Award-Winning Global Science Festival Comes to Manawatu

10/05/2019

MEDIA RELEASE

Brewing on Science: Award-Winning Global Science Festival Comes to Manawatu And Whanganui

The relationship between ageing, food and your brain to co-existing with cows and keas, and the state of our environment from the hills to our waterways are just some of the research topics that will be served up by scientists at local Palmerston North and Whanganui bars and breweries during Pint of Science, in May.

Pint of Science is an award-winning global science festival that is held concurrently around the world from May 20 to 22 and this year the Central Economic Development Agency (CEDA) has brought the festival to New Zealand for the first time.

The three-day festival began in the UK in 2012 and has since grown to nearly 400 cities across 24 countries where researchers take their science to an audience in a local pub, bar or café. The latest cities to join the global list are Palmerston North, Manawatū and Whanganui.

Together with Pint of Science New Zealand's national partner Massey University and regional partners Fonterra and Horizons Regional Council, seven events will be held across Palmerston North and Whanganui in just over a weeks’ time. And Manawatū People’s Radio will be broadcasting from the three Massey University events at Brew Union.

"Manawatū is home to more than 2,500 researchers and scientists at Massey University, Crown Research Institutes, and more, so it seemed obvious to CEDA that Pint of Science would be a perfect fit for the region,” says CEDA’s Events Senior Tessa Lyons, who is also the Pint of Science New Zealand Executive Director.

“Instead of attempting to create an audience around science, Pint of Science takes the research to an already established audience at our local pubs and connects our researchers and their science discovery with the wider community, in a novel way and new environment. CEDA is proud to be at the centre of this new approach.”

Seven ticketed events ($15 will get you entry and a drink) are taking place as part of the inaugural festival in New Zealand. There are six events in Palmerston North and one in Whanganui, with potential for the festival to grow to other cities in future years.

Pint of Science supports CEDA’s vision of Manawatū being New Zealand’s most progressive region by 2025 and is an extension of our work to continue developing and growing the global agrihub that is based here. The breadth of Pint of Science partners is also an example of how CEDA works closely with other organisations to foster and grow innovation across Manawatū and beyond.

"CEDA's leadership in bringing Pint of Science to New Zealand and the partners we are working with, is another example of how we're showcasing the depth of capability and expertise of our influential researchers in Manawatū, on a global stage,” says Lyons.

By connecting into Pint of Science’s global network, CEDA, Massey University, Horizons Regional Council and Fonterra have joined an international network of partners including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSRIO) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESR), as well as a wider university and research network.

CEDA would like to thank our partners for their support and appetite to try something new: Massey University, Horizons Regional Council, Fonterra, Manawatū People’s Radio and Webtech.

The events, times and locations can be found at pintofscience.nz:

• Palmerston North

• Whanganui

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