Author: MIL OSI Publisher

One of the women leading Canterbury into the future, the University of Canterbury Students’ Association President Tori McNoe has been shortlisted for the Women of Influence Young Leader award.

A UC Bachelor of Criminal Justice graduate completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Sociology and Psychology, McNoe (Te Arawa) describes herself as “an impressionable young Māori leader”.

“I’m always looking to broaden my horizons. I hold a particular interest in youth and our place in the world and I want my work to reflect that. I seek to enjoy everything I do and aim to inspire others to do the same,” she says.

“I come from a small town where there aren't a lot of opportunities for young people. They can end up getting in trouble with drugs, crime and depression. So I’m interested in how the law can actually help youth. My long-term goal is to work in police intelligence, with a focus on youth justice. Additionally, I know we have power in governance, so I always want to be involved in keeping youth in those spaces and confident at the table.”

As 2019 UCSA Vice-President, she went into her 2020 presidency with her eyes open to the realities of the role, its challenges and responsibilities.

McNoe has also made a huge contribution to the entrepreneurship sector of Canterbury, mentoring and encouraging local businesses onto campus to mentor and work with student entrepreneurs.

She is an Interim Regional Skills Leadership Group member at Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, on behalf of UC – something that is above and beyond her role as UCSA President.

She is also serving on The Board of Momentum, an investment board that gives advice and offers mentorship and funding to young entrepreneurs.

“Our work should equip the next generation of women to outdo us in every field. This is the legacy we’ll leave behind,” McNoe says.

She made history this year when she and UCSA Vice-President Katie Mills took office, making UC the first and (so far) only Aotearoa New Zealand university to be led by women. McNoe and Mills are the first female duo to lead the UC students’ association since it began in 1894. Last year, for the first time since it was founded in 1873, UC appointed two women to lead the university – lawyer and UC alumna Sue McCormack as its new Chancellor, and former Vice-Chancellor of South Africa’s largest research university (University of Pretoria) Professor Cheryl de la Rey as UC’s Vice-Chancellor.

Other UC graduates among the list of Women of Influence finalists include:

·         CEO & Director of Research of Matai, Samantha Holdsworth
A finalist for the Innovation, Science & Health award, she is a pioneer of fast, high-resolution MRI methods and amplified MRI (a new method of visualising brain motion).

·         CEO & Founder of The Rubbish Whisperer Limited, Helen Townsend
A finalist for the Business Enterprise award, her company specialises in eco-friendly products made locally and is a market leader in innovative products to reduce plastic waste.

About the awards: The Women of Influence programme helps share the remarkable stories of women who are making a difference to the lives of New Zealanders. Each year, the awards programme shines a light on the amazing work Kiwi women are doing, from grassroots level to the global stage, and helps propel future leaders and rising stars to bigger and better things.

The SFO has filed a charge of ‘Obtaining by Deception’ against two defendants in the New Zealand First Foundation electoral funding case. The charges were filed on 23 September.

The defendants have interim name suppression and so cannot be named or identified at this time. We note, however, that neither defendant is a Minister, sitting MP, or candidate in the upcoming election (or a member of their staff), or a current member of the New Zealand First party.

The SFO has no further comment.

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters says today’s decision by the Serious Fraud Office exonerates the New Zealand First Party of any electoral law breaches.

Having fully investigated the allegations the SFO has cleared the New Zealand First Party, all of its Ministers, all sitting members of the New Zealand First party, all candidates standing for election and all party employees of any wrongdoing.

“It is a relief after months of this cloud hanging over the party that we have been fully cleared,” stated Mr Peters.

“Unlike the recent National Party donation scandal, no party member has been implicated or charged by the SFO.”

Notwithstanding the cloud being lifted, New Zealand First’s leader also expressed his dismay at the timing and conduct of the SFO decision.

“Whilst the SFO has confirmed that no New Zealand First Minister, parliamentarian or party member broke any electoral laws, the timing of its decision to lay charges against the Foundation constitutes a James Comey-level error of judgement,” said Mr Peters.

“It’s an appalling intrusion in a period when the people begin to think seriously about the shape of their next government.

“It has been amply demonstrated that FBI Director Comey’s groundless findings impacted on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Allegations were made about me in 2008 which the SFO found to be baseless.

“While we respect its independence, the SFO cannot justify the timing of its decision.

“It is quite shocking for any who believe in fair elections that the SFO, one day from overseas voting and four days from advance voting beginning, would interpose itself into the General Election in this poorly conceived fashion.

“The Foundation is an entirely separate entity from the New Zealand First Party but that distinction will be lost on some, and deliberately confused by others,” said Mr Peters.

“The way in which this investigation has been conducted raises serious questions about the conduct of the Serious Fraud Office.

“In my opinion, the SFO has acted unreasonably and without justification both in the way in which the investigation has been conducted and in public announcements the SFO has chosen to make about the investigation in breach of the Serious Fraud Office’s own written policy of not commenting on investigations until the first appearance of any accused facing charges,” stated Mr Peters.

“As a result, the New Zealand First Party has instructed its lawyers to issue proceedings in the High Court against the Serious Fraud Office seeking declarations that the Serious Fraud Office has amounted to an abuse of its statutory powers and has been unreasonable.

“Compounding the SFO’s poor judgement are three other matters. First, the SFO’s still incomplete investigation of foreign money flowing into the National Party. We know they were provided significantly more serious information about the pernicious foreign influence campaign that penetrated the National Party. Yet only a portion of those electoral breaches resulted in charges. Why?

“Second, if voters need to hear from the SFO before the election where are its findings about Labour’s mayoral electoral funding in both Christchurch and Auckland?

“Third, what about the SFO’s investigation into donations made to Labour in 2017?

“How is that fair? It is not.

“Voters will judge for themselves the fairness of the SFO’s actions.

“Notwithstanding today’s exoneration by the SFO, taxpayer-funded and other journalists, those who have spilled litres of ink in trying to destroy New Zealand First, must now confront the truth that not one Minister, MP, or party member has been anything other than fully exonerated,” stated Mr Peters.

“The point also needs to be repeated to those same journalists attempting to smear me and my party, that New Zealand First is completely separate from the Foundation.

“Neither I nor any other party is allowed to make any further comment on this matter because it is now sub-judice.”

Wintec’s women engineers featured in an image on social media recently with the words “We are a diverse engineering team” and were surprised at the attention they got. The post was so popular, it generated a notification from LinkedIn they were trending on #engineering.

Engineering may often be considered a man’s world but Wintec Engineering teachers, Dr Maryam Moridnejad, Sarla Kumari, Josy Cooper, Elena Eskandarymalayery and their manager, Dr Trudy Harris don’t agree. They want to see more diversity in their engineering classes, and they are on a mission to change up the ratio.

The five women have a mix of mechanical, civil and electrical qualifications.

Wintec Group Director, Trades and Engineering and Industrial Design, Dr Shelley Wilson says women make up 5-10 percent of engineering students at Wintec and the future is looking bright for graduates who can expect diverse opportunities.

“We work closely with industry to train engineers for an evolving workplace which is responding to new demands for technology, climate change and the influence of COVID-19.

“The scope for engineering careers is exciting and graduates can aim for careers in the manufacturing, roading and other areas of infrastructure, power industry, chemical and mechatronics areas for example. These environments are attracting a diverse workforce.”

Kumari says the perception of engineering sometimes doesn’t help.

“Many people believe engineering is about working outside,  getting your hands dirty and a study path with a maths-heavy study component.

“Engineering offers broad opportunities and engineers mainly work in an office designing and creating projects for people.”

Cooper agrees that engineering is people orientated as well as project focussed.

“Everything you design has to work with and be for people. It can be really compelling as a career.”

Dr Moridnejad, who shared the trending post about diversity on LinkedIn says that in her home country, Iran, with more restrictions on women, there are more female engineers than in New Zealand.

Surprised at the female engineering student ratio in New Zealand, and curious, (a trait with engineers), she wanted to find out why.

Since last year, she collaborated with Cooper and Associate Professor Wendy Fox-Turnbull from the University of Waikato on a research project to find out influencing factors and barriers for selection of engineering pathways for women in New Zealand.  

“So far, in the New Zealand context, we found that barriers to selection of engineering pathway for females include the school system; a lack of career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, a lack of promotion of the profession, and society’s perception of engineers as being masculine – ‘a tradie working in a workshop’.

“Unfortunately, the low number of women studying engineering at tertiary level is not just a problem here in New Zealand. Worldwide around 10 percent of students studying engineering are females. The lack of female participation in engineering fields at the tertiary education level has been a barrier for diversity and equality in both the engineering industry and associated professions.

“We are hearing from teenage girls that stereotypes on what girls can and can’t do, persist in our community,” says Dr Moridnejad.

Dr Moridnejad who has a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Auckland and a master’s degree in water engineering from the University of Tehran is sharing her love of engineering by profiling engineers, and their study journeys on Instagram. She invites anyone interested to follow her @maryam.moridnejad.

Recently Wintec’s Engineering team created a challenge for students from Sacred Heart Girls’ College, Melville High School and St John’s College in Hamilton. The students had all shown interest in a career in Engineering and signed up for a STAR Engineering Taster Day.

Eighteen students took part each day, over three days.

The challenges they created covered the full suite of engineering practice offered at Wintec – civil, mechanical and electrical.

The students had to design and build a solar-powered moon rover and a bridge for it to cross.

 “It just wouldn’t be engineering without a bridge,” said Cooper.

The girls from Sacred Heart College managed the fastest time.

“They nailed it!” laughs Cooper. “By lunchtime they were done.”

“The girls listened, and they were organised, but the boys had the edge on the bridge,” adds Kumari.

The boys from St John’s and Melville built a very structurally sound bridge.

“There are very few girls considering engineering as a career and when there are women in engineering, they do well,” says Cooper.

The engineers agree that now is a great time to study

“The Government is spending money on infrastructure so there is potential for employment,” says Kumari.

“There are broad opportunities in mechanics, electrical and civil engineering and for starters, the Diploma in Engineering is free and really popular with employers.”

Wintec offers degree, diploma and certificate courses in Mechanical, Civil and Electrical Engineering.

A team of University of Waikato researchers have successfully secured $6m funding over four years in the latest Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Endeavour Fund round.

Associate Professor Māui Hudson, Professor Tahu Kukutai and Associate Professor Te Taka Keegan are leading Tikanga in Technology: Indigenous approaches to transforming data ecosystems – a programme that aims to test Māori approaches to collective privacy, benefit and governance in a digital environment with a view to increase the benefits to Māori and reduce data harms.

The work will focus on how tikanga Māori (customary protocols) and Mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge) inform the construction of digital identities and create a better understanding of relational responsibilities to data. The team of researchers will explore tools and processes that can help IT workers understand and incorporate Indigenous perspectives when working on data sets, not only in terms of storage and data processing but also in the creation of algorithms that have the potential for bias.

With research spanning a broad range of population topics from iwi demography and census methods to the impacts of colonisation on Indigenous health, Professor Tahu Kukutai (Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Kinohaku, Te Aupōuri) brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Tikanga in Technology. Professor Kukutai co-edited the landmark book Indigenous data sovereignty: Toward an agenda, which is widely regarded as the seminal text on Indigenous data, while her new co-edited book Indigenous data sovereignty and policy, due for release in October, will offer a rich account of the potential for Indigenous data sovereignty to protect against the threats of data-related risks and harms. Professor Kukutai says it’s more critical now than ever to address the issue of Māori data sovereignty. “Tikanga in Technology includes projects co-designed with Māori communities, which allows us to help build flaxroots data capability and do research that meets their priorities and aspirations,” she says.

Winner of the Prime Minister’s Supreme Award for Excellence in Tertiary Teaching and an authority on Māori language technologies, Associate Professor Te Taka Keegan (Waikato-Maniapoto, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whakaaue) is looking forward to bringing his experience and passion to research that will enable Indigenous perspectives to shape Artificial Intelligence for the benefit of Indigenous peoples. Associate Professor Keegan is a modern day tohunga (expert) in teaching, research, and innovation. He has worked with a number of projects including the Māori Niupepa collection, the Microsoft Keyboard, Windows and Office in Māori, Moodle in Māori, Google Translate, the Translator Toolkit, the Macroniser and SwiftKey.

A founding member of Te Mana Raraunga Māori Data Sovereignty Network and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance alongside Professor Kukutai, Associate Professor Māui Hudson (Whakatohea, Ngā Ruahine, Te Māhurehure) says recent innovations in digital technologies are a double-edged sword for Indigenous peoples. “Rapid advances in data linkage create vast potential for improved wellbeing as well as major risks for group exploitation so we need a profoundly different approach to individual data rights and protection – one that recognises collective identities,” he says. “Our project will look at the tools, processes and mechanisms we can offer the community of developers to enable ethical use and to generate more equitable outcomes for Māori.”

Associate Professor Hudson says it’s important to encourage developers to be more thoughtful about what they create and to support them in optimising data ecosystems that recognise and benefit Indigenous societies. The team’s research will move beyond current efforts to reduce bias in algorithms and explore what it means to ‘decolonise’ algorithms that adversely affect Māori communities. “Ongoing discussions about Māori data sovereignty are occurring beyond central government, but even though the private sector appears to be further behind, I think Indigenous data sovereignty is an area where Aotearoa New Zealand can lead the way,” he says. “We have a global advantage in Indigenous research and, with funding for projects like this, we can continue to optimise this edge to transform data ecosystems so that they are beneficial for Indigenous peoples.”

Situated at the interface of Mātauranga Māori and data science, this interdisciplinary programme has strong support from key data stakeholders across Te Ao Māori and Government. Associate Professor Hudson says the goal for Tikanga in Technology is to impact on data science projects in communities, at the University of Waikato, and beyond. “This funding success is a wonderful result for our team of researchers and for the evolving area of Indigenous data rights,” he says. The research team plans to make publicly available a range of tools, frameworks and principles that will promote ethical and equitable engagement, with data grounded in Te Ao Māori world-views.

The Tikanga in Technology: Indigenous approaches to transforming data ecosystems  programme is due to get underway in October 2020.