On Wednesday, at the new BECA building near the Wynyard Quarter,  Adjunct Professor Robert Kirkpatrick of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering  was invited by the New Zealand chapter of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) to present this year’s Kennedy-Wunsch flagship lecture. The annual lecture series recognises the role that Miles Kennedy and…

A common difficulty students experience is a lack of understanding of how real process and their underpinning theory work in a real-world setting. The CHEMMAT 306 Methanex visit provides an excellent opportunity for students to not only bridge this knowledge gap but also develop a design mindset, which is critical for final-year projects. Throughout CHEMMAT…

“On April 10th and 11th, 2025, researchers from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Auckland, and GNS Science in New Zealand joined collaborators from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for a two-day collaboration of presentations and discussions in Livermore, CA. Supported by the NZ–US Catalyst Seeding: General…

Excited Students paying keen attention, while also having fun On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering’s Resource Recovery Lab’ had the pleasure of hosting around 50 Year-11 high school students from across New Zealand as part of the Faculty of Engineering and Design’s Women in Engineering Holiday Camp. The students…

Written byUber Eats, Aotearoa Uber Eats is supporting restaurants across Aotearoa to shift towards more sustainable packaging, unveiling a practical, science-backed Green Packaging framework to help partners make informed decisions. To accelerate this transition, Uber Eats has committed up to $10 million NZD over the next two years in funding to help restaurants in New…

In The Future of Energy (CHEMMAT 304), a Part III elective, we were challenged to develop transferable skills and take on a multidisciplinary approach to solving technical problems related to climate change. As Team Confidence Connoisseurs, we wanted to tackle New Zealand’s rising transport emissions while also building our own self-confidence. We knew we wanted…

28 EG 30/2025 WRITER | KAITUHI ALEXANDRA JOHNSON Why water engineer L’Rey Renata is working to increase the incorporation of Māori values and principles into modern environmental practices. When L’Rey Renata was 15, she was inspired by a humanitarian engineer on YouTube who took technology and innovation back to their village in India to improve the lives of their community. “I realised that’s what I wanted to do, to serve people with innovation, strive to make things better,” says the Emerging Professional Member of Engineering New Zealand. “None of my family had been to university at the time. I wondered, what would it take to become that, and what was the pathway.” Now a water engineer…

Congratulations to Emeritus Professor Barry Welch on being awarded the Brimacombe Prize.For those who don’t know, Barry was a member of the department of chemical and materials engineering from 1980 to 1998 during which time he also served as Head of Department. Barry is a world leading expert in metallurgy and especially aluminium smelting technology….

I am excited to announce that our Smart Idea proposal, “Extracting Value from an Invasive Seaweed Using Applied Ecophysiology and Green Solvents,” has been successfully funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)!This project aims to turn the invasive Undaria pinnatifida into a valuable resource for New Zealand. By creating a bioactive forecast model…

A unique collaboration between the University of Auckland and an isolated valley community in Tairāwhiti Gisborne aims to reshape how the region confronts climate-related challenges. Around 40 community members of a local iwi from Whareponga Valley, located in the Ruātoria region, travelled to the University this week for a series of educational workshops on 21…