Podcasts and audio archives 2023

30 November 2023: Cawthron's Manager of Freshwater Ecosystems Roger Young was recently interviewed on Newstalk ZB about Our Land and Water National Science Challenge's latest Freshwater Quality report. Hear Roger talking about the roles we all need to play to turn things around and reduce the contamination of our freshwater ecosystems.

23 November 2023: Speaking to RNZ's Morning Report, Dr Karaitiana Taiuru, a specialist in technology ethics from Taiuru and Associates, says the government is allowing tech companies to use Māori as guinea pigs for facial recognition technology.

8 November 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Raed El Sarraf. Raed is Technical Principal at WSP New Zealand. He has extensive experience in corrosion engineering and asset integrity management of structural steel and other metal structures.

4 November 2023: RNZ's Kim Hill speaks to CAR T pioneer and BioOra board member Prof Carl June MD and Malaghan Institute Clinical Director Dr Rob Weinkove about the promising results of NZ's first CAR T-cell clinical trial, and the history and future of this ground-breaking cancer immunotherapy. They are joined by writer and poet Michele Leggott, a participant in the trial, who is 12 months on from treatment.

24 October 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Fanqin Meng. Fanqin, who is no stranger to HERA, is a Structural Fire Research Engineer within the HERA team. They are shining the spotlight on him as the recipient of the Student of the Year Award which he received at this year's Future Forum Industry Awards in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

11 October 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Byron Konia. Byron is a Senior Mechanical Engineer and Māori Advisor at Stantec in Wellington. HERA last spoke to him back in 2019 when he was just starting off his career as a young Graduate Hydraulic Engineer. Here he discusses what he has been up to and how he thinks the engineering environment has changed to better attract and retain a diverse workforce.

4 October 2023: Radio New Zealand's Our Changing World programme recently interviewed Dr Geoffrey Handsfield of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute musculoskeletal modelling group. Geoffrey wants to understand what is happening in the muscles of children with cerebral palsy across time. To do this he is working with Mātai Medical Institute in Tairāwhiti on a longitudinal MRI study of children both with and without cerebral palsy.

26 September 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Geoff Bird. Geoff Bird was this year's recipient of the HERA Foundation Keith Smith Memorial Award, for distinguished service to Aotearoa New Zealand’s metals industry. Geoff chats with HERA's Executive Board Chair Craig Stevenson on his career pathway towards this acknowledgement and everything in between.

13 September 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Robert Finch. Robert is Director of Timber Unlimited and is also a member of HERA’s Industry Advisory Group for the “Low Carbon Design Framework for Low Rise Buildings” project. He has a background in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering, has managed research and product development, and set research directions for the past 23 years.

30 August 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Cliff Ellery. Cliff Ellery is General Manager – Innovex at Tīra. From grassroot beginnings in the Taranaki, to receiving the 2023 #INN0V8 change industry award for exporting spiral welding innovations – in this episode Cliff talks about the innovation that led Tīra to the win, its business expansion plans, and what others could learn from their experience with technology innovation.

16 August 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Phil Gaby. Phil is Project Director at Holmes ANZ and a civil structures designer, with expertise in bridges, wharves and water retaining structures. Specialising in design and constructing projects and alternative designs where value engineering is needed to bring projects back on track, Phil’s passion is delivering efficient, elegant, quick and easy-to-construct affordable structures with the lowest practical environmental footprint.

2 August 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Nico Patchay, Technical Manager of Niche Modular Construction. As the first company to use HERA’s zero carbon steel programme, Hōtaka Whakakore Puhanga Waro, through offsetting – this podcast delves into how they’ve utilised the program for their steel modular building projects and what their experience has been in using it.

12 July 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Thomas Hörnfeldt. Thomas is the Vice President of the Sustainable Business at SSAB, coming from a background in the metals, construction and process automation industry. He chats with HERA's Senior Structural Sustainability Engineer Amir Shah Mohammadi about SSAB’s HYBRIT® technology which has resulted in the world’s first fossil free steel production.

28 June 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Enda Crossin. Enda Crossin is an Associate Professor and Director of Engineering Management Programmes at the University of Canterbury. This podcast explores the BeLongEng project, that Enda leads, the biggest ever longitudinal study of engineering practice.

12 June 2023: A Gisborne-based research project by Mātai Medical Research is using MRI scanning to study the impacts of methamphetamine in the brain. RNZ Nine-to-Noon presenter Kathryn Ryan speaks with Lead Principal Investigator at Mātai Research Associate Professor Miriam Scadeng.

29 May 2023: Dr Kyla-Louise Horne from the New Zealand Brain Research Institute has been awarded an $180k Emerging Researcher Fellowship by the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation to support her two year research project investigating hallucinations experienced by those with Parkinson's disease.

19 April 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Mumin Bhat. Mumin is the National Business Development Manager for Ecostruxure Power at Schneider Electric and is passionate about helping businesses who need guidance to become more sustainable and are unsure how to measure their impact.

5 April 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Andrea Lun. Andrea is the South Auckland House of Science Manager who is passionate about making science more accessible for rangatahi (youth).

22 March 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Rob Woolner. Rob is the Managing Director of Autex Industries Limited. Rob chats about alternative education pathways for youth through vocational education and business skill development, which is his passion.

8 March 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with Marie-Salome Duval-Chaneac. She is currently re-entering a Research Master in Engineering studies on Sustainable Resources Recovery at the University of Auckland on the circular economy. In particular, investigating new pathways for the circularity of metallic materials from scrap to powders for additive manufacturing.

28 February 2023: There's tonnes of silt smothering the East Coast right now in badly hit flood areas. But what is it? Where did it come from? Is it bad for us? What to do with it? Motu affiliate Professor Troy Baisden, a principal investigator at Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre of Research Excellence on Complex Systems, talks to Jesse Mulligan.

2 February 2023: Ariana Brown and Jackson Clarke, two of 16 Mātai Medical Research Institute interns talk to Turanga FM about their background studies, what Mātai has to offer, and how they are impacting their community as a whole.

1 February 2023: In this episode of Stirring the Pot HERA talks with John Luxton. John is Founder of Regeneration HQ – a self-professed ‘anti-consultant’ hand crafting solutions for SMEs in Aotearoa New Zealand with practical, hands-on support.