News / Te Niwha Update - July 2025

Te Niwha Update - July 2025

ngatahi main

Greetings from the Mana Whakahaere     

Teenaa koutou katoa,

We are now six months deep into 2025 and going by the science and matauranga research activities undertaken thus far, the next six months will be jam packed as well.

On Monday just gone, Wini and I were fortunate to attend the Kai Conference that was held at at Te Manuka Tūtahi marae, Whakatāne. Food safety is critical to preventing infectious diseases and therefore we were pleased to support the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Center and Te Ahuatanga o te Kai (Kai Research Institute)

The Kia Niwha Leader Fellows will make their way to Toronto, Canada in a few days for an International Expert Exchange with research leaders from Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto, Waterloo University and the University of Guelph. The Fellows will co-host a research satellite and engage with leading infectious diseases researchers and facilities during their exchange.

In this brief update, we reflect on the Ngātahi Forum, share the latest for our People Leadership initiatives, open the registration and abstracts for the summit, post upcoming meetings and provide a snapshot of our research impact.

We look forward to receiving project annual reports over the next few weeks. Reach out to the team if you have paatai or require support for these.

We have quite the collection of photos from all our engagements and events over the last few years and are actively working to share these albums with you all. For now, we share a few here from the recent Ngātahi Forum.

Ngaa mihi
Te Pora

 


 

Ngātahi

Last Wednesday, the Director Te Pora Thompson and Ngātahi Co-Chairs Professor Alex Semprini and Professor Nigel French welcomed the team of Te Niwha research leaders, emerging future leaders, Chief Science Advisors, impact and investment leaders to the 2nd Ngātahi Forum.

The forum focussed on both reflective and forward-looking discussions on pandemic resilience and infectious diseases threats research. We were fortunate to be led by Professor Ian Town, Chief Science Advisor at the Ministry of Health who shared key insights from the COVID-19 response; Professor Gary Evans, Director of the Ferrier Institute and Co-Director of the RNA Development Platform joined Ian to explore with the Forum how New Zealand can strengthen its readiness for future public health emergencies.

In a lightning round of short talks, four Te Niwha research leaders presented key advancements from their research:

- Associate Professor Julie Bennett on an alternative penicillin delivery method for rheumatic heart disease prevention;
- Dr Colin McArthur on the multinational REMAP-CAP trial for severe influenza;
- Associate Professor Steve Ritchie on the new national antimicrobial guidelines; and
- Professor Cameron Grant on a clinical trial aimed at preventing preschool wheeze-related hospital admissions.

Professor Rachael Taylor and Mr Andrew Sporle, Horizon Europe National Contact Points discussed with the leaders forum collaboration opportunities with European researchers through the EU’s research funding scheme. Dr Kara Scally-Irvine leading sessions on research impact - emphasising early stakeholder engagement and designing research for real-world uptake.

We look forward to continuing these conversations in the lead-up to the August 20 Ngātahi Forum that will be held in the Grand Hall, Parliament.

 


 

 

Update: Kia Tupu Community Development Grants

Te Niwha Kia Tupu - Community Development Grants are designed to support capability and capacity building for pandemic preparedness and/or infectious diseases preparedness in community groups, non-profit organisations, iwi, marae, hapū, kura/schools.

Thank you to those who registered their interest for this Grant. The Te Niwha team has now invited applications from those selected for further consideration.

 


 

Newly awarded Māori PhD recipient to utilise genetic tools for safe drinking water delivery 

Okeroa Waaka of Ngaati Maahanga, Ngaati Te Wehi and Ngaati Pikiao is the final recipient of the Te Niwha PhD Scholarships. Studying at Te Whare Waananga o Waikato, Okeroa will be supervised and supported by Dr Joanna Hicks, Professor Ian Taylor and Associate Professor Tim Chambers. Okeroa is currently a member of the Vibrio project.

Nau mai e te taonga me ngā hua nui a Ngāti Māhanga e.

Find out more about Okeroa here.

 


 

 

Summer Studentships now open

He karanga tēnei ki ngā tauira Māori e ngākau nui ana ki tēnei kaupapa o Te Niwha

We are taking expressions of interests from Māori students - (currently in the final year of undergraduate study or first year of post doctorate) for the remainder of our Te Niwha Studentships.

Please refer to our Te Niwha website for more information. Applications close Aug 1 2025.

 


 

 

Registrations and abstract submissions open NOW:

Aotearoa, New Zealand Pandemic Preparedness & Infectious Diseases Summit 2025     

📅  10 - 13 November 2025
📍 Turangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia (~ 20 km from Hamilton)


Summit 2025 is just around the corner, and we're excited to share that registrations will open this week!

Beginning with our Pōwhiri and first speaker the late afternoon of Monday 10 November, this year’s Summit will feature findings from Te Niwha research, international, regional and local research experts, Workshops in motion (Tira Hoe, Rangiriri and Community visits). The Gala dinner will be held on Wednesday the 12th and the Summit will conclude 1pm Thursday the 13th.

Register here!

 


 

 

Publications:     

Follow Te Niwha’s Google Scholar page to keep up to date with new publications from our researchers.

Here the latest from June 2025:

Examining Campylobacteriosis Disease Notification Rates: Association with Water Supply Characteristics
T Chambers et al., Environmental Research

 


 

 

Upcoming conferences and workshops in New Zealand relevant to infectious diseases:     

Antimicrobial Resistance Satellite, QRW
2-3 September 2025, Christchurch

Aotearoa New Zealand Immunisation Conference 2025 and pre-conference workshop
3-5 September 2025, Hamilton

Pacific Islands Health Research Symposium 2025
10-12 September 2025, Suva, Fiji. We are encouraging Te Niwha-funded researchers working on relevant projects to apply for travel grants to attend this Symposium. Applications from other New Zealand-based infectious diseases/pandemic preparedness researchers working on relevant projects to attend this specific event will also be considered. More information on travel grant applications can be found here.

Water New Zealand Conference and Expo 2025
29 September- 3 October 2025, Christchurch.

 


 

Insights

In April, we have asked all research leads to provide their Impact Case Studies enabling us to compile information on the impact/potential impact/pathway to impact of Te Niwha's investments.