University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, is New Zealand’s highest-ranked, largest and most comprehensive university. It is the only New Zealand university ranked in the Top 100 in the QS World University Rankings, and 137th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It is also ranked sixth globally in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings and ranked first in 2019 and 2020. Around 35 percent of the top-ranked academic researchers in New Zealand are at the University of Auckland.
Linda Briskman, Swinburne University of Technology and Scott Poynting, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
It was a foolish moment when prime minister Bob Hawke promised that by 1990 no child in Australia would be living in poverty. After all, what are the solutions to child poverty, to crime, to educational…
Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are already more likely to be overweight by age four than median income families, but the differences become much more marked as childhood progresses, a new…
Health commissions and medical boards should publicly disclose the details of complaints against doctors when multiple allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behaviour are made, experts say. The call…
Reema Rattan, The Conversation and Charis Palmer, The Conversation
A clash between supporters and detractors of calcium supplements for better bone health is leading to conflicting headlines, leaving the public unsure about whom to believe. Osteoporosis is estimated to…
Fiona Crichton, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
A surge in health complaints linked to wind farms could owe more to increased discussion of health risk than the low-level sound generated by the actual turbines, according to a new study. The study by…
With #PillarofDefense, Israel this week launched the world’s first-ever hashtag-driven social media military offensive in Gaza Strip, followed by action on the ground. In direct response, the defensively-worded…
Sung-Young Kim, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
In light of the much-publicised dispute over handset design patents between Apple and Samsung, many commentators have cast Samsung as the “fast-follower”, while Apple is pushing at the frontier of innovation…
The tobacco industry has launched an advertising campaign against the New Zealand government’s proposal to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products. According to the media campaign, plain packaging…
Helen Sword, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Imagine that the editor of a widely-read magazine or, say, The Conversation has heard about your academic research and invited you to contribute an article. But you only know how to produce stodgy, impersonal…
Ian Reid, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
People taking calcium supplements to mitigate their risk of developing bone disease (osteoporosis) may be doing more harm to their health than good. That’s because a growing body of research shows the…
With each passing day commercial interests seem to find new ways to harness the tools on which the web was built. Policy initiatives such as the US’s now-defunct SOPA and in-progress CISPA now involve…
Much has been said about Invisible Children’s video campaign to rally awareness towards the atrocities of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. But more important is what Kony 2012 means in our ongoing relationship…
Margaret Mutu, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Maybe it’s the lot of academics to be misrepresented, but when a single incident can nearly get you sacked it makes you reconsider whether to deal with the media at all. Last year, comments of mine about…
What if you used your smartphone, knowing you might be sharing certain information, but had no idea what exactly was being shared? Or why you might be sharing it? If you knew someone could be recording…
In the age of social media, if we’re able to get online, engage with a few tools and connect our ideas to others who sympathise, we’re able to initiate social change. Or that’s the theory. The world begins…
Jason Ingham, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
February’s events in Christchurch brought people’s attention to the patently obvious: that old brick buildings collapse in large earthquakes. There is no shortage of past lessons regarding this fact…