Patrick O’Sullivan (Classics) gave the following invited public lecture at the Christchurch Art Gallery on Saturday March 16th: ‘Out of Time: Greek Myth and Art Across the World and Across the Centuries’, Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetū, for the ‘Out of Time’ Exhibition.
Read more →News
Look who popped in to see us at Digital Screen, co-creator of the award-winning series Kiri & Lou, Antony Elworthy! Antony has kindly loaned some amazing, handcrafted characters from the Kiri and Lou set to be displayed in our cabinets, made right here in Ōtautahi, Christchurch! Our second-year students were also lucky enough to receive […]
Read more →Alex Tan has been awarded a Tūwana award for Christchurch Otuatahi at Te Pae He joins just 10 people who are Tūwana – selected as advocates and champions for the city because of their skills and expertise and work for the development of the city over a sustained period of time – it’s a fantastic […]
Read more →The Arts Digital Lab is pleased to invite applications for the Faculty of Arts Digital Research Seed Fund. We have funding capacity in 2024 to support up to five research projects. Applications close 8 April 2024.
Link →Nik Taylor (Human Services and Co-Director, NZCHAS) recently (co)published results from a study on the role of animal companions in human wellbeing in The International Journal of Wellbeing. The abstract is as follows: While it is often assumed that animal companions unilaterally contribute to the wellbeing of their human companions, research has to date been equivocal. […]
Read more →Nik Taylor (Human Services and Co-Director, NZCHAS) gave an online seminar in March to Our Honor titled “Introduction to links between human and animal directed violence” with her colleague Heather Fraser from QUT. Our Honor is a not-for-profit organization that helps professionals involved in addressing animal cruelty and mistreatment to support and encourage each other. The […]
Read more →Ksenia Zavyalova, PhD candidate Understanding teachers’ networked lives in digital spaces (on the example of YouTube and TikTok) TUESDAY 19 March 1pm-2pm, LOCKE 611
Read more →Mike Grimshaw (Sociology) is undertaking a project on all the unknown and uncollected early writings of the great Political Historian JGA Pocock who both studied and taught at Canterbury university. He recently discovered the transcript of 2 lunchtime lectures Pocock gave at Canterbury university when on a brief visit here in 1968. In these, Pocock […]
Read more →Congratulations to Phillip Armstrong (English), Nicholas Wright (English), Erik Kennedy (English and UC Press), and Cindy Zeiher (Human Services) whose poems have been selected for the 2024 Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook (Massey University Press), edited by Tracey Slaughter. The anthology ‘Revelations’, launched on the 4th March, focuses on how poetry reveals, mirrors, surprises, and pays urgent […]
Read more →Opening 5pm, Wednesday 20 March Ilam Campus Gallery Fifty years ago, in 1973, the first staff member was appointed to the newly established department of Art History at the University of Canterbury, and the department began teaching in 1974. Years later, long-time head of the School of Fine Arts Professor John Simpson recalled that one of his […]
Read more →You are cordially invited to join in marking the publication of this work at the Ilam Homestead from 7pm on 8 March 2024. Light refreshments and a flute of champagne will be provided
Read more →We kicked off Semester one with Herea tō waka, Welcome Day – a day to welcome new students on campus and to help prepare them for their studies ahead. Campus was buzzing with the excitement from thousands of new students, with UC putting on a range of activities including an Ori-market, live music, fun activations, […]
Read more →Music faculty Justin DeHart recently returned from Nelson where he was invited to give a talk about his recent work with NZ composers and present a solo concert as part of the Adam New Zealand International Chamber Music Festival. Justin premiered a newly commissioned piece by John Psathas that features excerpts from a recent interview of […]
Read more →The School of Languages, Social and Political Sciences recently had a pizza lunch at the Community Garden just off Engineering Road. The idea was to volunteer time helping in the gardens and in return we could make use of their pizza oven and garden to have food and a catch up afterwards.
Read more →Nick Smith recently published a peer reviewed journal article in the Hague Journal of Diplomacy (Q1 Scopus journal) titled ‘From Positive to Negative Historical Statecraft: The Shifting Use of History in China’s Diplomacy’. The article looks at China’s increasing use of “negative history” in its diplomatic signalling. By looking at 20 years of Chinese MFA […]
Read more →Book your class visits now With the beginning of the term just around the corner, remember to suggest the UC Teece Museum to any teachers you know for their 2024 lesson planning. The Teece offers free in-house visits for primary and secondary school classes from Year 1 to Year 13. We also support tertiary teaching, hosting workshops […]
Read more →Views
Mike Grimshaw (Sociology): My thoughts on Free Speech and Academic Freedom having attended the Free Speech Union AGM and been on the Academic Freedom panel. Both Free Speech and Academic Freedom are too important to be left to the Left or the Right- or the Liberal Centre – politically. For all positions hold within them […]
Read more →Mike Grimshaw(Sociology) was interviewed by Dom George of REX Rural Exchange radio regarding on-line lectures, the state of the tertiary sector and wider societal issues of the broken social contract. This arose out his widely read article on the tertiary sector https://plainsight.nz/the-broken-system-and-broken-social-contract-of-tertiary-education-in-new-zealand/ that has been reposted across of number of on-line sites and forums.
Read more →Michael-John Turp published and article in the journal Sport, Ethics and Philosophy. The paper examines the relationship between meaning in life and morality through the case study of boxing. While sport is often pursued more for reasons of meaning than morality, philosophers have had far less to say about the former. How are the ends of […]
Read more →Mike Grimshaw (Sociology) has a chapter on AI & ethics in Technology, Users and Uses: Ethics and Human Interaction Through Technology and AI
The chapter is: Not thinking like a young, white, western, secular man: Some ethical questions of whose intelligence and what intelligence is being artificialized?
This chapter takes the form of a thought piece that raises some questions regarding issues of diversity in AI. Its starting point is that while there are myriad academic writings on this issue, most of the wider, educated, interested general public engage with the issues and wider questions of AI from non-academic sources. Therefore, this article, written from an interdisciplinary perspective and reading, engages primarily with these sources to consider how the issues of AI and diversity are presented, encountered and engaged with for such a general public. The argument proceeds by engaging with two main issues. Not only is there a noted lack of diversity in the tech industry, especially as engaged with by more journalistic sources, there are also ethical questions needing to be raised as to what constitutes the “intelligence” in AI. In this chapter questions of “intelligence” are engaged with from considering primarily non-academic source AI discussions as this is the wider public context for questions of AI. As such, this is a deliberately ‘provocative’ reading and discussion, taking as its basis that we could – or rather need to – say: non-white, non-male, non-western minds matter.
Link →It’s not often a distinguished professor offers to explain the academic theory of ‘Bullshitology’ to the world, but a public talk at the University of Canterbury offers exactly that, livestreamed and free to attend. In this upcoming free public lecture – titled Bullshitologically speaking … really? – the University of Canterbury’s Te Amorangi | Pro-Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Distinguished Professor […]
Read more →Ahead of the pink tsunami of Barbie-mania from the new live-action movie, author of Heroines in History: A Thousand Faces, UC History Professor Katie Pickles talks about Barbie’s influence over the years. “This mass-produced plastic doll wasn’t like any of the ragdolls or baby dolls all through history. This one was teaching you how you should look, what body type and what body weight you should be.”
Link →Chinese politics expert Professor Anne-Marie Brady spoke to Corin Dann on RNZ about Prime Minister Hipkins meeting with President Xi. A significant milestone where expectation management is key rather than communication differences, says Prof Brady
Link →UC Political Science and International Relations Professor Alex Tan joined TVNZ Q&A show to discuss Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ diplomatic trip to China.
Link →On the Conversation Political Science and International Relations Lecturer Linda Mussell speaks about the several Canadian provinces that will no longer allow the CBSA to detain immigrants in provincial jails.
Link →Jeremy Moses and Sian Troath have published a piece in The Conversation on New Zealand’s policy on autonomous weapons systems and how this relates to its interest in joining Pillar 2 of AUKUS.
Link →On the Conversation, Associate Professor Jeremy Moses and Postdoctoral Fellow Sian Troath comment on New Zealand’s potential participation in military technology sharing.
Link →Nick Smith recently published in International Affairs: “New Zealand’s ‘Maori foreign policy’ and China: a case of instrumental relationality?”, International Affairs (2023) This is the first ever “global IR” piece from a te ao Maori perspective. International Affairs is one of the top IR journals (currently ranked 6th on the SSCI index).
Read more →Mass shootings in the United States are depressingly routine. As are the responses, that are generous on thoughts and prayers and miserly on anything meaningful. But the recent shooting in the mall in Allen, Texas, had an unusual element that confounded many.
Link →Erin Harrington spoke with the New York Times about how and why breastfeeding has become a key motif in contemporary body horror.
Link →The commitment to truth-telling has been pushed back as the news becomes more politicised in the US, according to UC Professor Donald Matheson. He spoke to 1NewsNZ about recent Fox News events and how it has been pulled further and further to the right as it competes with alternative media outlets.
Link →Massey university, on behalf of an all universities discussion group on air travel, is circulating this survey to try and gauge how people are feeling about air travel and how limits on air travel might impact different communities and stages of career development.
You might be aware that UC currently doesn’t offset air travel – they are developing a policy, I believe, to encourage staff to make real reductions in the amount we travel in a technical committee Professor Jan Evans-Freeman leads. This survey informs the wider debate for UC and all universities about how we as staff are currently thinking about our air travel. If you have time to fill it in, I know the organisers would appreciate this.
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UC’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva says, “it’s huge for the Pacific.”
Link →The latest IPCC report stresses new climate realities, describing this decade as the “critical moment” for protecting people from climate impacts we can no longer avoid.
Lead author, UC Professor Bronwyn Hayward says, “our current pace and scale of action are insufficient to reduce rising global temperatures.”
Link →Events
Thinking of applying to the 2024 Arts Digital Research Seed Fund? Bring your project ideas to this workshop, 10-11 am Wednesday 27 March in Elsie Locke 313, for an opportunity to discuss and further develop your proposal.
Link →Justin DeHart presents newly commissioned NZ works for solo percussion. Come celebrate the premiere of James Gardner’s epic drumset solo, Traps, that Justin recently recorded for NZ Percussion Music Volume 2 album, due out later this year on Rattle Records. Some other highlights include: Infinite Mind by John Psathas is a two-movement piece for marimba and […]
Read more →You are invited to a Philosophy department seminar with Distinguished Professor Owen Flanagan; “Varieties of Naturalism”. When: Friday 1 March Where: Beatrice Tinsley 329 Time: 3:00 pm Zoom Invite Link: https://canterbury.zoom.us/j/98523747706?pwd=dHhvWE92c0VIQ1hobVJpRS8zQVdlQT09 Passcode: 985 2374 7706
Read more →This recital celebrates Folksong Arrangements from the turn of the century to modern day. We often view folksongs as simple, little ditties easily passed from one generation to another. However, this significantly diminishes the rich tapestries layered deep within the memorable melodic lines. Monday 18 March, 7pm – 8pm UC Arts at the Arts Centre, […]
Read more →For one night only UC Master of Fine Arts students of 2023/24 invite you to celebrate with them the completion of their studies, and a preview of their final submissions. Fine Arts Block 2 Thursday 29 February 5:30 – 7:30 pm Please meet in the foyer for drinks and nibbles, and to be given directions […]
Read more →Join us on Thursday 29 February at 1 pm in Logie 613, for a short talk by mapmaker David Garcia (he/they), in which he shares parts of his PhD thesis on digital geography together with reflections about his cartographic practice and critique over the past decade. In particular, the mapmaker will focus on map elements […]
Read more →Ōtautahi artist Reuben Derrick presents improvisational duets. The concert will culminate in a double duo formation. Featured artists: Mahina Ina Kingi Kaui Justin DeHart Reece McNaughten Monday 11 March, 7pm – 8:30pm UC Arts at the Arts Centre, Recital Room Tickets here
Read more →Arts Centre Off Centre Festival featuring UC School of Music Student Featuring UC music student Courtney Hickmott, “Musical Mosaic: Voices Across Cultures” invites you to embark on an awe-inspiring journey, discovering the vibrant tapestry of classical vocal music from across the globe. Immerse yourself in a captivating performance celebrating the diverse melodies and narratives of various cultures. […]
Read more →Join in the fun of the Off Centre Festival and get creative in these two FREE workshops at the UC Teece Museum. Come to one workshop or come to both. Session One – Poetry This workshop is all about celebrating what you love about your friends, family, companions, siblings, besties, buds, loved ones or maybe your crush. Prompts […]
Read more →Celebrating 50 years of teaching and researching Art History at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha University of Canterbury Wednesday 20th March 2024, 5:30 – SOFA Gallery, University of Canterbury, followed by dinner ARTH 50th Anniversary ARTH 50th Anniversary
Read more →Ōtākaro will be opening at the start of semester one and we would like to invite UC staff to come over and take a look at the refurbished Digital Screen lecture theatres, learning spaces, labs and edit suites. Walk over to Dovedale any time between 10am and 2pm and have a sneak preview before our […]
Read more →Arts Centre Off Centre Festival Rakuto Kurano: Viola Plus Award-winning musician Rakuto Kurano presents a programme of works featuring the viola, plus other instruments. 6pm – 7pm Saturday 9 March 2024 UC Arts at the Arts Centre
Read more →Opening: 5pm, Wednesday 21 February Artist talk: 11am, Thursday 22 February What if an artist was given free rein to infiltrate a building, extending beyond their studio space to fill it with their own sculptural work? In December 2023 sculptor Isabella Loudon opened up the building she has been working in for the last two […]
Read more →The Arts Digital Lab | Te Pokapū Aronui ā-Matihiko invites you to our annual Student Reflections seminar, Wednesday 6 December at 10 am in Locke 104A. In this rapid-fire series of five-minute talks, our students will reflect on the projects they’ve been working on in the Lab this year. Coming from a wide range of disciplines and qualifications, each has brought a unique perspective to the Lab. Their descriptions of interesting data they’ve come across, skills they’ve acquired, and lessons they’ve learnt will give you an insight into the varied work of the ADL.
Link →The New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA) will hold its 25th Biennial Conference in Christchurch from 29 November to 1 December, 2023. This year’s conference will be hosted by the School of Language, Social and Political Sciences, University of Canterbury. We have put together a programme of events, including panel sessions, with more than 110 […]
Read more →This is Ilam School of Fine Arts’ annual week-long event in which incredible works are on display from our 3rd, 4th, HONs and MFA studio-artists. The week will kick off with an opening event on Friday 24 November, 4pm. The studios will then be open daily 10am – 4pm, Sat 25 – Thurs 30 November. Free […]
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