Last summer was the most successful yet for Summer Research Scholarships in the Faculty of Arts.
38 wide-ranging projects were undertaken by summer scholars, and many of these scholars surpassed expectations with their work.
Some have even co-authored articles with their supervisors.
Bethan Needs spent the summer with Dr Margaret Henley gathering social media data surrounding the athlete/fan relationship and online fan communities centred on professional netball in New Zealand.
Margaret explains that Bethan “earned the right to be an equal member of our research team from day one”.
Bethan reflected that completing a Summer Research Scholarship has been one of the most satisfying achievements of her study so far.
The project developed her interviewing skills, expanded her social media knowledge, established valuable industry connections — and cemented her plans for masters-level study.
Andrea Merino Ortiz worked with Dr Susanna Trnka on a project looking at young people’s use of the internet and health apps, and described working with Susanna as “one of the most rewarding and intellectually stimulating experiences of my entire university degree”.
Andrea’s work over the summer formed the basis of a co-authored article, which is currently under external review.
Olivia Healy worked with Dr Claire Meehan to outline international research into online sexual harm. Her work will form the basis for Claire’s research into identifying young New Zealander’s online activities and their perceptions of online risk.
Claire explains that “given the prevalence of risky online behaviours — for example sexting and revenge pornography — and the lack of research in New Zealand in this area, this project is timely.”
As part of his Summer Research Scholarship with Dr Kathryn Lehman, Dominic Hartnett published a co-authored an article on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and analysed a Chilean website that publishes on TPPA threats to digital rights.
He also participated in subtitling the trailer to the film The Pa Boys in Spanish for its screening at the Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Cine y Comunicación de los Pueblos Indígenas (CLACPI) film festival in Chile and Argentina.
The film, subtitled by Kathryn, won the Mejor Ficción (Best Fiction) award at the festival.
The experience has given Dominic the confidence to apply for professional positions in the translation industry.
Gozdecan Gurbuzer worked with Jake Mahaffy on projects including pre-production for Jake’s short film ‘Untitled Cabin Film’, gaining experience in scheduling, budgeting, international location scouting and digital effects and compositing.
Gozde did a “massive amount of online location scouting,” researching locations and sets from Vancouver to New York, before settling on the final location in Denver.
Lucy Benge spent the summer working alongside Professor Andreas Neef on a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional project looking at climate change adaptation and post-disaster recovery of flood-affected communities in Fiji and Cambodia.
As part of her summer research, Lucy had the opportunity to visit Cambodia and work alongside three Cambodian research assistants from the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
A similarly wide-ranging collection of projects is available for next summer, including research into ancient Fijian stone tools; employer demand for speakers of languages other than English; reconstruction after humanitarian crises; the role of zoos and wildlife sanctuaries in shaping public values and environmental understandings; civilian casualties and the laws of armed conflict; and young people’s consumption of online pornography.
Applications for the next round of Summer Research Scholarships are due by Friday 29 July 2016.
