Gateway Antarctica students to rub shoulders with international researchers
Published by Communications and Development
7 July 2010
Two Gateway Antarctica postgraduate students have been invited to attend an international exchange camp in Christchurch’s friendship city in China.
Masters student Melissa Idiens and doctoral candidate Phil Emnet will attend the First Wuhan University International Exchange Camp of Student Organizations this month.
The exchange camp, which is being organised by the Association of Student Organizations of Wuhan University and which runs from 11-18 July, aims to enhance global outlooks and leadership awareness among its student participants through a series of activities rich in content and embodying the characteristics of the host university and traditional Chinese culture.
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| (From left) Masters student Melissa Idiens, Gateway Antarctica Director Professor Bryan Story and doctoral student Phil Emnet will be attending the First Wuhan University International Exchange Camp of Student Organizations. |
Melissa and Phil, who have both completed Gateway Antarctica’s Postgraduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies and are working on research topics with an Antarctic focus, will take part in the stream focused on the impact of global climate change on polar regions.
Melissa, who will be taking the lead presenting role, said she planned to talk about New Zealand’s seminal climate change research in Antarctica, highlight our internationally collaborative science projects on the Ice and put in a good plug for Gateway Antarctica’s Antarctic studies programme.
With Wuhan University organisers keen to get visiting students involved in a range of authentic cultural activities on top of the academic sections, Melissa and Phil have chosen to take part in a workshop on bamboo and silk manuscripts and will also join all fellow conference attendees on a three-day boat tour up the Yangtze River to see the Three Gorges Dam project.
Melissa said she was interested in taking up the opportunity to attend the inaugural exchange camp in Wuhan as it was a chance to put her academic knowledge into practice.
“The Wuhan conference has specifically targeted student researchers who are looking to broaden their research networks, with the intention of facilitating the exchange of information amongst a stage of cultural interaction and experience. It’s going to be a great way to interact with polar researchers from across 30 prestigious universities around the world,” she said.
It will be the first trip to China for both students and both said they were very excited about it.
“As well as getting a good look around Wuhan, Phil and I will also be visiting the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and I will be visiting Fudan Centre of European Studies in Shanghai, which is part of the Asia-Pacific Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence Network,” Melissa said.
Phil said he hoped they would also be able to tie in a visit to the Chinese Antarctic Program Headquarters in Shanghai.
Melissa is based in the National Centre for Research on Europe and is conducting an MA thesis, co-supervised by Gateway Antarctica, which examines the European Union’s changing participation in the Antarctic Treaty System. Last year she was the first New Zealander to hold a three-month internship with the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat in Buenos Aires.
Phil, who was the 2009 recipient of the Christchurch City Council Antarctic Scholarship at UC, is co-supervised by Chemistry and Gateway Antarctica for his PhD research on the effect of endocrine disrupting chemicals on Antarctic and New Zealand ecosystems.
Gateway Antarctica Director Professor Bryan Storey has also been invited by the Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping (CACSM) at Wuhan University to attend the international exchange camp as an examiner for the Academic Report of Polar Expedition Invitational Contest.
Professor Storey said he viewed the invitation for his students and himself as an important part of the developing relationship between CACSM and Gateway Antarctica, which he hoped would lead to serious research collaborations in the future on topics of shared interest between the two centres such as remote sensing and the state of the Antarctic cryosphere.
For further information please contact:
Professor Bryan Storey
Director
Gateway Antarctica
University of Canterbury
Ph: +64 3 364 2136
bryan.storey@canterbury.ac.nz