Category Archives: Coming Events

Critical minerals, material solutions

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Associate Prof Anna Garden and Associate Prof Erin Leitao
The MacDiarmid Institute
Date: Monday 7 September
Time: 6pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, EIT – Hawke’s Bay Campus
501 Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier
Free entry but please register to reserve your place

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Critical minerals – raw materials that are essential to many existing and future technologies – have been making headlines in recent times due to increasing supply chain vulnerabilities. In this talk speakers from The MacDiarmid Institute will present materials science solutions that are being developed and utilised right now, in Aotearoa New Zealand, to recycle, replace or reduce our need for critical minerals.

The MacDiarmid Institute is a network of leading researchers from around the country united in a common goal: to create and explore innovative, sustainable materials that will improve the lives of people in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world.

  • Associate Prof Anna Garden, Associate Professor in Chemistry, University of Otago, and Principal Investigator and Deputy Director, MacDiarmid Institute. Anna completed her PhD at the University of Otago and later held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iceland. Her research focuses on using a computational approach to investigate catalysis of small molecule reactions on both extended and nanoparticle catalysts.
  • Associate Prof Erin Leitao, Associate Professor in the Chemical Sciences, University of Auckland, and Principal Investigator, MacDiarmid Institute. Erin’s career in science started in Canada with a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Victoria, followed by a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Calgary. Erin then went on to do postdoctoral research in Bristol before coming to New Zealand and joining the University of Auckland in late 2015. Erin’s research focuses on discovering ways to link earth abundant main group elements together, with the eventual aim of making long chains (polymers), either with the same atom or two different atoms alternating along the polymer backbone.

Thursday, 11 May: 2023 Gibbons Online Lecture – AI and the New Creative Revolution

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The 2023 Gibbons Lectures series is intended to describe ongoing research in Computer Science to a wider public, organized by Faculty of Science, University of Auckland.

Tim Gibson, Stolen Glances Studio

Thursday 11 May, 6:30pm

Venue: Lib B15 Lecture Theatre General Library Basement, (109-B15) The University of Auckland 5 Alfred Street, Auckland CBD, register your place here.

This lecture will be available to livestream here.

Generative Artificial Intelligence like ChatGPT and its visual equivalents Dall-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion have shaken up the creative workforce, often producing industry level copywriting, editing, illustration and design at a fraction of the time and cost of a human worker. Their capabilities have set off a technological arm’s race at the world’s largest tech companies while simultaneously building a user base of enthusiasts faster than the most popular social media platforms.

What can Generative AI be used for, how powerful is it really, how could it be used ethically, and what impact will it have on our creative industries and the people who work for and engage with them?

What could a world look like where creativity is ‘free’? 

In this talk, Tim will showcase some of the current technologies’ capabilities, the hot takes and debates from within the creative industries and attempt to predict what is next for creative Generative Artificial Intelligence.

Tim Gibson is a Creative Director, Animator and Illustrator who has worked for companies big and small across film, television, comics, branding and packaging design. His work has appeared for Garage Project, Weta Workshop, Le Monde Diplomatique, Penguin Random-House, Te Papa Tongarewa and more.