades later.

Are you thinking of finding a new role this year or next? Perhaps Covid has disrupted your travel plans and a new career adventure is on the horizon instead? With a very active job market at the moment, this Breakfast with the Experts event will draw on the insights of your fellow alumni working in recruitment and human resources. Learn more about current recruitment trends in Wellington, career path options, top tips for getting successfully through the recruitment process and their general at-the-coalface advice. You’ll hear from recruitment specialist Ian Kennedy and in-house human resource manager Julie Mitchell.

“If at times you can’t do it for yourself, think about those you can help and do it for them,” says Stacey Shortall, reflecting on her life of helping others through her legal work. Hailing from a farming family in the mighty Manawatu, Stacey Shortall is an accomplished lawyer who makes a positive impact everywhere she goes. She speaks to Professor of Law, Dr Yvette Tinsley, as part of the University's distinguished alumni podcast series.

When Distinguished alumnus Sir Maarten Wevers KNZM completed his Bachelor of Science in pure and applied mathematics at Te Herenga Waka―Victoria University of Wellington, he did not anticipate he would one day become principal adviser to Prime Ministers of New Zealand. The distinguished alumnus, who was knighted in 2012 for his contribution to public service, spent 22 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade―including stints as High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea and Ambassador to Japan―and says being open to new opportunities is vital. Sir Maarten speaks to Dr Bryce Edwards from the University’s School of Government as part of our distinguished alumni podcast series.

A farm girl from the Wairarapa, distinguished alumna Lisa McLaren remembers conversations around the dinner table with family friends where climate change was dismissed as a “greenie conspiracy”. The climate change activist, who completed a Master in Environmental Studies with a climate change education focus at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, says attitudes have changed. Most people now acknowledge climate change is an issue and she is “quietly hopeful” for the future. Lisa talks with Professor James Renwick from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington's School of Geography, Geology, and Earth Sciences about the value of university study to help critical thinking skills, how to take care of oneself while worrying about your future, and more, in this fascinating podcast.