18 December 2012 Universities’ Waterways Centre looks to future

Establishment of a Lake Research Centre on the shores of Te Waihora, Lake Ellesmere, was put on the wish list of the Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management when it was “future proofed” with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Lincoln and Canterbury universities today (18 December).

The Centre, established in 2009, was financed initially by the Tertiary Education Commission’s special fund for encouraging and supporting innovation, but now moves to direct funding through the two universities. The MOU formalises this and also an administrative move to Canterbury University’s College of Science.

Signing on behalf of the University of Canterbury, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Town, said the move to this new  business arrangement “future proofed” the centre and its activities.

Lincoln University’s  Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Communities), Associate Professor Hirini Matunga, said the collaboration of the universities around the important resource of water management drew attention to a resource   -  water  -  that would be one of the drivers of Christchurch’s economic recovery.

“Christchurch’s economy is a gateway to Canterbury’s economy, and Canterbury’s economy is a gateway to the South Island’s economy,” he said.

Next year (2013) was International Year of Water, he said, and “what we do with water management could ripple out globally”.

The Centre is headed by Professor Jenny Webster-Brown, and has educational and research roles aimed at serving Canterbury’s particular demands for improved water resource management and improving knowledge-driven water resource management in New Zealand.

Professor Webster-Brown said that in the three years of its existence the centre had started to achieve strong educational outcomes, with three students completing postgraduate diplomas in 2012 and the foundations being laid for enrolments in masters and PhD programmes.

“Getting the teaching programme up and running and the first graduates over the line has been a satisfying achievement,” she said.  “The high level of engagement in research projects through summer scholarships, has been equally satisfying.”

There is a 50-strong group of academics across the two universities associated with the Centre in various ways she said and the collaboration has gone “remarkably well."

Signally future ambitions, Professor Webster-Brown itemised the appointment of a ground water specialist  and the establishment of a lake research centre at Te Waihora.

She envisaged this as a physical facility on the lake’s shore which would act as a visitor centre, a research centre, and a base for other researchers to use.

She said the concept for the Lake Research Centre had been developed jointly with Ngai Tahu, who were very supportive and “keen to see things happen” in 2013.