Browse: Home / Course Terms / Term 1, 2019

The University of the Third Age

U3A Okeover

Programme for Term 1, 2019

Term Completed

A Members’ Miscellany

Dates: Thursdays 7, 14, 21, 28 March, 4 April

B Frontiers of Research

Dates: Thursdays 7, 14, 21, 28 March, 4 April

C Antarctica

Dates: Thursdays 11, 18 April, 2, 9, 16 May

D Preventing Illnesses and Combatting Hazards to Health

Dates: Thursdays 11, 18 April, 2, 9, 16 May

Scroll down for full details of each course.

Times: 10.30 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.

Enrolments for this term closed on Thursday 16 May 2019.

Officers:

Chairman:Howard Harvey021 1363043
Treasurer:Colin Freeman027 2369476
Please hand your enrolment form to the treasurer at the desk if he is available.


Course A

Members’ Miscellany

Course organiser:Kathryn Ell

Presenter:Various

7 Mar:
Brian Norton on 'Forgotten Islands of the South Pacific.'The experiences of a 20 year old in the Furious Fifties and a reconnect 56 years later.

14 Mar:
Alan Blackburn on 'The Enigma of Rapanui (Easter Island).'“Easter Island as a Microcosm – A Miniature Model of the Planet Earth” – (Flenley and Bahn). A warning for humankind!

21 Mar:
Nina Mogridge on 'Sail in the Wilderness.'A short history of German East Africa.

28 Mar:
'Oxbridge – Two Shades of Blue.'Loanne Metcalfe (Girton) and Kathryn Ell (Christ Church) have each had the experience of living in an Oxbridge College. They will share their respective experiences and include some significant social and political history of each college.

4 Apr:
Annette Begg on 'The Hills: Migrants, Merchants and Miscreants.'Annette’s great, great grandfather, at aged 16 and accompanied by his brother and their tutor, arrived in Christchurch on the Sir George Seymour in 1850. Using Kathleen Hill’s book, chronicling the Hill family, Annette will share the story of the family’s rise as successful, rich merchants socialising with Catherine the Great in St Petersburg, and, sadly, an unacceptable marriage and the consequences thereof.


Course B

Frontiers of Research

Course organiser:Peter Moody

Presenter:Various

7 Mar:
Justin Brown, B.A.Sc in Civil Engineering, University of British Colombia on 'Mass Timber – Efficient Solutions and the Future of Building.'The talk will cover a brief history of timber construction, introduced engineering products and projects around the world and New Zealand that use engineered timber. He will touch on mass timber buildings and where they could best fit in our future cities.

14 Mar:
Corinne Bataille, MSc in Applied (Industrial/Organisational) Psychology, UC, on 'Opening Locked Gates: Identifying Land Owners’ Attitudes to Kaitiakitanga.'Corinne will discuss psychological factors that influence people’s attitudes towards kaitiakitanga (i.e. Māori environmental guardianship).

21 Mar:
Prof. Katie Pickles, History, UC on 'Why was Aotearoa New Zealand the First in the World to Grant Women the Right to Vote in 1893 but Took Till 1919 to Allow Them to Stand for Parliament?'This talk concerns research that is part of her fellowship on changes in women’s status over the past 200 years in New Zealand and globally, with a particular focus on heroines in history.

28 Mar:
Prof. Susan Krumdieck, College of Engineering, UC on 'Antimicrobial Ceramic Coatings.'Hospital acquired infections in the United States of America cause more deaths than auto-accidents, breast cancer and AIDS combined. Working in a multidisciplinary collaborative approach Prof Krumdiek is researching titanium dioxide, a photocatalytic ceramic, as a possible coating for hospital fixtures using novel nanoengineering. It is a solid coating with visible light antimicrobial activity.

4 Apr:
Dr. Ann Brower, Senior Lecturer in Geography, UC on 'What Drives Environmental Decisions in a Contested, but Loved, Landscape?'Her research examines current debates regarding environmental decisions in the McKenzie Basin. Science, economics, party politics, public pressure and the law each have a role to play, but none are as influential as we might expect.


Course C

Antarctica

Course organiser:Chris Botur

Presenter:Various

11 Apr:
Paul Broady, former teacher, School of Biological Sciences, UC on 'Life on Land in Antarctica – in a Changing Environment.'Antarctica has long been regarded as a continent of little change perpetually locked in ice and with a small human presence. However, change in some coastal regions and off-shore islands is now accelerating. A warming climate is affecting life in lakes and on ice-free land. Introduced plants and insects are encountered more frequently and at a wider range of locations. Some might be naturally dispersed from the north whilst others are transported south by increasing numbers of scientific personnel and tourists. Construction of new research stations and associated land-based airstrips greatly impact areas that were once wilderness. To protect the natural values of Antarctica we will have to get serious in our actions to combat climate change and also limit our physical presence in the region.

18 Apr:
Assoc. Prof. Wolfgang Rack, Gateway Antarctica, UC on 'New Views of the Frozen World – Remote Sensing Studies in Antarctica.'A solid understanding of our future climate depends critically on spaceborne observations of the Antarctic ice sheet and sea ice. Satellite remote sensing is an indirect and contactless measurement technique which requires validation on the ground. Ice thickness is amongst the most fundamental variables to be monitored to quantify change; this can only be achieved with satellites which enable complete and repeated coverage. In this presentation I will discuss the newest results of the international research community to assess the state of the polar cryosphere together with our contributions to assess its ice thickness.

2 May:
Ursula Rack, Adjunct Fellow, Gateway Antarctica, UC on 'Antarctic Exploration from the Heroic Era until 1959.'The presentation will introduce you to the beginnings of polar exploration until 1959. After this time polar exploration changed its style and is still going on today. Different interests were the drivers and were often interwoven. National expeditions, however, worked sometimes in collaboration to answer complex scientific questions. Economic reasons and technical innovation were also involved in the ambitious events to reach the southern continent. These links and connections will be the focus of this talk.

9 May:
Ursula Rack, Adjunct Fellow, Gateway Antarctica, UC on 'Survival on the Ice from a Historical Perspective.'Survival on the ice was in the early days characterised by trial and error. Some early explorers experimented from experiences in the North. The first Antarctic manual (1900) was based on the Arctic manual. Living in the ice taught the expedition members very quickly to adjust. Each sort of supplies had to be carefully calculated and often food supply was taken from the environment (which was not always welcomed). This presentation focuses on the attempts to survive in this harsh environment and how it developed to the sophisticated ways to work and live in the Antarctic today.

16 May:
Daniela Liggett, Senior Lecturer, Gateway Antarctica, UC on 'Governing the Seventh Continent.'This session will explore the unique system of governance that is in place for Antarctica and designates the continent as a natural reserve devoted to peace and scientific collaboration. We will discuss some of the extraordinary achievements of the Antarctic Treaty System, look at the series of events that stimulated the negotiation of the Antarctic Treaty (essentially, the world’s first anti-nuclear agreement), and examine the challenges Antarctic decision makers face today.


Course D

Preventing Illnesses and Combatting Hazards to Health

Course organiser:Jill Nuthall

Presenter:Various

This course tells us about the sterling work that is being done to create living and working
conditions that keep New Zealanders well. We go behind the scenes to hear from experts
in stopping diseases spreading, improving environments such as housing, urban planning
and transport as well as how moving to a wellbeing budget will improve the health of our
nation.

11 Apr:
Dr. Fran McGrath Chief Advisor, Long Term Conditions/NCDs, Population Health and Prevention, Ministry of Health on 'What’s happening to improve Public Health in New Zealand?'.We'll have a look at the origins of public health in stopping the many deaths from outbreaks like Cholera, and Swine 'flu - hear the story of John Snow and the London Broad Street Pump - then consider today's challenges for public health in New Zealand and ways of understanding effective prevention. We will look at frameworks for understanding underlying risk factors in our communities and society (such as income distribution, housing), behavioural risk and protective factors in the way we live (healthy diet, exercise, social networks) and ways of improving our wellbeing.

18 Apr:
Dr. Lucy Telfar Barnard, Senior Research Fellow, He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, Department of Public Health, Otago School of Medicine on 'Warm, Dry, Safe: What’s Next for Healthier Homes?'Many of the adverse health effects of poor housing are known, while others continue to be identified. Our hospitals see over 40,000 people each year for conditions linked to poor housing. In recent decades New Zealand has seen a range of programmes and policy changes introduced to make our homes warmer and dryer, but do those changes go far enough? What more could we be doing and what should our priorities be to further reduce the health burden of poor housing?

2 May:
Dr. Martin Lee, Clinical Director, Community Dental Services, CDHB on 'Fluoridation: Why all the Hoo-ha Still?'First introduced in 1945, and listed as one of the 10 great public health discoveries of the 20th Century by the US Surgeon General, water fluoridation continues to be contentious. Have we learnt anything in the last (nearly) three-quarters of a century?

9 May:
Prof. Paul Dalziel, Professor of Economics and Deputy Director of the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University on 'Wellbeing: The Capabilities Approach to Public Health.'The Government has adopted a wellbeing framework for its policies, including the Wellbeing Budget. What does this mean for public health policy? How does a focus on capabilities improve health and wellbeing outcomes? What is different from traditional approaches to public health?

16 May:
Dr. Anna Stevenson, Public Health Physician, Health in all Policies Team, Community and Public Health, CDHB on 'Building for Health: What Difference can Transport and Urban Design Actually Make?'Why is it that transport and urban design can impact so strongly on the biggest threats to public health and community wellbeing we face today? Hear examples of how changes to the environments in which we live and the way we live within these environments impacts the health and wellbeing of our communities. Learn about the challenges and successes along the way that bring our non-traditional partners to be part of the solution.