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Award-winning international expert on sustainability and climate change, Professor Bronwyn Hayward will discuss why climate issues matter now more than ever in her upcoming public talk at the University of Canterbury. As part of the Tauhere UC Connect public lecture series, Professor Hayward will share her knowledge and expertise in her talk, Change our politics, not the climate, at 7pm on Wednesday 27 September in a free public event. “Climate issues have risen rapidly in public understanding, and even though the cost of living and clickbait election policies have dominated public debate, the decisions we make now will impact communities for thousands of years,” she says. “A 100-year time horizon, let alone a 1000-year one, is not something we often think about in a three-year election cycle, but children born this year will experience three to four times as many extreme climate events in their lifetime than voters aged 60 or older. This is an election for our children and grandchildren – their lives may depend on our votes this year.” About the speaker Dr Bronwyn Hayward MNZM is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury and the Director of Hei Puāwaitanga: Research group for Future Generations, Sustainability and Civic Imagination. She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for contributions to sustainability, youth and climate change in 2021.   Bronwyn has served as on the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summary writing team for Assessment Round 6, Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Cities & infrastructure chapter (2022), and was a lead author for the IPCC Special Report on 1.5degC (2018). She leads a study funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council with Surrey University and five other partner institutions tracking how cities can support young people to flourish in low carbon ways. She is a co-PI of Mana Rangatahi, a Deep South NSC-funded project to support young Māori and Pacific leadership in a changing climate. Recent books include Sea Change: Climate politics and New Zealand (Bridget Williams Books, 2017) and Children, Citizenship and Environment #SchoolStrike Edition (Routledge London, 2021). She has served as a trustee for the SPARK Foundation & Give A Little and was a Kiwibank Local Hero in 2019, as well as the 2021 Women of Influence Award Supreme winner and Environment category winner

The Child Wellbeing and Poverty Reduction Group at Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Child Wellbeing Research Institute at the University of Canterbury are hosting a joint webinar on Monday 2 October from 1pm-2pm. Nationally, strengths based, locally led initiatives are contributing significant gains for tamariki and rangatahi wellbeing. While there is recognition that positive outcomes are being generated by such practices, more analysis is needed across successful transformation that aims to unpack commonalities in how and why change is occurring.  This webinar will provide insights of value to community, government and academic sectors by exploring the change mechanisms underpinning two very different approaches to uplifting child and youth wellbeing, with a particular exploration of how we need to evolve our thought processes beyond Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  The panel to be chaired by Clare Ward Executive Director, Child Wellbeing and Poverty Reduction Group and facilitated by Associate Professor Sacha McMeeking, Child Wellbeing Research Institute. It will explore some of the transferrable insights for those engaged in child and youth wellbeing.

Join us at our NCRE Graduate Info Day to learn more about study options in Honours, Masters or PhD study. Come and hear about postgraduate research and travel opportunities at the NCRE.    

Join us for a poetry performance of Claudia Jardine's latest book, cover to cover. The UC Teece Museum will provide a fitting backdrop for a full read through of this collection of poetry based on ancient Greek epigrams. Fresh translations of erotic Greek epigrams are threaded through boozy sonnets, ecstatic odes and startlingly vulnerable love poems. Jardine weaves ancient and modern together into a rich, glitzy, idiosyncratic tapestry – and in doing so crafts a poetic voice that is at once classical and frisky. Claudia Jardine has an MA in classics with distinction from Victoria University of Wellington, where she won the 2020 Alex Scobie Research Prize and a Marsden Grant for Masters scholarship. Her first chapbook, ‘The Temple of Your Girl’, was published in AUP New Poets 7. Her ancestors are from the British Isles and the Maltese Archipelago, and she lives in Ōtautahi. UC Teece Museum, 3 Hereford St, Chch Tuesday 10 October 2023, 7.30pm. Doors open 7.15pm. Entry is free, but seats are limited so registration is essential. All our events for the Christchurch Heritage Festival are a collaboration with the Christchurch City Council.