Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series 2013

The Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series at the University of Waikato introduces our newest professors to the community. The 2013 series will showcase some of their latest research in Education, Science and Management - come along to find out what our people are doing, and how their work is having a real impact on the world around us.

All lectures are free and open to the public.

Time and venue: 6-7pm, Opus Bar open from 5pm at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato.

17 September 2013

Leadership for the Future: Has leadership theory lost its way?

Professor Chris Branson , Faculty of Education

Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Gandhi - we know the names, but do we know what makes them, and people like them, good leaders? Such a question is the focus of Education Professor Chris Branson's upcoming Inaugural Professorial Lecture.

Chris lectures in educational leadership and is interested in the theoretical and practical skills required of good leaders. To this end, he describes three types of leaders; transactional, transformational and, a term he has coined, 'transrelational'.

Transactional leaders typify those common during the World Wars; the war hero, the army general, the expert. Churchill, who was directive and authoritative in his approach, is an example, says Chris. The transformational leaders are the Gandhis of the world, who care and lead people to create change and build capacity.

"The transrelational leader is someone who encourages understanding and empathy amongst others. These leaders create opportunities for people to work together harmoniously and encourage and celebrate people's differences." He says this style of leadership aims to create a society that is socially just and inclusive.

View Professor Chris Branson's full lecture on the University of Waikato's iTunes U channel.

23 July 2013

What's going on with Kim Dotcom?

Professor Neil Boister, Te Piringa – Faculty of Law

25 June 2013

Turning negatives into positives: The story of how a simple mistake led to new ways of modelling structures

Professor Ilanko, Department of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Professor Ilanko's research and teaching looks at the behaviour of structures – how they move, how they undergo stress and how they vibrate. He says structures, like people, will undergo more stress when they are less flexible. "So sometimes it is useful to introduce some flexibility in structures to reduce stress levels."

He draws many other similarities between the forces on structures and on people to explain engineering concepts and he will do this also at his Inaugural Professorial Lecture this month.

When Professor Ilanko mistakenly put a negative symbol in front of a 'mass' in a complex engineering calculation in his PhD thesis, he inadvertently discovered a possible refinement to the 'Penalty method', a common numerical problem that has plagued scientists and engineers for more than 60 years.

The resulting calculations lead to more than 15 peer-reviewed journal articles and some healthy debate among his Engineering peers. "One reviewer went as far as to call it 'black magic', so in engineering circles ‘negative mass’ is probably still quite controversial."

View Professor Ilanko's full lecture on the University of Waikato's iTunes U channel.

21 May 2013

Soil microbes that complete the nitrogen cycle: can we work in partnership?

Professor Louis Schipper, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Professor Louis Schipper will discuss how working with soil microbes could help overcome problems caused by human acceleration of the nitrogen cycle at his inaugural professorial lecture in May.

Professor Schipper, who started his career as a PhD student studying denitrifying microbes in riparian wetlands, will explain how his career has moved from simple research to creating systems utilising those microbes to return excess nitrogen to the atmosphere as a gas.

"Human acceleration of the global nitrogen cycle has increased food production for billions of people," he says.

"We have converted nitrogen gas in our atmosphere to biologically-available forms that substantially increase plant and animal growth. However, when nitrogen is in excess, its movement through the landscape leads to multiple unwanted environmental effects. Completing the nitrogen cycle to return excess nitrogen to the atmosphere requires us to learn how to work with soil microorganisms."

View Professor Schipper's full lecture on the University of Waikato's iTunes U channel.

30 April 2013

Energy, Information, Evolution and Life

Professor Vic Arcus, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering

For better or for worse, the story of life on Earth starts with thermodynamics. It is the interplay of energy, information, evolution and life which is the topic for University of Waikato biologist Professor Vic Arcus' Inaugural Professorial Lecture later this month.

During the lecture Professor Arcus will consider the quote from famous Oxford chemist Professor Peter Atkins who said of the second law of thermodynamics that "no other law of science has contributed more to the liberation of the human spirit" Professor Arcus has been with the Department of Biological Sciences since 2006.

View Professor Arcus' full lecture on the University of Waikato's iTunes U channel.

26 March 2013

Anxieties of Knowing: Academic Pathologies, Critical Philosophy and the Culture of Self

Professor Michael Peters, Department of Policy, Cultural & Social Studies, Faculty of Education

Michael A. Peters, Professor of Education, has written dozens of books and hundreds of papers and chapters on education, philosophy and politics, but one paper has evaded him for the past decade. In his inaugural lecture as a professor of the University of Waikato, Professor Peters pursues this elusive paper theorising the concept of "academic pathologies" and examining what he calls the "anxiety of knowing". During the lecture, he draws upon the work of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, widely considered one of the foundational thinkers of existentialism, the American film-maker Woody Allen, and Jacques Derrida, among other thinkers, to talk about the culture of the "academic self".

View Professor Peters' full lecture on the University of Waikato's iTunes U channel.