Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki, the regional development agency, has announced four new community-based science projects have secured funding through the Curious Minds Taranaki programme. This brings the total number of projects funded to 76, with $1,218,164 in funding distributed since 2015.

Led by Venture Taranaki and funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the second round of 2023 Curious Minds projects brings together an impressive array of local and national expertise alongside Taranaki students tackling scientific questions and challenges inspired by the communities they affect.

Kelvin Wright, Chief Executive, Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki says, "Venture Taranaki delivers Curious Minds to support our region’s innovation ecosystem, nurture Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) education in our young people, and foster community collaboration. There have been some fantastic research findings for Taranaki as a result, like Project Reef in Pātea, and we look forward to seeing our latest recipients’ projects take shape."

The newly funded projects encompass a range of investigations with Taranaki youth central to driving forward the initiatives. 'Native Space-planted Systems' focuses on exploring the benefits of native tree-pasture systems and how they can be integrated into current farming practices to improve growth as well as potentially offsetting climate levies for farmers. This project involves Makahu School students, local farmers, and is led by PhD researcher, Dr. Tom Mackay-Smith, from Verdantia Research.

'Naturally Native' involves student-led riparian planting initiatives from Te Kura o Mimitangiatua (Mimi School), supported by Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Mutunga, and the Mt Messenger Alliance. They will be working to enhance river health with an ultimate goal of setting up a plant nursery at their school to supply the eco-sourced seedlings they grow to local farmers and landowners who want to support local environmental efforts.

In a clash of collaboration and innovation the East Taranaki Environment Collective, a past recipient of the Curious Minds grant, plan to build on their expertise in pest management and environmental restoration and engage with school groups to develop a comprehensive tool for evaluating environmental health. The tool aims to serve as a reliable and central resource for a range of conservation groups.

From environmental projects to championing female wellbeing, the fourth project ‘Her Strength’ is a science-based programme to empower young female athletes and identify ways to retain girls in sport through adolescence. Recognising 1 in 2 girls will drop out of sport during puberty, Dr Julia Casadio has received funding for the project which aims to build confidence in young women and enhance their sporting experience.

Thom Adams, Curious Minds Coordinator adds, "What is particularly exciting about the projects funded by Curious Minds Taranaki is that each one has been designed to ensure that the knowledge created can be used by future groups. That’s what science is all about, sharing discoveries for a better tomorrow."

The Curious Minds Participatory Science Platform is a world-first initiative, where scientists and communities collaborate to create exciting and meaningful research that is locally relevant.

The next funding round will open from 21 August 2023, and research professionals and community groups can apply for project funding up to $20,000. Refer here for more information on how to apply.  

About the projects

Naturally Native

Students of Rimu class at Te Kura o Mimitangiatua (Mimi School) have been investigating waterways as part of their Kaitiakitanga unit. The research uncovered the concerning finding that the water temperature of their local streams is higher than it should be. They want to look at how riparian planting can improve river health, prioritising native plants over introduced species with the ultimate goal of setting up a plant nursery at their school.

They will be joined in their investigation by Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Mutunga and the Mt Messenger Alliance to compare different river sites. Using the data collected, they’ll be able to decide which plants would be the best candidates to propagate. The seedlings they grow will be made available to local farmers and landowners who want to support local environmental efforts.

Native Space-planted Systems in Taranaki

In his PhD research, Dr Tom Mackay-Smith of Verdantia Research discovered that pasture production can be significantly greater under isolated mature kānuka trees compared to open pasture in the same paddock, and kānuka trees should also provide other benefits to farms through prevention of erosion and animal welfare. This project will investigate how this knowledge and low density native tree-pasture systems can be integrated into current farming practices. Additionally they want to know how planting native trees in this manner could be used to offset potential climate levies for farmers.

The scientists of Verdantia Research will be working with farmers and the students of Makahu School to test out their prototype tree guards. They’ll be measuring seedling growth and survival, and working with farmers to figure out how their science can translate to the working farm.

Her Strength

Retaining girls in sport through adolescence has been shown to increase health, wellbeing, and confidence. Unfortunately, 1 in 2 girls will drop out of sport during puberty. Dr Julia Casadio is developing a science-based programme to help young women athletes, their parents, and their coaches, navigate this journey and enhance their sports experience.

To do this, Dr Casadio is running a series of workshops to enable collaboration between experts, girls in sports and the people supporting them to learn how our understanding of puberty can be best applied by those most in need of support.

Let’s Not Beat Around the Bush

East Taranaki Environment Collective have been engaging in pest management and environmental restoration for many years and are now using the knowledge accrued over this time to develop a tool for evaluating environment health. They’ll be working with other conservation groups, and a local school, to see how different sources of information can be combined into a quick, easy instrument.

School students will develop their own environmental monitoring tools and present them to ETEC, opening up the opportunity for fresh new perspectives to breed innovation. From this combined effort, a single tool will be developed and tested in a number of different environments to ensure its usability for a range of conservation groups.