Institute celebrates relocation

Two very successful events last Friday marked the opening of the Liggins Institute on the University’s redeveloped Grafton Campus.

More than 300 attended the formal opening which included the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by Hon. Steven Joyce as Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment and Minister of Science and Innovation.

A similar number participated in a public forum where Institute and community leaders discussed the Institute’s contributions and potential for improving child health and wellbeing.

The Liggins Institute’s move late last brought it under the same roof as many of the University’s other medical research collaborations.

Speaking at the official opening, University Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon said that the Grafton Campus redevelopment represented a $240 million investment by the University of Auckland in the infrastructure required to support world-class biomedical and clinical research and teaching into the 21st century. “It also enhances collaborations between the Institute, the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and hospital staff. Both of these provide the support necessary for the Institute’s continued growth and international reputation.”

Professor McCutcheon said that the University had established two large scale research institutes with the intention of creating world-class research centres of the highest international standing.

“The Liggins Institute was the first such institute we established and it was something of an experiment, but it is a tribute to the tenacity and innovation of its directors and staff that is flourishing 12 years on.”

“It is an internationally recognised brand and a dominant player in generating research data that has brought acceptance to the once controversial theory that many adult diseases have their origins during early life development,” he said.

“The Institute has been very good at realising the advantages of collaboration, incorporating multi-disciplinary approaches, and forging alliances with leading New Zealand organisations in biotech, agriculture and medical sectors, as well as highly ranked universities and research organisations on every continent,” he said.

“At the same time it has not waivered substantially from the primary research focus on maternal, fetal and child health.”

Despite the often precarious funding environment, the Institute had shown itself to be a survivor and added considerably to the University’s standing, said Professor McCutcheon.

The Institute’s founding director Professor Sir Peter Gluckman outlined progress since it began in 2001, to become the leading institution in the world for research into the developmental origins of health and disease.
“The Institute is at the conceptual and clinical cutting edge of this research,” he said. “It is unique because it takes a multi-disciplinary approach to how things that happen in early life - from as early as conception - impact on the fetus, during childhood, adolescence and later in life.”

He said the Institute engaged in collaborations across the sciences from mathematics to biology, and from economics to philosophy, to look at the different dimensions of this question.

“The Institute generated the first spin-out company from a New Zealand university and has developed a strong outreach into the community on important questions, particularly via the Liggins Education Network for Science.”

In his address, Minister Joyce noted Government investments and initiatives which relate to research and activities of the Liggins Institute. These include at least two of the National Science Challenges and the recently announced Science and Society project aimed at lifting educational achievement in science, technology, engineering and maths, and improving science literacy across the population. Following the opening the Minister visited the Institute’s Sir John Logan Campbell Classroom where he met with students and teachers from five Auckland schools taking part in a LENScience programme.

In his concluding remarks Institute Director, Professor Wayne Cutfield, referred to the Institute as a powerhouse of innovative and creative thinkers, able to pursue new lines of inquiry but retaining strong connections with core research and values and a commitment to develop research and knowledge that will make a difference in both the local community and throughout the world.