ProfessorAnn Brower

The event on 11 May 2023 was packed with opportunities to explore purpose, vision Mātauranga, networking and relationship building, funding, communication and storytelling, outreach to stakeholders, policymakers, and end-users. Participants will be master students, PhDs, Postdocs, and potentially some Pasifika undergrads, who want to explore what impact means to them personally, to their career as a researcher and/or to the CoRe as a whole. We started with opening speeches at 9:30am (one on impact in general, one on BA’s impact plan). This was followed by a speed dating session at 10:00am around two questions 1. Why does NZ need BA? 2. It is the year 2025 and your work with BA is ending. What have you achieved and how? This (and a few other exercises) helped participants to form groups and find their focus (impact at the individual level/ impact at BA level). They worked to produce a pitch on how to boost impact. We had mentoring on three themes: 1) Purpose or: what is impact (11:30am-12:00pm), 2) Planning for impact (2:00pm-2:30pm); 3) Sustaining impact (2:30pm-3:00pm). Participants engaged in group sessions to work on their pitches before/after mentoring sessions. Final presentations were at 3:45pm/4:00pm. We had food, drinks, and tai chi – and plenty of opportunities to talk, innovate and be creative.

Dr Brower presented a 40 page brief of evidence about biodiversity compensation to Environment Court, and presented orally for about 5 hours. The case was Friends of Conical Hill v. Hanmer Springs Pools and Spa.

Dr Brower presented about 80 page brief of evidence to High Court and presented orally for about 3 hours. The case was Ngai Tahu v Crown, regarding freshwater.

Dr Brower presented a 30 page supplementary brief of evidence about biodiversity compensation to Environment Court, and presented orally for about 3 hours. The case was Friends of Conical Hill v. Hanmer Springs Pools and Spa.

Dr Brower hosted a workshop with scientists and resource managers from around the country interested in braided rivers. We formed a group "The Land the Law Forgot" and wrote 2 submissions to Parliament recommending a change to the definition of riverbed. These submissions resulted in a change to the legislative definition.

Dr Brower submitted to the Parliamentary Environment Select Committee, based on about 15 years of research. She also collaborated with 3 ecologists who also submitted, to publish an article in the NZ Journal of Ecology. The submissions, and the research ultimately contributed to a national law change to protect about 5% of NZ's landmass -- the South Island high country.