The East Indonesia Innovative Farm Systems and Capability in Agribusiness Activity (IFSCA) project, which is funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme, focuses on building human capability on farms and in classrooms through the University of Mataram in Indonesia, as well as infrastructure on the ground.

A delegation of Massey University staff has been in Indonesia discussing the future of the project and the success of the collaboration to date.

The project has seen the installation of important infrastructure, with structures such as cattle feeding units already built on the island Sumbawa. This visit saw Massey’s Assistant Vice-Chancellor Operations, International and University Registrar Stuart Morriss and the Bupati (mayor) of North Lombok District Dr Najmul Akhyar lay the foundation stones for a village-level grading shed for fresh fruit and vegetables. This will assist villagers to supply high-quality fresh fruit and vegetables to high-end hotels on Lombok’s tourism coast, including lettuce, capsicum, tomatoes, chilli, cucumbers and basil.

Through the IFSCA programme, farmers in North Lombok are being trained in both horticultural production and agribusiness skills. The relationship between the universities has led to postgraduate students for Massey, joint publications and the current programme, which matches expertise between the two universities in agriculture, extension, animal science and food technology.

Massey’s Professor Chris Anderson says the programme has been gaining momentum each year.

“It has been great to get the people working on both sides of this project together as they mostly work thousands of kilometres apart. The collaboration between universities and farmers has exceeded our wildest dreams and we are starting to see real changes that will benefit everyone involved,” he said.

A key sustainability target of the programme is to build capability within the agricultural extension system operating in North Lombok. This work is led by the College of Sciences’ Dr Janet Reid. Professor Julian Heyes is leading the horticultural technical programme and Professor Steve Morris is leading the animal science technical programme, with Mr Graham Robinson of the Massey Projects Office providing project management support to the team.

While in Indonesia this week, Mr Morriss chaired the fourth advisory board meeting for the project, which reflected on achievements and lessons learned over the past 12 months, and reviewed immediate and longer-term plans.

The project is part of larger university effort known as Massey University Worldwide that aims to develop the international education market as a major export earner for New Zealand and expand Massey teaching and research activity internationally. It works within agriculture, humanities and social sciences, aviation, business, emergency management, environment, health and veterinary medicine.

One of several missing murals made by renowned New Zealand artist, craftsman and designer, E Mervyn Taylor, has been found.

The search for 12 murals crafted between 1956 and 1964 was launched three years ago by Massey University PhD candidate Bronwyn Holloway-Smith who has edited a book honouring the work of Taylor, who studied at Wellington Polytechnic – a forerunner institution to Massey’s College of Creative Arts.

Ms Holloway-Smith, who is director of the E Mervyn Taylor Mural Search and Recovery Project, says the discovery was the “most exciting and dramatic” within the whole search project, and “we were thrilled to find it safe and sound after all this time”.

Days away from the book going to print the Project team received a phone call to say the mural by E. Mervyn Taylor commissioned for the Wairoa Centennial Library had been found at an undisclosed location.

The discovery was made in time for a photo of the work to be included in the book WANTED The Search For The Modernist Murals of E. Mervyn Taylor, which is launched today at City Gallery, Wellington as part of the opening programme for the exhibition:  This is New Zealand. It will be widely available through bookstores from 12 March or through the Massey Press website.

A generous supporter of the project team had offered to fund a reward of $5000 for the first person who provided information leading to the rediscovery of the mural.

It was through searching for online information on E Mervyn Taylor that the party noticed the publicity surrounding the search and immediately came forward. They have declined the reward money.

“The family who have the mural in their possession wish to remain anonymous, and as part of the conditions around a reward the project offered for its discovery [including its place of discovery], we need to honour this request,” Ms Holloway-Smith says.

Taylor, best known for his woodcuts, created the mural and other public works of art at the end of his career and in the vanguard of the New Zealand modernist movement. He worked with a number of materials including tiles, carved wood panels, sandblasted glass windows and paint to create these distinctive works in a truly original New Zealand language.

The Wairoa Centennial Library mural, painted in 1961, depicts a scene featuring Māori tangata whenua and colonial settlers in the Wairoa landscape. It was last seen during a library renovation in 2001 when it was successfully removed and stored. Library staff recollected a female family member visiting Wairoa and requesting the return of the work – but the artist’s family turned out to be unaware of this request.

“On discovery we can report that the painting covers nine large panels each just over a metre square and, while faded and with minor deterioration around the edges, it is in good shape,” Ms Holloway-Smith says.

“During the search process we have also discovered drawings that Taylor did for this Wairoa work, images of which are also included in the book.

The project team also made other discoveries over the past 12 months including revisiting the former Taita Soil Bureau to discover with the help of the conservators from Te Papa, that the mural paint was still beneath the layers of paint within the foyer.

Studying for her PhD at Massey University, and with the support of its Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Claire Robinson, the search led by Ms Holloway Smith and resulting book became a special project to mark the 130th anniversary of the founding of Massey’s College of Creative Arts.

The search was inspired by the earlier discovery in 2015 of one of Taylor’s few surviving murals, Te Ika-a-Māui, the story of Maui fishing up the North Island, stored in cardboard boxes in a disused cable station.

Ms Holloway-Smith made that discovery while researching the history of the Southern Cross Cable.

Emergency supply grab bags, in the shape of 50 free plastic buckets, were in high demand at the Wellington campus O Week clubs day as staff from the campus emergency management team raised awareness about being prepared in the event of an earthquake.

Inside each bucket was information on how much water was needed to help get you through an emergency, a leaflet on how to plan for an earthquake and a Massey emergency contacts card. More than 200 students participated in the draw for prizes of full kit worth $130 as well as two transistor radios.

The contents of the kit and some trick items were laid out on the table. Students were asked to list the three most non-essential, or nice to have but not necessary, items on the table that they would want to put in such an emergency grab kit. 

Campus health and safety emergency management adviser Jo Fox says the engagement was extremely high with most students taking quite some time to make their choices.  The most commonly selected least essential items were ear buds and soap, though some people thought they wouldn’t cope without coffee!

Auckland mums behind the Eat Right, Be Bright campaign have turned to Massey University Human Nutrition and Dietetics staff and students for advice about the best types of food for children to improve their dietary intake during school hours.

The campaign, which was launched last month, aims to improve the health and educational outcomes for all children in New Zealand. Spearheaded by the Mothers United Movement (M.U.M), the group of more than 100 Auckland women are campaigning for the Government to provide fresh, healthy and nutritious lunches to all children at school and in early childhood education.

Professor Bernhard Breier, Chair in Human Nutrition, Associate Professor Rozanne Kruger and Dr Marilize Richter from Massey’s College of Health, along with a group of 17 second year Master of Human Nutrition and Dietetics students, have drawn on previous work done in South Auckland schools around meal programmes for children, to provide expertise for a framework for the proposed model.

Professor Breier says childhood obesity, malnutrition and related health issues in New Zealand have increased immensely over the past few years. “This is linked to the current food environment which promotes over-consumption of inexpensive, highly palatable, energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods.”

Massey’s Human Nutrition and Dietetics Team has a long-standing commitment to improve nutrition during the all stages of childhood and development. “Our own research in South Auckland indicates that school meal programmes can have a clear impact on children’s dietary intake, especially when they are combined with strategies that reduce access to unhealthy discretionary foods,” Professor Breier says.

“Experiences overseas clearly show that school is an ideal setting to improve access to healthier meals while addressing socioeconomic disparities and inequalities. Some of the most promising evidence from Europe suggests that access to healthier meals during childhood results in improved educational achievement, occupational status and health outcomes during later life,” he says.

M.U.M was conceived when three mums, Cassie Slade, Becky Little and Clarissa Mackay found themselves discussing the need to end child poverty in New Zealand. The team enlisted the help of nutritionists and dietitians from Massey University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, whose research underpins the need for this campaign.

Cassie Slade, who is currently studying her Masters of Human Nutrition at Massey, says it was vital the campaign was underpinned by strong scientific evidence.

“The expertise and knowledge provided by the team at Massey has been invaluable. The team have helped us shape our ‘Framework for Implementation’ document which provides a clear vision of how a school lunch programme could work in New Zealand. They have also given us practical assistance by allowing the dietetics students to conduct an assignment providing us with scientifically researched content for our social media,” Mrs Slade says.

The Human Nutrition programme at Massey clarified the major nutrition issues facing society today and stressed the importance of looking to rigorous scientific research when trying to find the answers to these big issues, she says. “It highlighted the importance of good nutrition from a very young age and how vital it is to change the food environment to make effective change. We are trying to make the healthy choice the easy choice and by doing this we can change outcomes for New Zealand children.”

One in four Kiwi children are living in poverty, a third are overweight or obese and one in three children admitted to Starship Hospital are malnourished. “School food programmes are one of the most effective ways to break the intergenerational poverty cycle, with children who are well fed being able to learn better and therefore make the most of their education,” Mrs Slade says.

“That is why most countries around the world have some sort of school food programme. The fantastic thing about school food programmes is they have been shown to improve health and academic outcomes for all who participate but they benefit those who need it most the greatest.”

Since the campaign launch people from around the country have been contacting them to get involved in the campaign and offer support. So far, more than 2,000 people have signed their petition asking the Government to provide a daily fresh, healthy and nutritious lunch to all kids in school and in early childhood education.

Massey PhD candidate Fahad Alammad is researching business diplomacy.

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Sceptical of ‘megaphone diplomacy’

To establish a social media presence and influence views and perception, different governments and ministries of foreign affairs engage in digital diplomacy. For example, Sweden, the United States, France, and the UK have created multiple social media channels in different languages directed toward diverse regions to defend and promote their countries’ interests. Some of these channels attract hundreds of thousands of followers with millions of interactions from all over the world.

In comparison, the government of New Zealand’s only official social media account is not verified or actively seeking to communicate directly with either a foreign audience or foreign governments about its news and stories. New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) is increasingly using social media channels but the channels are in English, and not necessarily innovative and customised. As a result, these channels do not generate the engagement and influence aspired to by digital diplomacy.

MFAT’s chief executive Brook Barrington said this about digital diplomacy: “New Zealand has long favoured the benefits of modest and moderate collaboration…and being sceptical of megaphone diplomacy”, so it’s no surprise its social media efforts, so far, have been understated.

But digital diplomacy should not be viewed as a form of megaphone diplomacy. Rather, it should be used as a tool to actively communicate, engage, and promote New Zealand’s interests worldwide and to tell the stories of who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Universities also have a role to play in training politically astute and media savvy graduates in the art and science of digital diplomacy.

Looking forward, I believe the government of New Zealand should actively seek to increase its global presence in social media by creating different channels across various platforms in multiple languages. These channels need to be run by enthusiastic and interactive people who truly understand and appreciate the uniqueness of New Zealand and express it in a way that other parts of the world can recognise.

In the long run, the government of New Zealand, and its various ministries, need to actively engage in multi-language e-diplomacy to spread information about New Zealand to the rest of the world. These activities can only serve to enhance New Zealand’s reputation and promote its interests globally in different areas of public life, including tourism, education, politics, and research.

New Zealand might be isolated geographically, but there is no need to insist on being virtually isolated as well.

Fahad Alammar is a PhD candidate at Massey’s School of Management. His PhD thesis is focused on empirically investigating the concept of business diplomacy.

Coinciding with International Women’s Day on Thursday, senior lecturer Dr Negar Partow and tutor Nicola Macaulay from the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the Wellington campus, have teamed up with the group including the non-governmental organisation ChangeMakers Refugee Forum, to offer the women new to Wellington the opportunity to try a new skill and meet others in a similar situation.

Cycle trails and simple obstacle courses will be set up at Kilbirnie Park as instructors from Revolve, ReBicycle Wellington and MUD Cycles, take the women through the cycling basics.

This year, similar events will also be held at The Esplanade in Palmerston North and the Sandringham Road extension in Auckland.

Undertaking such an activity was a great way for the women to take their minds off their own struggles to re-settle at a time when the plight of refugees and rising nationalism dominate world headlines, Dr Partow says.

It also highlighted Massey’s relationship with the city’s NGOs and wider community, and hopefully signalled to other Wellington businesses the importance of engaging in social activism.

“Settling into a new culture and facing the challenges of adapting to a different way of life can be incredibly stressful for former refugees who have fled conflict and destruction in their home country,” Ms Macaulay says.

Dr Partow adds: “Participating in social and sporting activities allows diverse communities to interrelate and exchange ideas about some of those challenges.”

Ms Macaulay says the main point of the cycling morning was for women to come together and have fun.

“Agencies have come together to make these opportunities possible. It’s important that organisations do more of this and reach out to refugee background populations.”