Chemistry Outreach with Dr Dave Warren in Northland - Annual Report 2023

14 April, 2024

Our new Institute Affiliate, Dr Dave Warren from Chemistry Outreach at Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo University of Otago, travelled to Northland in July and November for two (separate) weeks of educational outreach. Dave has been building the relationship with the Northland communities over four trips to date, beginning independently in 2022 then supported by the Institute for three subsequent trips. This year, Dave was joined by our PhD student Sam McIntyre, along with several other Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo University of Otago students.

In June, the team visited five schools (three primary schools and two secondary schools, working with around 300 children), and were hosted on a marae by Ngāti Kahu.

In November the team was joined by Josh Bristowe (Ngāti Porou and Ngāpuhi) from Plant & Food Research and again visited five schools in five days; these included some of the regular schools (Pāmapūria, Oturu, Mangōnui and Taipā area school) who the team had previously partnered with, plus Kaitaia primary school. Over the week, the team worked with 430 children and were joined by three kuia from the Ngāti Kahu education portfolio.

The presence of the kuia brings great mana to the outreach visits and is a strong indication of the importance of this kaupapa to the iwi. The strengths of the relationship-building between Dave's team is evident in the invitation for one of the MSc students to collect local kānuka samples for extraction of natural products including potential anti-viral and anti-microbial compounds. The team will return the data gathered to the iwi once analysis is complete, which will also serve as another engagement opportunity to foster this growing relationship in an often-overlooked part of Aotearoa New Zealand.

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