Summer Research Scholarships

Summer Research Scholarships offer a unique opportunity for organisations, academics, and students to work together in research over the summer trimester.

If you’re a student in at least your third year of study and are interested and skilled in research, you could spend the summer trimester supporting a research project—gaining valuable skills and a scholarship in the process.

Summer Research Scholarships offer a unique opportunity for students to gain experience in research and get an insight into what studying for a research degree involves. Each scholarship gives you the experience of working with established researchers under the supervision of an academic staff member or a research team.

Please see below for a full list of the Summer Research projects that are available at Wellington School of Business and Government over the 2022/2023 summer.

The opportunity to apply for Summer Research Scholarships for 2022/2023 will be open from Tuesday 6 September to 4.30pm Tuesday 20 September 2022.

Big Brother and Big Other: the history of privacy and technology in Aotearoa (for up to two scholars)

Scholarship code: 500
Sponsored by: Victoria University of Wellington

This project will investigate how issues of privacy and control have changed over the last 60 years due to the use of digital technologies. It aims to identify the patterns that underlie the relationship between privacy, technology, individual private corporations and the state. While online privacy is a global issue, this project will focus particularly on the development of attitudes towards data protection in New Zealand, using case studies from government, health, banking, law enforcement and social media use. Data will be collected using both interviews and historical archival material. Are you interested in how personal privacy is compromised by digital technologies? This project is open to students fascinated by the history of digital technology and the impact it has had on everyday life in sectors such as health, law, education and media. The project will involve qualitative research using interviews and historical records. It would suit an information systems, history, media studies, health or computing science student concerned about ethical issues in the use of digital technology.

Tasks: Conduct literature review of digital privacy issues relevant to the sector being investigated and prepare data collection plan & protocol. Complete data collection (which could be interviews with key informants or collection of archival materials). Synthesis and analysis of data collected related back to initial literature review. Final report produced.
Location: VUW
Contact: janet.toland@vuw.ac.nz

Interface Design for Rich Prospect Digital Cultural Heritage: Supporting Reflection, Critique and Inclusion

Scholarship code: 501
Sponsored by: Victoria University of Wellington

Following decades of digitisation, many cultural memory and heritage resources are now only a click away via online portals. The user interfaces to these collections tend to however, perpetuate long-standing premises of institutionalised collecting in cultural memory and heritage institutions like libraries, archives and museums. Most digital heritage collections still primarily support a search-centric paradigm and focus on an item (digital object)'s metadata and retrieval-by-request functionality. The visual characters of digital objects within such cultural heritage collections remain largely neglected. As 'gateways' to these resources, user interfaces are not neutral. User interfaces could be means of reflection, critique and inclusion. They play a fundamental role in how users explore, discover and perceive cultural and historical sources, influencing memories and heritage interpretation, and if designed appropriately, can support critical approaches towards the representation of collective memories and, cultural heritage communication and interpretation. This research will present: A survey of user interface design (features and functionalities) that encourage and support interactions with cultural heritage collections that go beyond a search-and-retrieve paradigm: A mapping of the current state-of-the-art: A reflective discussion of the potential of information visualisation, annotation technologies and dynamic exploration of cultural heritage collections in view of the principles of serendipity, generosity/rich prospect and criticality in cultural heritage representation, communication, exploration and interpretation.

Tasks: A literature review and a survey of user interface design that encourage and support interactions with cultural heritage collections that go beyond a search-and-retrieve paradigm. A mapping of the current state-of-the-art: Features and functionalities in current digital cultural heritage interfaces that have adopted critical approaches and strategies for cultural heritage representation and communication, allowing for alternative and (potentially) conflicting narratives and interpretations to surface. A research report that includes a reflective discussion of the potential of information visualisation, annotation technologies and dynamic exploration of cultural heritage collections in view of the principles of serendipity, generosity/rich prospect and criticality in cultural heritage representation, communication, exploration and interpretation.

Location: VUW
Contact: chernli.liew@vuw.ac.nz

What are the empirical properties of wage and price movements in New Zealand?

Scholarship code: 502
Sponsored by: The Treasury and Victoria University of Wellington

This project is intended to explore and characterise wage and price movements in New Zealand using quantitative (econometric or time series) methods. Consumer price inflation is currently at levels not seen since the early 1990s, and those price increases imply substantial changes in real wages unless nominal wages increase in tandem. Are nominal wages (such as the labour cost index) cointegrated with consumer prices? Do wages lag prices or are they adjusted contemporaneously? Are wages from the Quarterly Employment Survey cointegrated with nominal prices and measures of productivity? Has inflation and wage growth become more persistent in recent years? How has the labour share of income changed with higher inflation?
Project outcomes; A written paper detailing methodology and results to inform understanding of wage and price dynamics. Presentation to Treasury staff. Possible publication as a Treasury Analytical Note.

The ideal candidate will have experience with econometrics. Elementary programming in a package such as Matlab, R EViews or Python would be beneficial.

Tasks: Review literature and establish methodology. Collate data and carry out analysis. Written paper detailing methodology and results. Presentation to Treasury staff. Possible publication as a Treasury Analytical Note.

Location: The Treasury
Contact: robert.kirkby@vuw.ac.nz