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Sharon Harvey smiling in an open student study area inside at AUT.

Why we need a national languages policy

14 May, 2025
A national languages policy would ensure that all citizens are able to participate fully and equitably in society.
An official poster for Netflix's The Witcher, showing from left: Yennefer of Vengerberg, Geralt of Rivia, and Ciri.

Theology, Religion and The Witcher

01 Apr, 2025
How does theology and religious ideology enter our political struggles? Much can be learned about this from the popular world of The Witcher.
Four smiley fingers on a blackboard saying hello in English, French, Chinese and Spanish.

Why you should learn another language

07 Nov, 2024
In the age of artificial intelligence, why invest the time and effort to learn another language when it seems technology can do it for you?
Elba Ramirez and Gloria Vazquez stand clapping in front of a sign promoting the LASFF 2024.

LASFF 2024 links communities together

23 Sep, 2024
This month AUT put on the Auckland screenings for the 22nd Latin America & Spain Film Festival.
Dua Lipa at the SWR3 New Pop Festival 2016. CREDIT: Harald Krichel (cropped) CC BY-SA 3.0

Power of words: Dua Lipa is a poet too

23 Aug, 2024
The significance and solace of poetry is closer than you think, writes Siobhan Harvey.
Damon Salesa at AUT's Matariki awards

AUT announces Matariki Award winners

05 Jul, 2024
AUT announces the winners of Ngā Whakamānawa o Matariki, AUT's Matariki Awards, recognising staff excellence across academic and professional disciplines.

Celebrating culture, cuisine and couture

01 May, 2024
AUT once again hosted the annual Manaaki Scholars Cultural Lunch and Couture, a cultural celebration of food, dress and performances.
Sign Language at AUT

Adapting signs to suit Deaf students

23 Feb, 2024
AUT’s NZSL interpreters have been working with Ko Taku Reo – Deaf Education New Zealand to review signs used in various subject areas.
Siobhan holding a book in a classroom, smiling at the camera, with a view over Auckland through windows behind her.

Landfall win – a Q&A with Siobhan Harvey

27 Nov, 2023
Acclaimed author, and AUT academic, Siobhan Harvey has won the 2023 Landfall Essay Competition.
A person with sunglasses on standing in front of a magnificent old orange building with a canal in front.

Study while working part-time in Spain

17 Oct, 2023
A new online course allows students to continue their degree and have an overseas experience while working in Spain.
An auditorium full of people watching speakers on stage.

Building cultural understanding

12 Oct, 2023
With societies becoming more diverse, the risk of intercultural misunderstanding is very real.
A screenshot from the movie Ainbo.

LASFF film festival growing each year

11 Oct, 2023
More than 1000 theatregoers attended the 2023 Latin America & Spain Film Festival (LASFF) at AUT.

Graduates at heart of futuristic play

19 Jun, 2023
Two talented AUT graduates are at the heart of an exciting new futuristic play, Basmati Bitch.

Sports and language revitalisation

24 May, 2023
AUT research shows that Māori and Pacific sports stars are helping revitalise vulnerable languages, with a genuine surge of language use in elite sport.

New professors and associate professors

17 Nov, 2022
AUT is delighted to announce the promotion of 15 of its academics to the position of Professor and 30 to Associate Professor.

Record ranking for AUT

12 Oct, 2022
AUT has claimed its highest-ever place among New Zealand universities in the latest global rankings.
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Game changer

09 Jun, 2022
Nick Jones’ fascination with storytelling started in his childhood. Now he’s joined Swedish games creator Sharkmob in London. AUT’s Insight meets him.
A screenshot of the video showing a cartoon depiction of a Samoan island.

Samoa Language Week 2022

31 May, 2022
Episode two of AUT’s 2022 Pacific Language Week Video series – AUT Focus on Sustainability – is live.
A stock image of a man knitting while looking at a laptop.

The masculine discourse of men who knit

01 Mar, 2022
Men who knit use language on social media that justifies their participation in the craft.
New AUT Professors

New Professors and Associate Professors

01 Nov, 2021
Eight AUT academics have been promoted to the position of Professor, and a further 22 have been appointed as Associate Professors.
WF WG sky tower

AUT climbs up the global rankings

02 Sep, 2021
AUT continues to climb up the global university rankings joining the University of Otago in second place in NZ and the top 250 universities in the world.
Professor Sharon Mazer

Five questions: Professor Sharon Mazer

17 May, 2021
We asked Professor Sharon Mazer five questions about her research ahead of her Inaugural Professorial Address.
Professor Ineke Crezee

Five questions with Prof. Ineke Crezee

09 Apr, 2021
We asked Professor Ineke Crezee five questions about her research ahead of her Inaugural Professorial Address.
A screenshot from Assassin's Creed, showing an assassin decending on a wooden building in winter.

Assassin's Creed: Why is it successful?

17 Dec, 2020
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series is one of the world’s best-selling video game series.
New AUT Professors

New Professors and Associate Professors

30 Nov, 2020
Nine academics have been appointed to the position of Professor, effective from 1 January 2021. 19 academics have been appointed as Associate Professors.
A screenshot of part of the book's front cover, showing a red Earth from space and a space station floating above it.

Scorchers: A Climate Fiction Anthology

13 Nov, 2020
A new antipodean anthology of climate change short fiction might just contribute to humanity imagining its way out of this existential crisis.
Dr Cassandra Fleming

AUT success with Marsden funding

12 Nov, 2020
Two AUT academics have won 2020 Marsden funding for research projects.
Professor Tarling

A new $10,000 PhD scholarship

03 Nov, 2020
A new scholarship worth $10,000 will support a student starting or undertaking their PhD at AUT in a topic focused on Southeast Asia.
Rosa Kalauni smiling in front of a classroom whiteboard.

Hope for the Niuean language in Aotearoa

23 Oct, 2020
Learning the Niuean language and the culture embedded within it can bring identity and self-esteem, AUT alumna Rosa Kalauni says.
Language interpreter Dr Mustafa Derbashi sitting at a desk.

Interpreting at a terrorist's hearing

21 Aug, 2020
In the middle of the action at the Christchurch mosques terrorist’s sentencing will be AUT alumnus, and language interpreter, Dr Mustafa Derbashi.
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Masters student wins $20,000 scholarship

26 Jun, 2020
Master of Creative Writing student and mental health advocate Thorne Snow has been awarded a William Georgetti Scholarship worth $20,000.
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How our language helped contain COVID-19

19 May, 2020
NZ contained COVID-19. Direct and kind words on signage helped, writes Dr Nelly Martin-Anatias.
Sam Orchard and SSBD logo

Same Same But Different 2020

07 Feb, 2020
2020 is a big year for Same Same But Different, as AUT alum Sam Orchard takes the helm as programme director.
Siobhan Harvey holding a book of poetry in her office.

Lecturer wins Robert Burns poetry award

05 Feb, 2020
Creative Writing Lecturer Siobhan Harvey has won the Robert Burns Poetry Competition for 2020.
Four people standing in a row at the International Writers Workshop awards ceremony, from left: Duncan Perkinson, Gillian Roach, Siobhan Harvey, and Bryan Walpert.

Siobhan Harvey scoops poetry award

21 Nov, 2019
The prestigious Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems has this year been awarded to an AUT creative writing lecturer.
QS stars 2019

AUT gets 5 QS stars in all categories

13 Nov, 2019
AUT has received the maximum five stars for the first time in every category according to the global education analysts QS in their recent results.
New Professors announced in 2019

New Professors and Associate Professors

07 Nov, 2019
AUT has announced the promotion of 12 leading academics to the position of Professor. A further 15 academics have been appointed as Associate Professors.
THE Rankings Sep 2019

AUT moves up 50 places in world rankings

12 Sep, 2019
AUT is now in the top 1% of world universities and in the top 50 for research citations.
Woolf Fisher AUT scholarship Awards ceremony

19 first in family scholarships awarded

05 Sep, 2019
19 AUT students were awarded Woolf Fisher First-in-Family AUT Scholarships at a celebration event at the AUT South Campus on Thursday 29 August.
Creative writing lecturer Siobhan Harvey

Poetry is for all the times in your life

26 Aug, 2019
Poetry knows no barriers or prejudices, and we all have a poem inside us waiting to be composed, Creative Writing Lecturer Siobhan Harvey writes.
Siobhan Harvey Portrait

AUT supports writers festival

13 Aug, 2019
For the second consecutive year, AUT is supporting the Going West Books & Writers Festival.
Emeriti Professors

AUT appoints five Professors Emeriti

26 Jun, 2019
Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack has awarded the honorary title of Professor Emeritus to five senior professors.
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PM visits refugee education centre

21 Jun, 2019
The latest students at AUT's Centre for Refugee Education had a special guest for their farewell ceremony – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Kirsten Warner

Creative Writing graduate wins award

17 May, 2019
An AUT graduate's hard work has been recognised at this year's Ockham NZ Book Awards.
62% increase in AUT researchers

62% increase in AUT researchers

30 Apr, 2019
Growing expertise to help New Zealand and the world
They Are Us image - illustration by Ruby Jones

Christchurch tragedy

15 Mar, 2019
The tragic event in Christchurch today devastates us. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their friends and families.
Seddon Memorial Technical College reunion

Celebrating AUT through the years

21 Jan, 2019
Over 50 of our oldest alumni came together for the 2018 Seddon Memorial Technical College reunion hosted by the alumni office.
Two people using their cellphones

Research tackles online trolls

16 Jan, 2019
Dr Philippa Smith recently returned from the OII in the UK where she studied counter speech strategies in response to negative online discourses.
A woman using her laptop

Initiative to address interpreter demand

09 Jan, 2019
AUT is offering six scholarships for the Graduate Certificate in Arts (Interpreting), targeted at speakers of identified rare languages in NZ.
AUT Edge Award winners

Gaining skills for the workplace

14 Dec, 2018
Auckland Council are proud to sponsor the overall achievement prize for the AUT Edge Award, an extra-curricular employability award at AUT.
Staff and students involved with the Haru no Kawa art exhibition

Arts student plans dream event

30 Oct, 2018
Final-year student Hannah Bradley was given a rare opportunity to host her own event as part of her workplace experience with Auckland Artweek.
The Sustainability Taskforce at the Roadmap launch

Minister launches sustainable blueprint

24 Oct, 2018
The Minister for Climate Change, the Hon James Shaw officially launched AUT’s Sustainability Roadmap on Friday 19 October.
The 2018 Blue Award recipients

AUT Blue Awards recognise top students

17 Oct, 2018
41 AUT students were honoured for their sporting, artistic and cultural successes on Friday at the AUT Blue Awards.
Professor Tania Ka'ai with Hon Carmel Sepuloni and the Aotearoa delegation

Showcasing Pacific history in London

16 Oct, 2018
Professor Tania Ka'ai represented the Pacific - and rubbed shoulders with Royalty - during the opening of the prestigious Oceania exhibition.
Seated guests at the 2017 event

AUT Blue Awards honour arts and culture

09 Oct, 2018
The annual AUT Blue Awards for sporting excellence will now be extended to acknowledge arts and culture excellence among high achieving students.
WF WG sky tower

THE rankings place AUT in NZ top three

27 Sep, 2018
AUT has significantly improved in global university rankings published today by the Times Higher Education.
Tokyo City in Japan

Japanese lecturer wins prestigious award

25 Sep, 2018
Dallas Nesbitt, Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies has been awarded the 2018 Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation.
Winner Gillian Roach and judge Elizabeth Morton

MCW grads scoop top poetry awards

21 Sep, 2018
Master of Creative Writing alumni have won in both categories of this year’s New Voices Emerging Poets Competition.
AUT students sit in the WG lecture hall

AUT 2019 domestic and international fees

13 Sep, 2018
Tuition fees for new domestic students, and for domestic and international students currently enrolled in a programme will increase in 2019.
photo of professor sharon harvey

Sharon Harvey on TVNZ's Breakfast show

10 Sep, 2018
Associate Professor Sharon Harvey appeared on TVNZ’s Breakfast show recently to talk about the importance of learning languages.
Photo of AUT City-Campus

Japanese Festival is a roaring success

22 Aug, 2018
The ninth annual Auckland Regional Secondary School Japanese Speech Festival was recently hosted by the School of Language and Culture at AUT.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei: Alec Hawke, Elizabeth Turner and Will ’Ilolahia

Commemorating Bastion Point protest

11 Jun, 2018
Dr Elizabeth Turner, senior lecturer in the School of Language and Culture, was invited to present her doctoral thesis to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.
Three ladies and their awards

AUT staff scoop NZ Sign Language Awards

01 Jun, 2018
Lecturers Susie Ovens and Lynette Pivac were recognised for their impressive achievements at the recent NZ Sign Language Awards ceremony.
Social change campaigner Richie Hardcore

Academia enhances social change tools

19 Apr, 2018
Social change campaigner Richie Hardcore kicked off the AUT Culture and Society Career Fair by stressing the importance of resilience and learning.
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AUT increases presence in QS subject rankings

01 Mar, 2018

New global rankings show AUT now has 13 subjects ranked, with two of them featuring in the top 50 in the world.

Alumni form indie publishing collective

Alumni form indie publishing collective

16 Feb, 2018

A group of AUT creative writing alumni created their own indie publishing company, Cloud Ink Press, to give new authors a voice in the industry.

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World first Indonesia Centre opens in Auckland

06 Sep, 2017

A new centre designed to promote Indonesia in New Zealand and strengthen relations between the two countries, has opened in Auckland. Hosted by AUT, the centre is a world first, and if successful is likely to be repeated in cities around the world.

Radilaite Cammock

Māori and Pacific Early Career Academic Programme

02 Sep, 2017

A new generation of Māori and Pacific lecturers is taking up residence at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

The 2018 Early Career Academic Programme offers up to six Māori and Pacific scholars their first, full-time, permanent appointments as research-active lecturers.

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$160 million for languages education in schools? Let’s make sure we get it right.

29 Aug, 2017

National’s election promise of $160 million dollars for language learning in schools has the potential to completely transform language learning in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Kiwi poet a finalist in international Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2016

08 Dec, 2016

AUT Master of Creative Writing graduand Maris O’Rourke is one of 60 finalists, chosen from thousands of entries, in the international Aesthetica Creative Writing Award; a competition for emerging and established writers.

The value of learning another language

19 Aug, 2016

A new book co-edited by School of Language and Culture senior lecturer Dallas Nesbitt gives unprecedented insight into issues and strategies around Japanese language learning in New Zealand at tertiary level.

Welcome signs at AUT South Campus

09 Aug, 2016

New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) stole the show at a recent diversity event at AUT South Campus.

NZSL interpreter, Lani Wendt-Scanlan, told the audience she was inspired to learn how to sign while caring for a young girl who was Deaf.

A sign of welcome for staff and students

18 May, 2016

Hundreds of students and staff pass through the foyer of the WT building on the City Campus every day and now Safety & Security Officer PK Takaia can communicate with them all thanks to his New Zealand Sign Language classes.

Visiting Writers Programme author: publishers don’t hold all the power

15 Apr, 2016

Setting aside time to write every week was one of the pieces of advice from Rich Man Road author Ann Glamuzina at the second talk in AUT’s Visiting Writers series.

MCW candidates gain invaluable advice from Visiting Writers Programme session with Purgatory author Rosetta Allan

15 Mar, 2016

“Focus on perspective – find that vital thread that is going to help you tell your story.” That was one of the pieces of advice from Purgatory author Rosetta Allan in the first of the talks in AUT’s Visiting Writers Programme.

DallasN

Opinion - Turning the tide on ‘declining’ languages: Japanese as a case study

02 Sep, 2015

Opinion piece written by AUT Senior Lecturer in Japanese Dallas Nesbitt.

DiscoverAUTSharonHarvey

New Zealand kids monolingual, missing out

06 Aug, 2015

The Māori language is in a dire situation and the 2013 census saw a further drop in numbers of Māori speaking Māori. In 2015′s Māori language week, Auckland University of Technology Associate Professor Sharon Harvey takes on popular misconceptions, explains how a national languages policy would increase our awareness of languages overall, and tells us how Māori might figure in such a policy. This article was originally published for the Royal Society of New Zealand at Sciblogs.co.nz.

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Advice and insights for aspiring writers

03 Mar, 2015

Auckland author Gina Cole is the first writer to share advice and insights with those aspiring to be published as part of the AUT 2017 Visiting Writers Program.

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Hawai’i and New Zealand universities championing revitalisation of indigenous languages

18 Dec, 2014

A Hawaiian Language Studies expert from the University of Hawai’i West O’ahu has given AUT University a thumbs up for its work in promoting the revitalisation of te reo Māori.

Ralph_Regenvanu

A cultural agenda for the best of both worlds - Vanuatu Minister provides food for thought at AUT’s South Campus

29 Oct, 2014

The Honourable Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, provided some strong food for thought at a free AUT Pacific public lecture held at AUT’s South Campus in Manukau recently.

Ralph_Regenvanu_Speaker

Vanuatu Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to speak at AUT’s South Campus

21 Oct, 2014

AUT is proud to be hosting the Honourable Ralph Regenvanu at a free public lecture at its South Campus in Manukau on Thursday 23 October.

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AUT University Pacific researchers shine at third annual Samoa Conference

14 Oct, 2014

A group of five AUT University PhD candidates based at AUT’s South Campus recently attended the third annual Samoa Conference.

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AUT Professor wins prestigious economics award

29 Aug, 2014

AUT University Professor of Public Policy, Marilyn Waring, was yesterday announced the 2014 recipient of the prestigious New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Economics Award.

Dr Matthew McDougall

Authentic content key to connecting with Chinese markets via social media

21 Mar, 2014

In the fast changing digital media landscape authentic content and narratives are vital to branding no matter who is using it.

JSANZ

Japanese language network aims to reverse decline

18 Mar, 2014

A newly formed language teachers’ network is determined to reverse the decline in Japanese language study, says co-chair, AUT School of Language and Culture senior lecturer Dallas Nesbitt.

Bianca Zander

Creative writing lecturer ‘thrilled’ to be named a 2014 Sargeson Fellow

17 Mar, 2014

Novelist and AUT creative writing lecturer Bianca Zander says she is “absolutely thrilled” to be awarded the 2014 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship, a prestigious New Zealand literary honour.

Fulbright research aims to improve ethnic medical outcomes

04 Feb, 2014

Introducing patient navigators (who are trained medical interpreters) to New Zealand hospitals could help reduce adverse outcomes for ethnic communities according to a 2014 Fulbright Scholar from AUT University.

Top poetry award goes to creative writing tutor

25 Nov, 2013

AUT Creative Writing tutor Siobhan Harvey has been awarded New Zealand’s premier poetry prize, the Landfall Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry.

The award, valued at $16,000, is for her project: Nephology for Beginners which is about a child with autism spectrum, his mother and his school. She was one of 90 entries judged by poet, fiction writer and lecturer Jeffrey Paparoa Holman.

World Internet Project - latest NZ research from AUT

21 Nov, 2013

Most New Zealand internet users are accessing the internet from a hand-held mobile device at least some of the time, according to the 2013 World Internet Project New Zealand (WIPNZ) Report.

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Dr Jeff Cole in New Zealand with AUT and the US Embassy

18 Nov, 2013

AUT University is hosting Dr Jeffrey Cole, international Internet expert and international director of the World Internet Project (WIP) at two exciting ventures this week.

Dr Cole, founder and director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California Annenberg School, is the 2013 speaker at AUT’s The Project.

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AUT goes international with language revitalisation

25 May, 2012

An initial group of six AUT staff left New Zealand for the USA last week to promote the work being done here in the International Centre for Language Revitalisation.

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Facebook monopolises NZ's online social networking landscape

09 Dec, 2011

Facebook has captured the hearts (and time) of Kiwis while MySpace has disappeared off our radars completely.

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AUT launches international centre for language revitalisation in the USA

25 May, 2011

This week AUT University academics launched the International Centre for Language Revitalisation at the United Nations, in New York City - a centre which could breathe life into many of the world’s endangered languages.

Allan-Bell

The internet: more use, more mobile, less secret

17 Nov, 2010

The internet is moving out from behind closed doors in homes to communal places like lounges and kitchens the latest World Internet Project figures report.

Futuristic worlds, disillusioned housewives and racoon eyed grandmothers catch judges’ attention

13 Apr, 2010

A futuristic world where people choose their appearance, a disillusioned Ponsonby housewife, and an ode to a grandmother were what caught the judges’ attention in the first AUT Creative Writing Competition.