University of Otago funded Research Programmes

This programme will establish a pipeline for antiviral drugs from NZ. There are no effective antiviral treatments to combat most viral infections in humans or animals. We also face the constant threat of antiviral resistance arising in those viruses for which we do have clinical therapies. Additional threats include the emergence of novel viruses, and climate change enabling the spread of disease-carrying vectors.

We are a multidisciplinary research team operating as the Aotearoa New Zealand Antiviral Research Network (ANZARN). We have discovered multiple classes of small molecule compounds through our research that are effective against a broad array of viruses infecting humans and other animals that are ready to proceed along the discovery pipeline into lead optimisation and preclinical testing as antiviral drugs. We have also identified novel classes of antiviral drug and new ways to deliver drugs more effectively.

Viruses affecting human health cause substantial morbidity, mortality, societal disruptions, economic impacts and a burden on our healthcare system. Viruses of production and companion animals cause serious harm and pose significant threats to New Zealand or our international partners. The global movement of people and products and an ageing population will only increase the impact of viral diseases.

The lack of treatment options for viruses can have a significant impact as evidenced during the recent coronavirus pandemic. There is a clear need for antiviral drugs that prevent or limit viral infection to provide rapid control during disease outbreaks or even cure viral diseases. Developing drugs that have broad activity against multiple viruses maximises their potential and provides rapid responses in the event of a new virus emergence.

Antarctica rarely conjures images of the tropics, and yet to atmospheric scientists, the connection is critical: what happens in the atmosphere over Antarctica can have dramatic effects on weather systems here in NZ, such as the landfall of powerful tropical storms.

And we are about to lose a vital tool in our predictive arsenal.

Currently, we measure changes in atmospheric gases in Antarctica using a NASA satellite with a special instrument that can detect the faint thermal glow of climate gases. It doesn’t require daylight so it can detect these gases at night – which lasts up to 6 months in Antarctica.

But this satellite will burn up in 2026 and NASA cannot fund a replacement – the loss of this data will reduce the accuracy of global weather forecasts, causing significant financial, infrastructure, and human losses. Imagine the effects of Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle without the warnings we received.

Our research programme provides an alternative to this satellite. Integrating NZ’s capabilities in quantum technology and atmospheric science with innovations in the NZ aerospace industry, our device will cost less, be more compact, more energy-efficient, and detect a wide range of atmospheric gases.

With basic principles proven through MBIE’s Smart Ideas fund, our development and design are examples of Kiwi ingenuity at the cutting-edge. This programme will also use the information on atmospheric gases to improve forecasts of extreme weather events, create opportunities for a new commercial enterprise, new precision engineering outputs, and establish a robust transfer programme to weather forecasters and other users which will ensure those most affected by extreme weather to reap the benefits.

We will also engage with young people to inspire the next generation of Kiwi innovation.

This programme builds the foundations of regenerative mariculture in Aotearoa New Zealand by supporting the development of profitable businesses, that also provide food security, new products, ecosystem services and bioremediation. Development of a mosaic of mariculture arrays (Whata Kaimoana) that mimic natural ecosystems will boost profitability while ensuring the existing values of our coastal seas are enhanced. These arrays will be based around the native ecosystem engineer Macrocystis pyrifera (giant kelp, kōauau) grown alongside the iconic flat oyster (tio) and mussels (kutai).  We will focus on the highly productive coastal seas of southern New Zealand where mariculture is almost absent. We will add value to existing mussel mariculture operations, unlock potential from emerging products (bioactives) and rekindle the high-value flat oyster mariculture industry to maximise profitability per hectare.  This transition to a new way of operating will be decoupled from industry to allow true innovation and data sharing, maximising value to New Zealand. New players, new products, open access to data and pathways into new and emerging markets are required to grow, diversify and futureproof New Zealand’s mariculture sector. Whata Kaimoana provide the pathway to rebuild productive coastal ecosystems and restore economies and ways of life inherently connected to our coastal seas.

Space Weather research unveils how solar events impact human activities and technologies. The fundamental source of space weather is explosions on the Sun driving changes in the near-Earth environment.

There is emerging global recognition of the hazard posed by extreme space weather events due to modern societies’ reliance on advanced technology. Critical risks include:

• Disruption to satellite systems using our ionosphere for radio communications; and
• Blackouts of electrical power networks.

Without sufficient advance warning, and well considered and communicated response plans, extreme space weather events will led to potentially critical disruptions to satellite systems impacting communications, information technology, navigation, power blackouts, and electricity infrastructure damage that could take years to rectify, causing significant economic and social hardship.

Our programme is focused on the prediction and now-casting of extreme space weather events; this will produce the knowledge and tools needed for government disaster managers and sectors such as aerospace and electricity to prepare, respond, and lead recovery efforts.

We will leverage measurements from NZ-based dense monitoring networks to understand how solar explosions drive ionospheric and electrical grid impacts. These direct space weather impact measurements will be used to create predictive models driven by solar inputs. In parallel, we will use the tools developed in that workstream to provide now-casting, allowing industry and disaster managers to have real-time situational awareness. We will also implement, in partnership with industry, technological mitigations to extreme space weather events.

It is vital that all NZers understand the hazards posed by space weather to build a resilient and prosperous society; our dedicated science engagement work packages will cultivate this understanding from the bottom up, fostering a cooperative relationship between emergency managers and NZ communities.

Professor John Reynolds at the University of Otago is leading an international team of world class scientists to develop a new wearable technology to change the way neurological disorders like Parkinson’s Disease and brain cancers are treated.

Their revolutionary approach is a “wearable hat” that generates beams of sound and light energy beyond the range of human perception, focused on specific regions deep in the brain. The focused beams cause specially developed drug carriers administered in the blood stream to release their medical payloads at precise locations when and where they are required. The hat will be operated on demand and can be used on the move and away from the hospital or clinic. This will be especially useful for remote communities and for in-home treatment with whānau and family.

The precise targeting and timing of drugs to specific parts of the brain means for Parkinson’s Disease better life-changing outcomes for patients, with reduced side-effects, vastly improving existing treatments which are imprecise, wear off over time, and can be surgically invasive. Targeting cancer therapies to the precise area of the tumour in the brain will vastly improve treatment for brain cancers and reduce treatment side effects. Other neurological conditions will also benefit from the knowledge gained and technology developed from this research.

This world-leading technology utilises existing New Zealand manufacturers and will enhance the medical technology industry. New technology jobs will be created here to make and sell high value medical products to the rest of the world.

Māori participation in all aspects of the project provides technical and cultural attributes unique to New Zealand leading to unanticipated utilities and advantages to maximise the benefits for all New Zealanders.

Tourism is in the midst of a global crisis. While tourists, tourism operators, and destination managers are negotiating the immediate effects of a global pandemic, it is also timely to address the serious systemic issues that were confronting the industry before the current crisis arose and create a new model with a focus on low carbon travel, ecosystem restoration, and community participation, with mana whenua exercising their role as kaitiaki at the forefront.

This 5-year research program will create a technology-supported ‘new tourism’ model and radically transform the sector to address Aotearoa’s need for a more sustainable tourism industry. He karapitipitinga mariko - Immersive regenerative tourism experiences in Aotearoa, uses Virtual and Mixed Reality technologies to enable tourism without travel, enhancing local-based tourism, reducing carbon emissions from international travel, open up environmentally sensitive areas in a safe manner, and allowing tangata whenua to be in control of how their knowledge is shared. We will allow tourism businesses to offer both virtual (that do not require tourists to travel physically at all) and augmented physical (on site) visitor experiences independently or simultaneously, enabling tourists to explore Aotearoa in ways currently not possible. It will also generate unique insights into virtual tourism, supporting tourism providers to better understand the implications of this approach.

In an interdisciplinary project bringing together academic leaders from tourism, indigenous knowledge, and technologists and in partnership with the tourism industry and local communities, we will innovate the sector and build a tourism future that is economically more productive and resilient to crises, while enhancing tourism’s social, cultural and environmental sustainability, and creating memories that last long after the physical experience of the destination has ended.

Invasive pests damage our economy, environment and health. Control or eradication of those pests is expensive and often environmentally damaging. Novel methods for pest control are going to be needed if we are to reach goals such as Predator Free 2050, or to keep back the tide of pests that assail us. Gene-drives are a genetic technology, untried and controversial, that may solve some of our pest problems. Unfortunately, we don’t know if we can make gene drives that are safe, efficacious, socially acceptable and fit for purpose to control New Zealand’s pests. Without this information, we cannot be sure if gene-drives are something we should embrace, or avoid. We aim to provide this missing information by developing gene drives in containment to control invasive social wasps.

The key to developing socially acceptable gene drives is to ensure they are built with advice from the public, Māori groups, and regulators. We will carry out a programme of consultation with public and Māori groups to determine attitudes to gene-drive technologies, innovations from mātauranga Māori and find ways to mitigate concerns raised in the gene-drive systems we develop. Feeding in this information, and that from regulators, we aim, in containment to develop and test wasp gene-drive technologies.

The data we produce will go on to inform public discussion and evidence-based decision-making regarding the adoption, or not, of gene-drives for pest control.

No place is more important to children and youth than their home. Yet, each night in Aotearoa, more than 7,000 young people experience homelessness. A similar number of children are separated from their parents because of severe housing deprivation and over 400,000 are in housing supported by the government. However, Aotearoa's housing support systems are focused on adults. The effect of inadequate housing on tamariki and rangatahi and their experiences within the housing support system are poorly understood.

Family disconnection due to housing instability is detrimental to belonging and whanaungatanga. Supportive relationships with parents, whānau, and the wider community are important protective factors for children and young people. The voices of children and young people must be heard and their stories understood to address their housing needs effectively.

Currently, there is a gap in the research for how the housing support system can best ensure the wellbeing of young people so that they are set on pathways to future prosperity and success as adults. This programme will create evidence to support the development and realisation of housing support systems that improve outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi.

This programme brings together world-leading experts on housing, communities, big data and children, and young people. We will explore the multi-faceted topic of the housing support system, which will be the first time such comprehensive research has been conducted on the topic in Aotearoa. This evidence will be used to innovate and implement a new, equitable housing support system grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi that provides holistic, long-term outcomes for children and youth.

Fjords play a critical role in the global carbon cycle by storing large quantities of terrestrial organic carbon. Across all aquatic systems, fjords represent carbon cycle ‘hotspots’ that bury the largest amount of organic carbon per unit area in the world, thus representing a crucial ecosystem that regulates climate. Fiordland is likely one of New Zealand’s largest carbon sinks, but its storage capacity is threatened by climate change and catchment management practices, potentially resulting in significant economic and environmental consequences.

We presently don’t know the sensitivity of the carbon sink to environmental forcing. Nor do we know the crucial tipping points that, once crossed, will dramatically reduce the efficiency of carbon sequestration, leaving more emissions in the environment. These unknown aspects limit our ability to undertake effective environmental management strategies, determine how the system will respond to future climate change, and as more pressure is placed on the Manapouri Power Station (MPS), to meet our 100% renewable electricity ambitions, determine how variability in introduced freshwater threatens carbon loss in Doubtful Sound.

Our multi-disciplinary team of scientists, iwi and environmental conservation partners will address how key environmental parameters, future climate change and human activities will impact the sensitivity, efficiency and capacity of the Fiordland carbon sink. Through a unique observation and modelling program, our work will provide the scientific basis to determine how future changes in fjord circulation, driven by changing climate and changes in MPS generation capacity, will impact the fjord carbon sink.

Every New Zealander has a right to adequate housing, but many people cannot afford to buy or rent a house. The government is now making the largest investment in public housing and urban regeneration seen in many decades. Given the amount invested in different levels and the range of models used to provide public housing, it is important that we have evidence about what works best to improve people’s wellbeing.

Our research will compare social, cultural, economic, environmental and wellbeing outcomes across six models of public housing: the Tāmaki Regeneration Programme; Eastern Porirua Regeneration; He Tipu Manahau (Wainuiomata); Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust; Wellington City Housing; and Salvation Army housing.

Our team of researchers from different universities and disciplines will measure wellbeing outcomes for public housing tenants in areas such as education, health and employment. We will interview tenant and housing providers as well as looking at anonymised data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure. Alongside this, we are evaluating innovative approaches to the residential use of solar energy.

We are working closely with Māori colleagues to develop appropriate wellbeing measures in relation to sustainable housing and urban development that reduce carbon emission. As part of this work we will aspects of wellbeing relating to ease of access to public transport, and building infrastructure.

Our research will bring together the skills of an experienced team to draw ongoing lessons from major housing and urban developments. These findings can help shape the developments, improve people’s wellbeing and reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment.

Space Weather investigates how solar explosions impacts human technology. As our reliance on advanced technology becomes more pronounced, this field has become increasingly important globally. In many countries the principle focus is on the hazard to the electrical power network. Unusually large space weather events have caused blackouts and multi-million dollar equipment has been written off, including here. The concern is that an extreme event will happen again, and could very large amounts of damage across the globe. For the USA the estimated cost of such an event is US$0.5-2.7 trillion. A very rough estimate for New Zealand suggests an annualised risk cost of NZ$1 billion a year.

Solar explosions drive rapid changes to the Earth's magnetic field. Through Faraday's law, changing magnetic fields induce currents in wires and pipelines. It is these induced currents that can write off transformers and cause pipelines to rapidly corrode. This happens at a small level all the time, with large “geomagnetic storms” occurring most years. The issue is around extreme events at the 1 in 100 year to 1 in 200 year level: How likely and how big will such storms be? Can they be forecast? And what impact would that have on our critical energy supply networks, sitting on the land of our country?

Our energy industry partners have identified the detailed questions that need to be answered. Our research will address these questions to mitigate the extreme storm space weather hazard. New Zealand is comparatively small, making the problem tractable, plus the highly collaborative nature of the relationship with our energy sector and international partners is truly unique, and set to maximise reduction of uncertainty in risk mitigation strategies.