The safety and control of human genetic / genomic data is critically important. The for profit corporate model has some issues as this article discusses. GFANZ is preparing to look at the current state of law around this kind of data in Aotearoa. This way we can help inform people as they choose whether or not / how / with whom to trust their data.https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/4/23988050/23andme-hackers-accessed-user-data-confirmed‍

We live right now in the most educated world there has ever been.This gives me pause. Around a decade ago, classroom discussions about racism, sexism and inequality were met, by students, with a claim that such regressive and oppressive ideas were because of a ‘lack of education’.https://hannahforsyth.substack.com/p/disenchantment-and-higher-education‍

The chapters in this book provide best practices and key insights into digital alternatives for student mobility, operations, marketing, and recruitment, while simultaneously laying the foundation for creating more equitable and environmentally friendly international learning environments.https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003444237/digital-internationalization-higher-education-taylor-woodman-chris-glass-melissa-whatley‍‍

‍We define this idea, present the updated principles and subprinciples, and highlight how these can be used to decolonise algorithms currently in use, and argue that these ideas could potentially be used to developed Indigenised algorithms.https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.15473‍

Phil Garnock-Jones has just published a new fascicle on indigenous Veronica. It published on the NZFlora site under a CC-BY license. With over 500 pages of text and photographs it is a great piece of research.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater said that the University’s results were disappointing, with an overall GPG of 10.8 percent, against a national average of 8.6 percent. This means that across all staff, the median hourly rate for women is 10.8 percent less than for men.‍‍University releases 2023 gender pay gap report

Newly sworn-in Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds has said the model was a failure.‍https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/te-p%C5%ABkenga-fate-be-decided-after-vow-disestablish‍

“In the treaty work I do, many ethnic people, communities say ‘where’s our place? How can we support Māori?’ And on the other end of the spectrum some come to the workshops because they want to know more and they don’t know what their responsibilities are,” she sayshttps://waateanews.com/2023/12/06/marsden-study-probes-ethnic-ressponse-to-te-tiriti/‍

I spent this morning in the garden, thinking about the promise of the future. Our asparagus patch has been three years in planning and preparing that bit of papatūānuku to nurture the seedlings. I planted 60 today. They will grow there season on season. In four years, we will take the first harvest to nourish us. The conditions they will see in future years are unknown. But, with care and a bit of luck, they will feed many in the years to come and long after my time. Short term gratification is no where close to the aim.The simple act of planting an asparagus patch is a hopeful thing. Something beyond one's self and one's time. That's how I feel about this community. I am not sure how it wil

The Tertiary Education Union’s Waikato University organiser, Shane Vugler, said everyone agreed that New Zealand needed more doctors but the financial case for a third medical school “did not stack up”.https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/waikato-university-confident-of-getting-a-medical-school-despite-act-party-request-for-new-costings/J2XHV3VTGVESNFILPMXKGGDWIY/‍

“This long-term forest restoration project will become an annual event and will focus around forest restoration activities on Remus Hill at Cass,” UC Associate Professor of Forest Economics David Evison said. https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/news/students-dig-deep-for-forest-restoration/‍

“Te Kupenga o MAI is not just a support programme; it’s a professional network of Māori and Indigenous scholars. Its core is to offer spaces for Indigenous doctoral students to connect both through their research and as Indigenous individuals, fostering collaboration both interdisciplinarily and internationally,” says Dr. Smith.https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/04-12-2023/the-maori-pathway-being-carved-in-aotearoas-academic-institutes‍