Ngā mihi o te wā me te Tau Hou
Seasons Greetings
A Better Start National Science Challenge thanks you all for your great contributions to our mission to give our children a better start in life. Enjoy the holiday break. This is the last newsletter for the year, with some key dates to add to your calendars for the New Year.
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MOJO partnership with mana whenua
Our job is to make science work for people. We can only do that if we stand beside our communities, whānau, hapū and iwi. To strengthen the relationship between the Challenge and mana whenua, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and A Better Start are delivering a new partnership. This is based on common objectives that we can work on together in a way that leverages the strengths of our people, experience, skills and strategy of the partners. We call this our MOJO, Memorandum of Joint Objectives. The first step in our journey is the co-creation of a mana-enhancing and empowerment framework to guide our language and actions to improve the health, education and well-being of tamariki and whanau.
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Multi-million dollar funding collaboration
to improve child health
A Better Start National Science Challenge and Cure Kids, New Zealand’s largest national child health research charity, have joined forces to create a new contestable fund in child health. The contestable funding round will seek proposals for projects that demonstrate the potential to deliver tangible benefits to New Zealand children and their families. A Better Start’s mission is to find better ways to reduce childhood obesity, improve early literacy, reduce adolescent mental health problems and explore early diagnosis and behavioural management of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Cure Kids and A Better Start will each contribute $1.4m, for a total of $2.8m, to a contestable fund to be formally launched in late January with proposals sought by the end of March. The maximum project budget will be $350,000 and projects are to be completed by 30 June, 2019. By working together, A Better Start and Cure Kids are fulfilling the kaupapa of each organisation to make a positive difference for our tamariki with a collaborative, interdisciplinary and cross-sector approach. The Request for Proposals (RfP) and guidance documents will be confirmed on each organisation's website in late January.
Key date: Request for proposal for new contestable round, last week in January, 2017.
Below: Cure Kids ambassador Finn was born with hypoplastic right heart syndrome
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Cross-disciplinary conversation fosters collaborative research on Autism Spectrum Disorder
We worked with Autism NZ and Mind for Minds to host and facilitate a cross-disciplinary conversation on Autism Spectrum Disorder at a workshop in Wellington earlier this year. More than 80 registrants explored potential research initiatives in three key areas: early diagnosis, optimal psychological and behavioural management and optimal education. The workshop has sown the seed for new research collaborations that will be submitted to A Better Start’s contestable round and other competitive research rounds. A Better Start is also part of an international consortium of education researchers examining the impact of education initiatives in autism. The consortium includes more than 10 countries and has so far investigated the practices of over 1000 professionals working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Major symposium on diabetes and obesity
A Better Start National Science Challenge’s Director Professor Wayne Cutfield (above) is a keynote presenter at a major symposium The Diabesity Crisis: how can we make a difference at the Clinical Education Centre, Auckland City Hospital on Friday, 17 March, 2017. The event is an initiative from the A Better Start and Healthier Lives National Science Challenges and the Edgar Diabetes and Research Centre of the University of Otago. To ensure broad participation, the symposium will be live-streamed. A public debate, chaired by broadcaster Kim Hill, will discuss the cost of sugar to our society on the evening of Thursday, 16 March. Registration details will be on our website in January.
Key dates: The Cost of Sugar and the Diabesity Crisis: Thursday and Friday, 16 and 17 March, 2017
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Award recognises tautoko, aroha and awhi
Congratulations to Associate Professor Papaarangi Reid (below) of the University of Auckland with kahui member Dr David Jansen. Associate Professor Reid who is a board member of A Better Start received the prestigious Dr Paratene Ngata Te Ngakau Ora Award at the Te Ora (Maori Medical Practitioners Association) hui held at Papakura marae recently. The award honours service, mentoring and support to Maori doctors and medical students "Tautoko, Aroha, Awhi". It recognises the Maori doctors who continue the work of the late Dr Paratene Ngata who passed away in 2009.
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