Research and Reason Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland

With the 21st anniversary of the decriminalisation of sex work in New Zealand coming up, Dr Cheryl Ware from the School of Humanities discusses our history of sex workers.

 

Cheryl talks about her most recent project where she interviews sex workers and explores the experiences of women in the industry to tell their stories. Her book on the subject is due to be released in 2025.

Associate Professor Erin Griffey is recreating Renaissance beauty recipes with a team of scientists to analyse active ingredients and effectiveness.

Erin talks about how she works through thousands of beautifying recipes from ancient Egyptian sources through to the 18th century. Her research also looks at the broader societal perception of ageing for women during the Renaissance period and how it affects our attitudes towards beauty today.

Click here to read more about her project: https://theconversation.com/remaking-history-how-we-are-recreating-renaissance-beauty-recipes-in-the-modern-chemistry-lab-176461

Mareike Schmidt discusses different language teaching and learning methods, such as implementing podcasts as a tool for students to use and learn a new language.

 

She also suggests that by studying abroad, we could immerse in new languages and cultures, and thus learn more about ourselves.

 

Mareike is a Professional Teaching Fellow and the Study Abroad Adviser for German. If you're interested in researching or studying in other countries, visit this page to find more: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/arts/current-students/student-exchange-and-study-abroad.html

Senior Lecturer Dr Chris Wilson and his team researched the online postings of the Christchurch terrorist, and discovered he had been posting anonymously about his plans four years before the attack.

 

Chris talks about how they combined different methods, such as linguistic characteristics, to comb through thousands of posts and identify the attacker.

 

He explains how, if we understand how such people act, we might be able to detect and prevent similar atrocities in the future.

 

Read more about the research here: https://theconversation.com/christchurch-terrorist-discussed-attacks-online-a-year-before-carrying-them-out-new-research-reveals-223955

Professor Neal Curtis talks about how his academic career in comics started and how it led to collaborating with brain researchers and illustrators to raise awareness of brain tumours.

Neal also discusses Batman as an example of sovereignty and how Wonder Woman's origin story is connected to the history of women's reproductive rights.

*Neal mixed up the names of mother and daughter in Marston's story. Olive was Marston's partner while Ethel was imprisoned for handing out leaflets to women about contraception. She went on a hunger strike and was released from jail after her sister Margaret Sanger promised to lessen her activities.



You can read more about Neal's project here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2023/10/16/comics-a-no-brainer-for-bringing-research-to-life.html

With the announcement of Newshub closing, Associate Professor Luke Goode discusses what this means for us and what the future of media could look like.