Allrounder Waikato student picked for Eco-Minds
university-of-waikato
Mon Apr 27 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Allrounder Waikato student picked for Eco-Minds
Monday, 27 April 2009, 1:04 pm
Press Release: University of Waikato
Media Release
April 27, 2009
Mixing it up for Eco-Minds
Management and science isn’t the most typical mix of subjects for a university degree, but for University of Waikato student Rebecca Williamson it’s opened the way to a place at a top youth forum on sustainable development.
Williamson is one of just five New Zealand students who’ve been selected to attend the Asia-Pacific Eco-Minds Sustainable Development Forum, sponsored by Bayer and the United Nationals Environment Programme (UNEP).
They’ll join around 15 students from eight other Asia-Pacific countries for a week of mini lectures, discussions and fact-finding trips on the development of sustainable energy systems, looking specifically at New Zealand as a case study.
The forum will be held in Auckland and Rotorua next month [May 25-29].
To win her place, Williamson had to submit a 1,000 word essay on the topic, but she says it’s a great opportunity to bring her twin interests together. “I’m doing a conjoint management and science degree at Waikato, and most people just look blank when I say I’m majoring in chemistry and economics,” she says. “The Eco-Minds forum is the first thing I’ve found where I can mix the two together, and I just thought – yess!”
The former Mt Maunganui College student did chemistry and calculus at school, and was a member of a winning team in the Young Enterprise Scheme. She was tossing up between a degree in science and a degree in management when she saw a flyer for the conjoint degree at Waikato.
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“That decided me,” she says. “This degree gives me the chance to develop my skills in both science and management. This year I’ve already completed a summer research scholarship project in chemistry – that was on immobilising metal nanoparticles into fabric, and now I’ve got the opportunity to find out more about sustainable energy options at the Eco-Minds forum.”
Williamson says the week-long forum should be fun: “We’ll have specialists in sustainability as guest speakers, and there’s a competition where we have to come up with ideas for working together to reduce our carbon footprint across the Asia-Pacific region. It’s all about working globally to solve problems.”
Williamson is in her fourth year of the five-year conjoint degree, and says she’s interested in working in the area of environmental policy making when she graduates.
ENDS
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