Victoria University of Wellington - Podcast Victoria University of Wellington

Is it time to step into your first management role? How do you know when you should make that move, and how do you prepare?Hear from fellow alumni who’ve made the journey into management at this Breakfast with the Experts alumni event.

From demonstrating your leadership potential to developing an outstanding team culture, you’ll hear from Dr Ben Walker from the School of Management, in discussion with Leigh-Ann Ung, Executive HR at Habit Health, and Nic Barkley, Manager Ministerial Services at the Department of Corrections.

Learn more about the complexities and challenges facing Aotearoa New Zealand in managing its freshwater resources in this talk given by Chief Executive of the Ministry of the Environment James Palmer.

Drawing from his experience in regulatory law and local and central government, James unpacks some of the major factors and considerations shaping freshwater management.

This session is taken from the Wai Aotearoa seminar series organised by the Stout Centre for New Zealand Studies in April-May 2023 on the state of freshwater in Aotearoa New Zealand. Video recordings of the series are available here: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/stout-centre/about/previous-events/wai-aotearoa-seminar-series

The drive for collaboration and collective support is a cornerstone of sustainability, and the guests in this episode introduce a variety of ways that partnership is being implemented at the University level, as well as at the global scale. The University’s Living Pā project is in the spotlight as a key example of what can be achieved when diverse people and ideas come together for the greater good. The discussion touches on New Zealand being uniquely positioned as a small nation where communication across disciplines is relatively easy, and where everybody can contribute to addressing our sustainability challenges.

Our host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Connor is joined by guests Senior Advisor in the office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori, Rhonda Thompson (Poutini Ngāi Tahu) and the Director of Sustainability, Andrew Wilks, to discuss the importance of partnership in working towards sustainability.

In this episode host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Conner is joined by guests Dr. Hiria McRae from the School of Education and Prof. Warwick Murray from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences to talk about the relationship between equity and sustainability. This is exemplified through the guest’s work supporting communities that experience educational, social, economic, and political marginalisation, as well as through the development of ethical trade and educational programmes. A theme that runs through the conversation centres on the connection between equity and sustainability and the need to develop ways of being in the world that celebrate connectivity rather than divisiveness.

In this episode host Dr Sarah Jane O’Conner is joined by guests Dr. Ben Walker (School of Management) and Hannah Blumhardt (Institute for Governance and Policy Studies) to discuss the circular economy. A circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change through the elimination of waste and pollution, reusing products and materials, and regenerating nature. The guests discuss ways to re-think how resources are consumed and disposed, and how this framework might encompass and shift value perceptions of skills-based and sharing economies. They introduce these ideas through the lens of the individual consumer and the business sector, and propose strategies for government-led action and implementation.

Clean, fresh water is essential to our health—and is threatened, in Aotearoa New Zealand not only by climate change, but by poor industrial farming practices, population growth, and under-investment. This conversation illuminates the need for strong governance in addressing water security, as well as addressing the issues underlying the Three Waters discussion, and the place freshwater and the 100% Pure New Zealand concept play in our cultural identity.

Our host Dr Sarah Jane O’Connor is joined in this episode by guests, green criminologist Dr Sarah Monod de Froideville, and environmental economist Dr Julia Talbot-Jones to discuss the murky depths of our clean water discourse.