More intense marine heatwaves as a result of climate change could lead to the mass loss of a sponge species found around Aotearoa New Zealand, a new study suggests.

New Zealand School of Music academic Associate Professor Michael Norris has added contemporary musical influences to the soaring celestial sounds usually associated with cathedrals for his large-scale composition SoundCathedral, being staged at this year’s Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

Deep-sea news alert! Our round-up brings you top stories from the ocean depths of the past few weeks. Check the images to stay updated. A thread 🧵 #DeepSeaNews

As part of her PhD research with WSBG, Annika Naschitzki studied restructuring in the public sector between 2018 & 2021. She found that organisations found it easier to signal commitment to change by making visible cuts & declaring new operating models, than the slog of sustained, measured reform.

PhD candidate Michael Miller is using mathematical modelling to determine whether more than a million people in New Zealand will be able to speak a basic level of te reo Māori by 2040. The impact of policies and interventions that may have interrupted this trajectory is also part of his research.

'Absolutely huge' black coral among largest ever seen - @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2026/01...

It's no secret New Zealand is facing a literacy crisis, says Anne Goulding, Professor of Library and Information Management from the Wellington School of Business and Government. Professor Goulding explains how this has been overlooked by Goverment in this piece for Newsroom.

Congratulations to Emeritus Professor Charlotte Macdonald on her new book, Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and across the British Empire, launched by Her Excellency The Right Honourable Dame Cindy Kiro, Governor-General of New Zealand.

Glad to be featured in @nzgeo.bsky.social, highlighting the importance of planting native species such as tree fuchsia, a major food resource for native birds. Based on a recent publication of bird-plant interactions in @zealandia.bsky.social @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social www.nzgeo.com/stories/want...

Prof Georgina Tuari Stewart presenting her keynote lecture: her recent work on ecopedagogy, which critiques the assumption that Indigenous knowledge easily aligns with ecology, ecopedagogy and the environmental movement more generally. At the ANZAP conference - @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social on Dec 1.

Join us as Dr. Ellie Rukuwai of @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social delves into the complexities of Māori identity and perfectionism. #MāoriIdentity #Perfectionism #psychologypodcast Links below 👇

More than a thousand of our graduates marched through the Wellington city centre last week, celebrating achievements big and small. Congratulations to all our future leaders, innovators, & change-makers. We're so thrilled to have celebrated with you all last week. 🎓 Read more at The Post below.

Our grads will stop traffic this week with glam fits, billowing cloaks, and bright smiles, on their way to celebrate their achievements at the MFC and Te Herenga Waka marae. The parade will run from the Old Government Buildings to Queens Wharf on Thursday 11 December.

Incredibly honoured for my research to have been spotlighted by @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social Faculty of Science and Engineering in the lead-up to graduation week!🎓🎉🦜 Special shout-out to @wild-minds.bsky.social for being the most amazing supervisor through this journey. www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2025/12...

Business leader Dame Theresa Gattung and legal luminary Sir David Carruthers will receive honorary doctorates from Te Herenga Waka this week at graduation.

More yellow-legged hornets have been found, with new nests discovered on Auckland’s North Shore. VUW Professor of Biology Phil Lester says we now have a narrow window to stop the hornets’ spread.

Hey all, meet one of #DSBSoc 2025 conference awardees! Meet Ailish Ullman (@ailishullmann.bsky.social) , PhD candidate at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social & Earth Sci. NZ with @ifremer.bsky.social, researching habitat heterogeneity of life living on & in (yes, in!) #PolymetallicNodules. More in alt-text!

Our work is exploring the role of these fish in carbon sequestration, part of a fantastic collaboration between @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social , University of Otago, and @aucklanduni.bsky.social, made possible with support from @marsdenfund.bsky.social

Rose Barton from @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social investigating how people perceive the mind of BabyX #kiwicam2025

Ezra Ramsey from @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social sharing work on experiences of tāngata Māori reclaiming identity #kiwicam2025

Dr Síofra O’Leary gives the Robin Cooke Lecture for 2025 at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social on climate change and courts: role, limits and potential.

Come join us at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social — applications are open for lecturer/senior lecturer roles at our law school. 🤓 ejye.fa.ap1.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Dylan Horrocks & Dr Zach Dodson from the School of Design Innovation are co-founders of the Visual Narrative Lab. They recently spoke with B-Side Stories on Wellington Access Radio about their work, the role of play in the creative process, & the joys and challenges of creativity.

Asset sales could become a key issue in the 2026 general election, say VUW political scientists Dr Sam Crawley, Dr Matthew Gibbons, and Professor Jack Vowles. In an article for Newsroom, they look at voters’ appetite for asset sales, drawing on the latest data from the New Zealand Election Study.

Lovely article from PhD student Ciaran Doolin at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social on the ice-age debates of the 19th century. theconversation.com/nzs-earliest...

The UN’s latest climate change conference kicked off in Brazil this month. VUW climate change lecturer Dr Cathrine Dyer argues New Zealand’s delegation will be there “beneath a cloud of scepticism about the government’s seriousness in addressing carbon emissions”.

Dame Juliet Gerrard gives the Sir Frank Holmes lecture in public policy at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social’s School of Government — on lessons learned as chief science advisor at the intersection of science, policy, and politics.

The recent fire in Tongariro National Park burnt through nearly 3,000 hectares, leaving a charred landscape in its wake. Unfortunately, the risks of more events like this are rising, says Julie Deslippe, an associate professor in VUW’s School of Biological Sciences.

This morning ahead of #ICUH25 — taking place at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social: • Kai and Kōrero – a dialogue on sustainable, equitable #food systems • Designing Cities for Every Age – a symposium on age-friendly #communities @who.int @undecadeageing.bsky.social Stay tuned for live updates this week!

Failings in the police’s top ranks were revealed in the recent investigation of how complaints against former deputy commissioner Jevon McSkimming were handled. Michael Macaulay says the case "brought into sharp focus how poor judgement and processes can corrode public confidence in an institution".

Wonderful work in the @elccprogramme.bsky.social at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social! Congratulations @nikkihessell.bsky.social

In this episode of RNZ's Our Changing World, Dr Andrew Lensen, a senior lecturer in AI at Te Herenga Waka, and Professor Bing Xue, deputy director of the University's Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, discuss how they're applying artificial intelligence in Aotearoa.

From his office window, Professor Geoff McLay can see all three branches of NZ’s government. He joined RNZ’s The House to unpack how they interact, interpret, and keep each other in check, without a written constitution, but with plenty of tension and tradition.

It's International Translation Day on Tuesday 30 September, coinciding with the Feast Day of Bible translator St Jerome, the patron saint of translators. For Professor Marco Sonzogni, the day is a special one to honour the work of translators and interpreters he calls "unsung heroes".

Giving a talk @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social (physics, Friday, 11am) - Drummers at the Gates of Dawn: Gravitational Waves from the Big Bang Department level so you will be able to follow the first part if you know a bit of physics... The second part if you know more than a bit of physics.

Te Herenga Waka researchers have secured $15m in Endeavour Fund support for projects from strengthening global software supply chains to brewing better non-alcoholic drinks—plus contributions to six others tackling challenges from tsunamis to climate monitoring.

Not every conference begins with a pōwhiri & a tour of one of the world’s most sustainable buildings! That’s how #ICUH25 will open in Wellington this November — don’t miss your chance to be part of it! Come visit @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social Ngā Mokopuna at #ICUH25 Register: icuh2025.org/registration

With AI regulation in Aotearoa lagging, more than 20 AI experts have signed an open letter urging the government to act. One of the authors, Dr Andrew Lensen, Programme Director for Artificial Intelligence at the University, spoke to RNZ about why stronger oversight is needed.

Research fellow Dr Vincent Olsen-Reeder and Associate Professor Corinne Seals unpack the jargon, such as “decoding” and “grapheme-phoneme correspondences”, behind the government’s near-total ban on Māori words in new books for teaching five-year-olds to read.

You can’t beat Wellington on a good day, and you definitely can’t beat Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington on Open Day. We’ve just wrapped up our biggest Open Day yet, welcoming more than 7,000 future students and their whānau to our campuses.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori and Kaitiakitanga, Professor Rawinia Higgins, who is also the Māori Language Commissioner, last week had the honour of speaking on a global panel alongside other Indigenous leaders at the Waves 2025 Indigenous Languages Summit in Ottawa.

Raised amid politics and diplomacy, David Harland has dedicated his career to peacebuilding in the world’s toughest conflict zones. From Te Herenga Waka to leading global mediation, his work shows the power of courage and dialogue. This year, he is a Distinguished Alumni Award winner.

Non-alcoholic beer has taken off in the past few years. Where options were once scarce, brewers are taking up the challenge in droves. But how can you get the same flavour into beer without it? This is where a cross-disciplinary team of researchers from Te Herenga Waka comes in.

Get ready to experience Wellington like a Vic Uni student! We've got our 2025 Open Day coming up on Friday, 22 August. Whether you’re coming from out of town or already call Wellington home, Open Day is your opportunity to picture the next exciting chapter of your life in the capital.

Time limits for filing civil claims relating to historic abuse continue to deny justice to survivors, say Dr Zoë Prebble, a lecturer in Criminal Law at Te Herenga Waka.

Announcing our 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award winners! Every two years, we celebrate the brightest and boldest innovators, visionaries, and community connectors from within our 140,000 alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Awards. This year, we have named five exceptional alumni as winners.

🫀 Our hearts might echo each other more than we think. @roydongoldsack.bsky.social from @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social is visiting the Causality Group at RC Trust, invited by Alexander Marx (@a-marx.bsky.social), Chair of Causality group and Professor of Statistics. 🔗 rc-trust.ai/news/news-de...

My thoughts on the recent M8.8 earthquake sequence and tsunami, with my NZ colleague John Townend @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social @earthquakes.au @monashuniversity.bsky.social theconversation.com/kamchatka-ea...

Maria Rabino-Neira, a PhD student at our Faculty of Law, is off to Harvard Law School thanks to a Fulbright NZ scholarship, where she will conduct research into humanitarian legal protection. At Harvard Law School, Maria will join the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC).

Over 200 staff, students and alumni, including Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith, dug in for Growing our Future, planting 2,400 natives in Ohariu Valley in late July. Now in its fifth year, the project supports biodiversity research and kaitiakitanga, with 20,000 trees in the ground and counting. 🌱