2021 Kaupapa kākano Seed projects
Project type key:
VM = Vision Matauranga aligned
ECR = Early Career Researcher team
Te Kapahaka Pūnaha Taupanga (The kapahaka software judging system)
Lead Researcher: Kevin Shedlock (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Whakatōhea)
Institution/organisation: The Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Funding / Project type: $199,999 / VM
Description: The goal of this project is to deliver an AI-based system that applies a Kaupapa Māori framed indigenous data filter to intelligently process scores of kapa haka performances. This project is co-designed by the Wellington Māori Cultural Society and Victoria University of Wellington. The filter will automate the judges scores, including the second phase of scoring unique to kapa haka where the judges’ scores and comments are moderated. The system will then help rank each team and report the results to the competitors and audience.
Development of affinity ligands for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants
Lead Researcher: Peter Li
Institution/organisation: The Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / ECR
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a simple and portable point of care (POC) test to identify the virus rapidly and accurately. This project, led by Victoria University of Wellington researchers, aims to develop an affordable test that will deliver results in less than 5 minutes with greater than 95% accuracy. The test should also be stable without specific storage or transportation procedures, portable for hand-held POC devices, and suitable for mass production. The project will engineer a test that identifies different variants of COVID-19 using ‘aptamer technologies’ that allow doctors to differentiate a single molecule from close analogues. The test will also be able to be refined to identify new variants of the virus.
Biocatalyst immobilisation for continuous-flow biorefining
Lead Researcher: Peter Mabbitt
Institution/organisation: SCION
Funding: $200,000
Description: Some of the biomass options for replacing plastics and other high emissions products still use toxic, non-renewable chemicals that add to the environmental cost of biorefining. What is missing is a way to directly attach proteins to polysaccharides (sugars) to create biocatalysts within a circular bioeconomy. This project will investigate a class of enzymes that attach a small protein via an ester linkage to inexpensive polysaccharides. The linkage is stable under a broad range of conditions. This suggests it would be suitable for industrial applications. Developing an enzyme to catalyse this reaction would result in more environmentally friendly and cost-effective biorefining methods.
Biomimetic buildings for climate change adaptation: future generation of facades
Lead Researcher: Negin Imani
Institution/organisation: The Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / ECR
Description: Buildings account for 40% of total global energy consumption. If they could adapt to their surrounding environment, this would reduce their energy use and contribute significantly to climate change mitigation. A building façade that mimics biological adaptation (Bio-ABF) would have the ability to adapt to variable climatic conditions. This would reduce total energy consumption. This project will develop a conceptual Bio-ABF framework using computer modelling based on plant thermal adaptation strategies.. It will then develop a computational technique to evaluate the energy performance of the exterior of the building. The digital module will be tested through a physical model.
Enabling seamless communication in UAV swarms
Lead Researcher: Jyoti Sahni
Institution/organisation: The Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Funding: $199,533
Description: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), usually called drones, are being increasingly used for missions classified as dull, dirty and dangerous for humans. However, they have limitations related to flight hours, processing power and reliability. To address these limitations, the concept of autonomous UAV swarms is gaining momentum. This involves multiple UAVs seamlessly communicating and coordinating for a given operation. This project will design an energy efficient and fault-tolerant communication protocol. The protocol will imitate the behaviour of bird swarms where individual birds adapt their movements to ensure a coordinated flight.
Ultra-reliable time-sensitive industrial control in the cloud
Lead Researcher: Yuqian Lu
Institution/organisation: University of Auckland
Funding / Project type: $199,871 / ECR
Description: As the momentum of 5G builds, a range of applications will be developed. These include real-time cloud-controlled industrial systems and self-driving vehicles. The need is for 5G technology to provide robust and time-sensitive data transmission over wide area networks (WANs). This is to ensure the systems and vehicles can interact simultaneously without, for example, arriving out of order or colliding. This project, led by University of Auckland researchers, aims to design a data communication scheduling algorithm and supporting streaming technologies. This will enable time-sensitive transmission of control data for multiple devices over WANs.
Aluminium-ion batteries
Lead Researcher: Shalini Divya
Institution/organisation: The Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Funding: $200,000
Description: A battery technology more sustainable and safer than Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is urgently needed. Rechargeable aluminium-ion batteries (AIBs) are one promising alternative. AIBs are non-flammable, cheaper and more sustainable than LIBs. However, AIBs currently fall short on cathode performance. The researchers have a cathode material that outperforms most state-of-the-art cathodes. The project aims to increase the battery's energy density and cycle life. It will also increase the cell voltage, and develop an understanding of what is going on inside the AIB. The goal is to be the first commercial AIB to market.
Protecting taonga in the commercialisation of Te Tauihu bioactive ingredients
Lead Researchers: Meika Foster (Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Mutunga) and Jeff Nijsse
Institution/organisation: Edible Research Ltd / AuOra Ltd
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / VM, ECR
Description: The aim of this project is to develop a technology platform that helps commercialise natural health and wellness products sourced from Te Tauihu. Emerging researchers from the Wakatū Incorporation start-up business, AuOra, will collaborate with Harmonic Analytics to develop a platform prototype underpinned by technologies such as blockchain to protect taonga and mātauranga while enabling innovation in the development of bioactive ingredient, functional food, and other health products. It should also serve as a model for other Māori organisations.
Developing culturally-congruent emotional speech recognition framework for te reo Māori
Lead Researcher: Jesin James
Key researchers: Sally Akevai (Ake) Nicholas (Ngāti Teꞌakatauira and Papaꞌā Niu Tireni) and Gianna Leoni (Ngāi Takoto, Ngāti Kurī and Te Aupōuri)
Institution/organisation: University of Auckland
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / VM, ECR
Description: The most advanced human-computer interaction systems (like Alexa or Siri) are beginning to recognise users' emotions from their speech. However, they are trained using only a few language families. Te Hiku Media will advise the research team on the process of defining emotions specifically in te reo Māori, rather than seemingly-close English equivalents. The aim is to develop a te reo Māori emotional speech framework that leads to speech technology from Aotearoa for Aotearoa. This could then be used by developers for other indigenous emotions technology.
Multi-orifice jet injection for controlled, dispersed drug delivery
Lead Researcher: James McKeage
Institution/organisation: University of Auckland
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / ECR
Description: Jet Injection can deliver a liquid drug without a needle by forming it into a high-speed jet capable of penetrating through the skin. Depth and volume can be controlled by an electric motor, but there is no method to control the spread of the injected fluid. This project aims to achieve wide-spread drug delivery by developing new needle-free nozzles that use many very small jets rather than one larger jet. It will develop nozzles to replace time-consuming operations like anaesthetic delivery prior to skin graft surgery. It will also investigate whether multi-nozzle delivery could replace hospital based intravenous delivery.
Revealing low emitters: Data science to aid climate change mitigation
Lead Researcher: Sam Hitchman
Institution/organisation: AgResearch Limited
Funding / Project type: $192,268 / ECR
Description: Measurements of animal rumen could be used to provide low cost, timely estimates of methane production in live animals. Computer tomography (CT) of small ruminants is already used as part of a suite of technologies to allocate breeding values associated with animal quality. Processing these images requires analysis by trained experts. This project will develop an automated software solution capable of segmenting the rumen and its constituents from other body components and analyse the results. The goal is to improve the selection and identification of low methane producing animals for breeding programmes.
Optimising novel white plastic crowns for drill-free caries in children
Lead Researcher: Joanne Choi
Institution/organisation: University of Otago
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / ECR
Description: Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Hall Technique is a procedure that replaces the traditional “drill and fill” using expensive, silver-coloured metal preformed crowns. Our new white PFC material is closer to the colour of a tooth. It consists of thermoplastic and strengthening polymers, malleable enough to cap a child’s tooth. It is cheaper than the silver crowns, but as strong. The aim of the project is to further optimise the new crown polymer material for maximum clinical effectiveness and to make it market-ready.
Unlocking the unique engineering potential of auxetics in kōwhaiwhai design
Lead Researcher: Eli Gray-Stuart
Key researcher: Maihi Pōtaka (Ngāti Hauiti, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi and Ngāti Manawa)
Institution/organisation: Massey University
Funding / Project type: $200,000 / VM, ECR
Description: Auxetic materials have unique and useful properties such as negative Poisson’s ratio. When you stretch them, they become thicker, where normal materials get thinner. Along with Māori design experts from Te Putahi a Toi Massey School of Māori Knowledge, this project will explore the mechanical and auxetic properties of kōwhaiwhai designs. The aim is to develop, alongside Māori knowledge experts, an understanding of how kōwhaiwhai might be used to design new functional materials that will incorporate Aotearoa NZ narratives and aesthetics.
Bio-inspired Underwater Robot for Ocean Surveillance and Protection
Lead Researcher: Lorenzo Garcia
Institution/organisation: Auckland University of Technology
Funding / Project type: $199,955 / ECR
Description: The ocean is facing various human-inflicted pressures while remaining under-sampled and under-monitored. Unfortunately, current methods (such as research vessels and buoys) are prohibitively expensive for extensive surveying. The goal of this project is to develop a proof-of-concept, novel, bio-inspired, underwater robot that can contribute to the conservation and monitoring of key species in our ocean environment. The researchers will work with iwi and the Department of Conservation to build a robot capable of ocean monitoring and surveillance. This will then assist in the maintenance and restoration of the marine environment.
Novel Hybrid-Plasma Synthesis of Single Atom Catalysts
Lead Researchers: Siriluck Tesana and Prasanth Gupta
Institution/organisation: GNS Science
Funding / Project type: $199,803 / ECR
Description: Reducing nitrate to ammonia using electrochemical processes could improve nitrate pollution, especially in farming. While ammonia is also a toxin, it is easier to capture for reuse as fertiliser. This project will seed development of an innovative hybrid plasma technology to manufacture single atom catalysts (SACs) with high metal loadings. The aim is to develop high performing SACs that reduce nitrate to ammonia. This approach would reduce nitrate levels in waters and lower the demand for carbon-intensive urea fertilisers. The proposed technology combines two well established materials processing technologies - ion implantation and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.