Science in the City for lunchtime workers

24 March 2005

Science in the City, an exciting new lecture series at Our City O-Tautahi, kicks off next Wednesday 30 March with a lecture from the knowledgeable Steve Wratten, Professor of Ecology at Lincoln University.

Professor Wratten will speak from 1.10pm until 1.50pm on ‘Finding Nature in the City’ – a look at the biodiversity all around us, even when we are in a highly engineered city landscape.

Science in the City is a joint effort by the Canterbury Branch of the Royal Society and the Christchurch City Council to provide free lectures on topical scientific issues, principally for people who work and live in the central city.

“It is hard for people who are working all day to attend lectures in the evening and we thought Science in the City would provide a great opportunity for people to learn more about topics of interest or concern to them,” Our City Otautahi business manager Sarah Kelly said. “Everyone else in Christchurch will of course be most welcome to attend too.”

“Lecture topics will be decided from month to month so that the most topical scientific issues can be featured,” she said. “From Asian bird flu to the potential effects of a large earthquake on the city, we’ll have it covered.”

Science in the City lectures will be held monthly at Our City Otautahi, cnr Oxford Tce/Worcester St and will be about 40 minutes long to allow central city workers to attend in their lunch breaks. 

This month’s lecture is linked to the Bioblitz – a 24 hour scientific survey of organisms living  in Hagley Park on 8 and 9 April.  The lecture will include videos and living animals to explore how we can discover and encourage urban nature.

Professor Wratten has recently been awarded a Teaching Excellence Award and was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand.  He is also a regular contributor to the gardening pages of the Weekend Press.

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