Raising the Bar brings big ideas to Auckland bars
29 July 2024
Finally, a legitimate reason to visit the pub on a school night: Raising the Bar is back, on Tuesday 27 August.
Can your immune system cure cancer, are schools killing our children’s imagination and what does it mean to eat nuclear imperialism? These are just some of the questions University of Auckland academics will be tackling at this year’s Raising the Bar event.
Featuring 20 fascinating talks at ten bars in inner-city Auckland on one night, Raising the Bar is a chance for curious minds with a penchant for a pint to tap into some of the big ideas and remarkable research coming out of the University of Auckland.
This year’s event will be held on August 27 and will feature talks covering such diverse topics as sustainability in space, tikanga and the rule of law, the precarious state of Aotearoa’s news media, and whether it’s ever ok to tell a lie.
It's a great chance for the public to engage directly with some of our top academics, ask questions and learn about how their research is making a real difference to New Zealand and the world.
Raising the Bar is a worldwide initiative founded in New York in 2013 and has been hosted by the University of Auckland since 2017. It aims to make learning part of a city’s popular culture – taking education out of the lecture theatre and sharing it with the wider public.
“One of the most popular events on our calendar, Raising the Bar showcases some of the inspiring and important work coming out of the university in a relaxed, informal setting. It's a great chance for alumni and the general public to engage directly with some of our top academics, ask questions and learn about how their research is making a real difference to New Zealand and the world,” says Mark Bentley, Director of Alumni Relations and Development at the University of Auckland.
The talks will be held at bars in Wynyard Quarter, Victoria Park and City Works Depot, with each venue hosting two talks, one beginning at 6pm and another at 8pm. All events are free, but registrations are essential. People are encouraged to consider a ‘knowledge pub crawl’ and attend talks at two different bars.
Tickets are sure to sell out quickly, so punters are urged to get in early to secure a place at their preferred talks.
Visit the Raising the Bar website to register your free place now.
This year’s full line-up:
• Dr Alexandra Allen-Franks: When police evidence and human rights interact
• Professor Grant Covic: Powering the wireless charging revolution
• Dr Gavin Ellis: The day the news dies
• Dr Kiri West: Given or taken? Storytelling and Māori data sovereignty
• Professor Simon Malpas: How a tiny implantable device is heralding a new era of healthcare
• Professor Annie Goldson: Doing documentary – the pleasure and pain of film production
• Dr Priyanka Dhopade: What the search for extraterrestrial life can teach us about sustainability
• Dr Avi Vajpeyi: Celestial songs – a cosmic spacetime symphony
• Associate Professor Nicole Roughan: Tikanga and the state – two laws for all?
• Dr Simon Ingram: From cosmic waves to birdsong – a journey in artistic research
• Associate Professor Guy Warman: Spying on the secret lives of bees
• Professor Andrew Jeffs: Discovering nature’s noises – new insights into sound and life
• Professor Peter O’Connor: Is schooling killing kids’ imagination?
• Dr Karly Burch: Fukushima fallout and eating nuclear imperialism
• Dr Kathryn Bradbury: Are ultra-processed foods really that bad for us?
• Dr Nadia Dabee: Why gig work doesn't live up to the hype – and what NZ can do about it
• Professor Rod Dunbar: Can your immune system really cure cancer?
• Carmen Hoffbeck: Gut reaction – a fascinating look inside tuatara tummies across Aotearoa
• Dr Liza Bolton: This way or data-way? A survival guide for a world of data
• Dr Rebecca Sharp: Little white lies and porky pies
Media enquiries
To request an interview with any of the speakers, email Ali Sims