25 February 2010 Academic year at Lincoln University off to heady start

At Lincoln University it’s the start of the academic year and the students haven’t been the only ones enjoying festivities. This year staff members brought a touch of heady splendour to the campus with a decorated hat competition, held at an after-work garden party on the Hudson Hall lawn.

Here, wearing a creation inspired by Brazil’s Carnival, is researcher Maria Elena Duter, from Brazil’s neighbour Uruguay. Maria Elena is a staff member in the Seed Research Centre at New Zealand’s specialist land-based university, Lincoln University, and she was among the prize winners in the hat competition.

Maria Elena describes her creation as a “typical Brazilian Carnival headpiece” but “all New Zealand made” from feather boas purchased locally. She constructed it with her Paraguayan friend Fatima Garzete.

“In Uruguay we share Brazil’s Carnival culture,” says Maria Elena, who wears another hat in addition to seed researcher  -  she is the Honorary Consul for Uruguay in New Zealand.