Creating a better NZ through R&D tax credits /
Research to optimise king salmon production /
Malaghan securing medical discovery in New Zealand /
CSST partnership to bring AIS data to the Pacific /
HERA: Kaikoura earthquake challenges met by steel construction /
Lincoln Agritech in Antarctica / LASRA’s pioneering work on leather collagen /
Young NZ researchers making an impact on the world stage /
BRANZ: Learnings from Canterbury / Cawthron: Seafood safety /
Motu: Migrants, productivity, and the construction sector

The Minister for Research, Science and Innovation, the Hon Dr Megan Woods (right), and MBIE GM Science System Investments & Performance, Dr Prue Williams, meeting with the IRANZ team in Wellington on 21 March. Photo: Louise Thomas.

Creating a better NZ through R&D tax credits

“We want to create a better New Zealand where we are looking after our people, looking after our environment and we are planning for our future,” says the Science Minister the Hon Dr Megan Woods.

The Minister met with a packed room of Independent Research Organisation representatives in Wellington on 21 March. She took the opportunity to outline the Government’s broad R&D strategy.

“The big thing in the science portfolio is the coalition agreement to lift R&D to 2% of GDP over a period of ten years. This won’t be all government investment in R&D; it obviously requires a substantial uplift in business investment in R&D as well.

“Taking it back a step from there, if we think about what the broad aims of the Government are, it is pretty simple. We want to create a better New Zealand where we are looking after our people, looking after our environment and we are planning for our future. Our R&D programme needs to be linked really closely with those objectives.

“Our aim is to decarbonise our economy – to get to a net zero emissions by 2050. And, in a normal hydrological year, to 100% renewable electricity by 2035.

“It is obvious that a lot of research and science is needed to achieve these goals.”

MORE →

Cawthron research to optimise king salmon production

King salmon is a premium quality salmon with superior levels of healthy Omega-3s. It’s no surprise it’s in demand. Our King salmon industry exports to over 30 countries, employs hundreds of Kiwis, and in 2016 earned nearly $130 million in revenue. Working closely with the industry, scientists at Nelson’s Cawthron Institute have set out to increase our understanding of king salmon biology to optimise production. With three sizable research projects looking at various elements of king salmon production, as well as extensive infrastructure investment in a purpose-built multi-million-dollar salmon research facility.

MORE →
The Cawthron Aquaculture Park, where construction of a purpose-built multi-million-dollar salmon research facility is well underway. Image: Cawthron Institute.
Malaghan Institute of Medical Research: securing medical discovery in New Zealand

A major challenge for New Zealand-made biomedical discoveries is making the pivotal leap from laboratory to the market, where they become available to the benefit of the wider community.

By opening up a new discovery area in chemical-immunology the Malaghan Institute and the Ferrier Institute are using their combined skills to build innovative new molecules for use in therapy. With the Malaghan’s HRC IRO-funded research into the workings of the human immune system, medical scientists at Malaghan are able to create a portfolio of promising therapies for a range of different diseases.

MORE →

Malaghan researchers are creating a portfolio of promising therapies, including Avalia Immunotherapies, which are designed to support the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Photo: Malaghan Institute.
Award-winning NASA scientist Dr Delwyn Moller has been appointed as CSST’s Director of Research. Photo: CSST.
CSST partnership to bring AIS data to the Pacific

Following hard on the heels of the news that award-winning NASA scientist Dr Delwyn Moller has been appointed as CSST’s Director of Research, the Centre for Space Science Technology has announced a partnership with Spire Global Inc., a leading space-to-cloud data analytics company, to help both organisations further extend their impact in the South Pacific region.

CSST is planning to use Spire’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, collected from its ever increasing constellation of satellites, to improve maritime situational awareness throughout the South Pacific Ocean and beyond.

See also Award-winning NASA scientist appointed as Director of Research

MORE →

HERA: Kaikoura earthquake challenges met by steel construction

The magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake struck the North-Eastern region of the South Island on 14 November 2016. It was the largest earthquake in New Zealand since 1855, involving the rupture of over six faults with a rupture zone extending 200km – the closest point to Wellington was only 60km away.

The ground shaking resulted in between 80,000 and 100,000 landslides which blocked the coastal road and rail route to Kaikoura. There were also two fatalities attributed to this event.

Post-Kaikoura earthquake, little was mentioned about systemic failures in steel construction. HERA’s General Manager Structural Systems Dr Stephen Hicks said that while this gave them confidence that most structures performed well, they wanted to make sure, so took the opportunity to commission research to pinpoint any weaknesses in New Zealand’s steel constructions.

The recently published research confirmed there were no serious problems; however, several recommendations in the report will further improve steel construction performance in severe earthquake events.

MORE →

Recently published research confirmed that most structural steel buildings performed well; however, several recommendations in the report will further improve steel construction performance in severe earthquake events.
Photo: HERA.

Lincoln Agritech in Antarctica

"Doing field work in Antarctica required a lot of training, endurance and tolerance, as well as the ability to operate calmly when things go wrong," says Lincoln Agritech scientist, Dr Adrian Tan.

Lincoln Agritech’s Sensing Technologies team has been assisting the University of Canterbury with a subcontract delivering to the Deep South National Science Challenge. The project aims to enhance our understanding of weather systems and processes underlying climate change using 4D drones to monitor cloud and snow formation.

Working alongside glaciologist, Dr Wolfgang Rack, and his University of Canterbury team, Lincoln Agritech scientists and engineers have designed and built three sets of microwave sensors to measure snow depth over sea ice in Antarctica

Dr Tan, travelled to Antarctica to equip a drone with the snow depth radar and to assist in the first series of field trials. 

"The primary snow measurement objective was achieved - we successfully conducted snow mapping at a height of 15m with a cruising speed of 2m/s.

"This method of assessing snow depth is considerably faster than the traditional method of drilling core holes in the ice. A 2km transect can be flown in 30 minutes. This technique will be considerably cheaper and will greatly increase the amount of data that can be generated measuring the changing depth of snow and will assist with understanding climate change."

MORE →

Dr Adrian Tan tests his survival skills in the Deep South safety induction programme. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.
LASRA’s pioneering work on collagen provides better understanding of leather

LASRA leather researchers have developed a novel method to quantify ‘collagen crosslinks’ using mass spectrometry and have established a super-sensitive method for amino acid analysis. They have found that collagen crosslinks have a strong correlation to skin and leather strength and that amino acids are excellent indicators for the monitoring and optimisation of established leather processing protocols.

MORE →

Using a fluorescence detector on the HPLC, LASRA researchers have a precision tool to determine the amino acid composition of biological materials to a very high degree of resolution. Photo: LASRA.
Jacqueline Paul, a member of the BRANZ-led Building Better Homes, Towns & Cities Shaping Places: Future Neighbourhoods Māori Research team, was selected as a delegate for New Zealand at the UN 2018 Winter Youth Assembly in New York in February. Photo: BBHTC.
Young NZ researchers making an impact on the world stage

Two young New Zealand researchers have recently made an impact on the world stage. The Selection Committee of the IULTCS Research Commission (IUR) has announced that Yi (Ethan) Zhang from LASRA (Leather and Shoe Research Association) in Palmerston North is to receive a Euro 1500 IUR Research Grant, while Jacqueline Paul, a member of the BRANZ-led Building Better Homes, Towns & Cities Shaping Places: Future Neighbourhoods Māori Research team, was selected as a delegate for New Zealand at the UN 2018 Winter Youth Assembly in New York in February.

Ethan’s award-winning research topic is an area of great practical interest for the leather industry: “What makes leather stronger? A mechanistic study on the effect of natural/artificial cross-links on tensile strength using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS)”.  From this research project, mechanisms which directly contribute to the production of strong leather will be established. Also, as important as the strength of leather, the project will help the leather industry understand the role of mineral tannages on physical properties and so help to find environment-friendly alternatives with equivalent effects.

MORE →

BRANZ: Learnings from Canterbury

BRANZ Principal Structural Engineer Graeme Beattie recently published an article in Build magazine on "Learnings from Canterbury". He said that recent major earthquakes have provided much information on how our buildings perform in seismic events and helped reshape some details of how buildings are constructed. Although timber-framed housing performed as expected, with no collapses due to shaking, it was a different story in flat areas affected by ground liquefaction, with some houses becoming so distorted it made them impossible to repair. Graeme outlines the recommendations and changes for building requirements.

MORE →

A home severely distorted from the uneven settling of ground liquefaction. Photo: BRANZ.
Gymnodinium catenatum: a bloom-forming species of microalgae found in NZ waters. Photo: Cawthron.
Cawthron: Seafood safety

In 1993, New Zealand’s export-focused shellfish industry suffered a three-month nationwide shutdown. The enforced closure and ban on exports was in response to a toxic algal bloom that posed a public health threat. Twenty-five years on from this event, New Zealand boasts a half billion dollar aquaculture sector; backed by a strong partnership between industry, science, and regulators.

Cawthron Research Scientist Dr Lincoln Mackenzie recognised in the early 1980’s that algal blooms and their associated biotoxins were an issue around the world and specialised in marine harmful algal blooms in the New Zealand environment. He was heavily involved in the scientific response to the 1993 bloom and said, “There was a lot of pressure at the time. People’s livelihoods were on the line and the media attention was huge - there was something people found very fascinating about this unknown thing from the ocean affecting their food supply.”

MORE →

Motu: Migrants, productivity, and the construction sector

With plans for building 100,000 new homes over the next ten years, construction is a sector at the heart of questions about New Zealand’s productivity.

New research from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research finds that the construction sector is very dynamic, with lots of staff changing firms and many firms entering and exiting the industry.

“Among those employed in the construction sector, fewer than 40 percent of people held the same job four years before a specific date and only around 40 percent held the same job four years after,” said Adam Jaffe, Senior Research Associate at Motu.

MORE →

The construction sector is very dynamic, with lots of staff changing firms and many firms entering and exiting the industry. Photo: Motu.
 
IRANZ
WHO WE ARE

IRANZ is an association of independent research organisations. Its members undertake scientific research, development or technology transfer. Members include Aqualinc Research Ltd, BRANZ, Cawthron Institute, CRL Energy Ltd, Centre for Space Science Technology (CSST), Heavy Engineering Research Association (HERA), Leather & Shoe Research Association (LASRA), Lincoln Agritech Ltd, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ), Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Opus Research, Titanium Industry Development Association Ltd (TiDA Ltd) and Transport Engineering Research NZ Ltd (TERNZ).

Contact: Dr Rob Whitney, Executive Officer, mobile: +64 27 2921050, email: information@iranz.org.nz

Copyright © iranz