Sustainability research

AUT and Victoria University received Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant funding to establish the initiative, Nature-based Urban design for Wellbeing and Adaptation in Oceania (NUWAO).

They work with communities to co-design urban environments that are centred in indigenous ecological knowledge and nature-based solutions as a means to adapt to climate change impacts.

During 2023 they held a symposium, a design competition, generated publications, and released podcasts where many AUT academics shared their knowledge around climate issues and called listeners to action.

AUT hosted the sixth Open Science Conference in February 2023 with a specific focus on the biosphere. 150 delegates joined online and in person to exchange the latest research on how climate change is affecting ecosystems from the microbial to the planetary scale.

The Department of Environmental Science hosted the annual Coastal Restoration Trust conference that involved iwi, research scientists, council, students and the Department of Conservation. The successful ecological restoration of coastal ecosystems is of major importance to Aotearoa, given our vulnerability to climate change impacts.

We have a goal of increasing the numbers of peer reviewed research outputs that contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2023, AUT had 393 publications that contributed to one or more SDGs (30% of all outputs).