Tauhere | UC Connect - free thinking
Sharing knowledge and spreading ideas – Tauhere | UC Connect is here to grow your mind.
The University of Canterbury has been connecting local people with global thinking and expanding minds since 1873. We believe in the value of ideas that make a difference.
UC’s popular free public lecture series, Tauhere | UC Connect offers topical, educational public lectures by experts in their fields and leading thinkers from Christchurch, Canterbury and beyond. Offered both online and in person throughout the year, we’ve got a free talk for you – ranging from arts, politics and culture to science, business and law.
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Upcoming UC Connect | Tauhere lectures
We bring a fresh series of free Tauhere | UC Connect public lectures each year.

Presented By: Professor Ekant Veer, UC Business School, University of Canterbury & Professor Stacy Wood, North Carolina State University
In their upcoming, free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture at the University of Canterbury – Medicine + Marketing: what we’ve learned about healthcare, technology, and reality in a pandemic – UC Erskine Fellow Professor Stacy Wood from North Carolina State University and Professor Ekant Veer, UC Business School, University of Canterbury, will discuss wellbeing and social marketing amid Covid-19, on Wednesday 29 March.
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Wednesday 29 March 2023
E9, Engineering Core
University of Canterbury, Christchurch Central City,
Watch earlier UC public lectures
We aim to make all UC public lectures available online subject to permission from the speaker/s and other considerations. Videos of UC Connect talks are usually available about a week after the live event.
To watch more than 150 UC public talks from the last decade, visit our YouTube channel or click below to watch one of our recent talks:

In this free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture, Animal Behaviour expert Professor Ximena Nelson, from the School of Biological Sciences, will explore the topic based on her research.

In this free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture, Dr Madi Williams (Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Kōata), explores notions of identity and connection in Aotearoa history. In Reframing History in Aotearoa & Polynesia, Dr Williams will take a longer view of the history of these islands and place them in their Pacific, Polynesian context.

In this free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture,Associate Professor Michelle LaRue of Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, will explain the impact of the research and how more than 330,000 people around the world helped scientific researchers better understand one of the most remote and inaccessible animal species in the world.

In this free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture, Professor Heinemann will explain how we created antibiotic-resistant bacteria and how we can help stop them.
“The rise of antibiotic resistance is a story of many paths, like he awa whiria (a braided river),” Professor Heinemann says.

In this free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture, Distinguished Professor Huckabee will take you on the remarkable journey of this seemingly simple task, from infant swallowing to adult; and then from impairment to recovery.
She will explore the remarkable capacity of the brain to modify this most complex of motor behaviours and will explore new UC-developed rehabilitation approaches, retraining the brain in how to swallow.

This free Tauhere UC Connect public lecture tells the story of a unique artefact, how it came to light, and its conservation in Aotearoa. University of Canterbury medieval historian Dr Chris Jones will place the volume in its historical context and chart its remarkable survival. Sarah Askey, who carried out the painstaking work to preserve the book for future generations, will discuss the stabilisation and conservation process
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