Current SAC Meeting

Home > Current SAC Meeting

SAC # 51: Harakeke at the Dunedin Botanical Garden

OPEN AND FREE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES

When

Thursday 10th July 2008, 1:00pm (lunchtime)

Where

Consumer and Applied Sciences Seminar Room, Ground Floor, Building F5.07. Contact for enquiries is Debbie Carr on d.carr@otago.ac.nz.

Speaker

Dr Bronwyn Lowe, Clothing and Textile Sciences Department

Abstract

Dr Lowe will be discussing progress to date on a project investigating the origins and characteristics of the harakeke and wharariki (New Zealand flax) collection growing in the Dunedin Botanic Garden. The aim of the project is to discover more of the distinctiveness of the collection, as some of the cultivars may be unique to Te Waipounamu (the South Island). Dr Lowe is working with a research team that includes a Mātauranga Māori consultant, a Botanist and a Materials Engineer. The team is also working with a focus group made up of weavers, horticulturalists, Ngāi Tahu and mataawaka. Thus the work is informed and guided by many perspectives on the scientific process. The project began in April 2007 and has been funded by a FRST Te Tipu Pūtaiao Postdoctoral Fellowship.

About the Speaker

Dr Lowe is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Clothing and Textile Sciences Department at the University of Otago. She has qualifications in both Materials Engineering and Environmental Science. She completed her PhD in riparian ecology at Charles Sturt University in 2002. Since then she has been involved in research projects at the University of Otago that range from nutrient cycling in streams to the properties of spider silk.