re
:
think
Winter 2013
2
From the
Vice-Chancellor
By PROFESSOR ROY CRAWFORD
RESEARCH and teaching are the University of
Waikato’s core business and we work hard to
achieve the right balance between the two, so that
our students are getting the best attention and are
exposed to the most up-to-date information in
their chosen subjects.
The latest round of the government’s
Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) process –
an evaluation of the quality of university academics
– has shown that more than 90% of the University
of Waikato’s academics are active researchers as
judged by international standards. This confirms
that we have built a strong research culture across
all our faculties. The PBRF results are consistent
with our international ranking as a top ‘new and
emerging’ university.
You can read about some of our research in
this issue of
re:think
. For example, recently we were
pleased to announce the Wallace Corporation’s
investment in Novatein, a bioplastic material that
uses by-products from the meat industry to make
biodegradable plastic products.
Across campus, researchers are rediscovering
Māori astronomy, and across the world our computer
scientists are linking with Chinese universities for
computer assisted language learning. In Tauranga,
we are involved in a wide range of ‘Rena’ projects
including the monitoring and testing of thousands
of marine species.
As part of our connection with the wider
community, the university has partnered with the
Home of Cycling Charitable Trust. The country’s
elite rowers already call the Waikato home and
now Bike NZ and Triathlon New Zealand will
be based here too – at the new Avantidrome in
Cambridge – and that opens up new opportunities
for us. We have a long-term commitment to
develop high performance sport, and to assist top
sportspeople through our research across a wide
range of disciplines.
By working in partnership with our key
stakeholders, the future for the University of
Waikato and the region looks bright.
re:think is published by the University of Waikato
to highlight our research, innovation and
entrepreneurship.We welcome feedback, comment
or inquiry about any of the issues raised in this
publication. Contact us at
rethink@waikato.ac.nz
The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105,
Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
Phone:
0800 WAIKATO
(0800 924 528)
Email:
info@waikato.ac.nz
www.waikato.ac.nz
©The University of Waikato, May 2013.
ISSN 2253-4709 (Print)
ISSN 2253-4865 (Online)
About re:think
THE University of Waikato is involved
in a long-term strategy to develop high-
performance sport and a range of research
and consultancy services centred around
communities in the Waikato region.
It is partnering the Home of Cycling
Charitable Trust as part of a strategic
commitment that will have long term
benefits for communities, schools, educators
and researchers, along with elite athletes
from a range of sports, not just cycling.
Along with the national cycling body
Bike NZ, Triathlon New Zealand has
announced it will move to the Home of
Cycling complex while rowing has a well-
established high performance centre at
Lake Karapiro.
The Trust is currently building the
National Cycling Centre of Excellence
(Avantidrome) complex near Cambridge,
with the University of Waikato investing
$1 million over five years in the partnership.
It will give the university tertiary
naming rights for the centre along with
access to world-class facilities worth $28.5
million for staff and students.
University of Waikato Deputy Vice-
Chancellor Professor Alister Jones says the
partnership is about more than cycling and
is part of the university’s wider commitment
to engaging with the community.
“It ticks all the boxes,” he says.
“It connects to schools, it connects to
communities and it is part of an integrated
structure. It’s about active communities,
it supports sport in the community, the
next level of students coming through, our
Hillary [scholarship] work, the whole range.
It’s not just about elite sports.”
Professor Jones says the university will
establish a high performance lab at the
Avantidrome and there will be research
opportunities covering a wide range of fields,
including Health and Physical Education,
Sports Management, Event Management,
Coach Development and Engineering.
“It’s broader than just sports,” he says. The
University of Waikato already has applied
research strengths in athlete development
and performance, sports coaching and coach
development educational programmes and
it is anticipated that access to the high
performance facilities at the Avantidrome
will enable Sport and Leisure Studies
within the Faculty of Education to grow
its externally funded research income and
enhance its programmes.
The Avantidrome is due for completion
later this year.
www.homeofcycling.org.nz
Home of Cycling partnership to bring
long-term community benefits
More work needed on energy policy
NEW ZEALAND policy makers could do a lot more to improve
energy efficiency and conservation, a new report says.
It echoes calls from other organisations, including the
Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty and the
government’s own Green Growth Advisory
Group and says the country’s energy policy
framework should give “a central place to
energy efficiency”.
The report is the first part of the Energy
Cultures Research Project, a $1,050,000
project investigating how society can adapt
rapidly to achieve a low-energy, low-carbon
future. It focuses on household energy
behaviour around space and water heating,
which accounts for 60% of all household
energy use, and is the result of three years
work by Professor Barry Barton and a team
of inter-disciplinary researchers from around
the country. Professor Barton, from the
University of Waikato’s Te Piringa - Faculty
of Law, is the lead author of the report,
which was launched at the National Energy
Research Institute (NERI) conference in
Wellington earlier this year.
He says improving the efficiency of our
energy use would have positive spin-offs
across the board. “There are lots of changes we can make that would
result in the use of energy far more effectively. We would spend less
on electricity, reduce our climate change emissions and get more
results in terms of warm houses and the like.”
The report shows lower energy users – about 25% of the
population – tend to have substandard housing and inefficient
energy technologies yet have “very economical” energy practices.
“This combination of circumstances tends to be aligned with cold,
often damp, housing,” it says. While initiatives such as the Warm
Up New Zealand programme helped, it needed to continue and
include clean and efficient space and water heating.
The report also looked into issues faced by tenants, a growing
proportion of the population. It says addressing the lack of drivers
for landlords to improve energy standards of
rental properties should be a priority.
It also notes another group, about
20% of the population, represented an
opportunity to make “significant gains” in
energy conservation and efficiency. This
group had higher energy use, paid little
attention to improving energy efficiency
at home, owned lots of appliances and had
little regard for energy efficient practices.
“This cluster of households is generally
wealthier and thus has fewer barriers than
others to making efficiency improvements,”
the report says.
Professor Barton says the report’s
release is timely given the current debate
on affordable housing. “If you build cheap
houses you do pay a price in other ways.”
New Zealand houses are often cold and
damp with little or no insulation so simply
installing a heat pump does not fix the
problem. Power bills could go up while the
heat being generated is easily lost.
Improving energy efficiency and conservation is about changing
behaviour, Professor Barton says, “but how people behave is
complex”. The material culture of a household “seems to be more
important than values or norms”.
Professor Barton and his team are now working on the second
part of the Energy Futures Project – based at Otago University –
looking at private (home and business) transport.
barton@waikato.ac.nz
RIDING HIGH: Home of Cycling Trust Chief Executive Geoff Balme, left, shows
University of Waikato Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Alister Jones around
the under-construction Avantidrome.
RESEARCHING ENERGY USE: Space and
water heating accounts for 60% of home
energy use.