University of Auckland

• Details are as follows:
  To register for the event, click here .
• The Vaccitech management team will provide a clinical overview of VTP-300, the first antigen-specific immunotherapy that has been shown to induce sustained reductions in Hepatitis B surface antigen, a marker of the disease.
• Vaccitech is studying VTP-300, including in combination with siRNA and low-dose anti-PD-1 antibodies, as part of the search for a regimen that could lead to a potential functional cure for HBV.
• A live Q&A session will follow the formal presentations.

• Yesterday’s announcement of NZ$128 million in new funding for universities has naturally been welcomed as a badly-needed reprieve.
• But we have to ask, is this a bailout for struggling institutions, or is it just a Band-Aid on a tertiary sector with deeper structural wounds?
• It’s clear the pandemic massively exacerbated the challenges caused by years of funding below inflation rates.

The ‘per student’ funding problem

• But that fairness also reveals the problem with our funding settings.
• We fund research in universities in this way, through baseline funding topped up by contestable grants, but not teaching.
• Yet it will pick up more new funding than any other university by virtue of having the most students.
• The downside of “fairness” is that the funding holes at Victoria and Otago universities will not be covered.

Value and equity

• First and foremost, the New Zealand public owns and operates tertiary education institutions because they deliver economic and social value: value for the student who learns and acquires a qualification; and value for those who don’t attend but will rely on those who do (such as doctors and nurses).
• There is a question of equity, too.
• Some New Zealanders might be able to pay for their children to study overseas, but equal access to education at home should be a fundamental principle.
• But the fact that each university has its own identity, developed over many years in collaboration with its local community, is also something to celebrate.

3 important questions

• The two-year time frame for the review of funding structures is probably realistic, given the complexity of current funding models.
• The interdependence of research and teaching income streams needs to be examined carefully.


Academic freedom is enshrined in the law as meaning universities operate as the “critic and conscience” of society. But their responsibility to community is a useful way of thinking about what that means, in my opinion. Either way, these seem like the necessary questions to ask if we want to get back to basics.

• The North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME (NAMRI | SME) has elected Katherine C. “KC” Morris, FSME, as its 2023-24 president at its 51st North American Research Conference held at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey this week.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230614852860/en/
  The North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME (NAMRI | SME) has elected Katherine C. “KC” Morris, FSME, as its 2023-24 president at its 51st North American Research Conference held at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey this week.
• “The manufacturing advances that we see put forward year upon year from this conference are impactful and amazing,” said Morris.
• Receiving the confirming vote were:
  President – KC Morris, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland.

• The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) announced today that it had appointed Professor Thomas Schneider as its new Chief Executive, effective January 1, 2023.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230202005513/en/
  In announcing the appointment, APRU Chair and Chancellor of UCLA Professor Gene D. Block said, “Professor Schneider will bring considerable skills, knowledge, and experience to his new role, and I am confident that he has the ability to lead APRU into its next phase.
• A native of Germany, Professor Schneider studied at the University of Zurich, the University of Basel, and the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.
• Professor Schneider was selected after an extensive global search by the APRU Search Committee led by Professor Rocky Tuan, Vice-Chair of APRU and Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and search partner Perrett Laver.