Tag Archives: Lectures

MRI in Multiple Sclerosis: A personal history

Graeme Bydder

7.30 pm Tuesday, 17 February 2026, Palmerston North Central Library, George Street, Palmerston North

Professor Graeme Bydder, CNZM, FMedSci, received his physics training at the University of Canterbury and his medical training at the University of Otago. For much of the early history of clinical MRI, he was the pre-eminent radiologist in the field. The systematic interpretation of MR images which began with his paper on the brain in 1982 is used worldwide. The ultra high contrast sequences developed at Mātai by Drs Mark and Graeme Bydder appear destined to substantially expand the range of applications of MRI and provide unequivocal diagnoses in diseases affecting the brain where previously this has not been possible.

All warmly welcome!

Digital Platforms, Democracy, and Marginalization: A Culture-Centered Approach

Mohan Dutta

7.30 pm Tuesday, 18 November, Palmerston North Central Library, George Street, Palmerston North

As digital platforms increasingly shape public discourse, they simultaneously serve as engines of disinformation and exclusion—particularly for marginalized communities. Algorithmic echo chambers and targeted hate speech reinforce structural inequities and incite real-world violence. I advocate for transformative communication strategies that dismantle disinformation networks, democratize platform ownership, and reclaim democracy as a space of cultural resistance against neoliberal and authoritarian regimes.

Mohan J. Dutta is Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication and Director of the Centre for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) at Massey University, New Zealand. Through collaborations with indigenous, migrant, working class and hyper-precarious communities, Dutta co-creates participatory communication strategies that resist colonial extractivism and algorithmic repression.

The talk will be proceeded by the Royal Society Te Apārangi Manawatū Branch 2025 AGM, starting at 7.00pm.

All warmly welcome!

Gene Editing: the science, the technology and the social and ethical issues it raises

Barry Scott

7.30 pm, Tuesday, 21 October, Palmerston North Central Library, George Street, Palmerston North

Gene editing is a method for making precise and targeted cuts in DNA allowing for highly specific changes to be ‘engineered’ in the genome of an organism. It has made it easier to make targeted changes in the genomes of animals, plants and microorganisms, with huge potential benefits in many sectors including healthcare, agriculture and conservation. However, the technology to carry out gene editing and the ideas about how it might be applied have moved well ahead of public understanding and consideration of the proposed changes, and of any consensus on how this technology might be used.

In response the Royal Society Te Apārangi convened a multidisciplinary panel of experts, supported by a Māori reference group, to consider the social, ethical, cultural, legal and economic implications of gene-editing technologies for New Zealand. Their reports identified significant deficiencies in the current framework that need to be addressed in the recently introduced Gene Technology Bill. This talk will provide an overview of the science and technology of gene editing, the social, ethical and other issues it raises, the implications for New Zealand and some of the future challenges that lie ahead.

Emeritus Professor Barry Scott FRSNZ was Professor of Molecular Genetics at Massey University from 1985 to 2019. His lifetime research was focused on understanding symbiotic interactions between plants and microbes. He was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientists Marsden Medal in 2013 and has served as Vice President of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and Head of the Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University.