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Through a strong partnership with Tauranga City Council, University of Waikato students are applying smart technology and innovative thinking to solve real community challenges.
Work-integrated learning at the University of Waikato gives students hands-on experience through assignments, internships and research scholarships that place them directly inside local organisations. The model is designed to benefit everyone: students gain practical skills and professional confidence, while councils and businesses receive fresh thinking, research capacity and innovative solutions that might otherwise sit out of reach.
“Work-integrated learning is a practical way of growing local capability and supporting innovation while delivering value for our community,” says Marlene Herewini, Employment Pathways Lead at Tauranga City Council, which hosts students across its organisation. “Students are able to apply their learning to council projects that support better services, informed decision making, and future focused outcomes for Tauranga.”
For many students, these placements are their first opportunity to work on projects that move beyond the classroom and into public spaces used every day by residents and visitors. That real-world impact was on display this week during student research presentations, showcasing projects that brought together technology, science and waterfront fun.
University of Waikato software engineering student, Jack Unsworth, and computer science student, Blake Smith, presented their projects, inspired by previous student research on how communities can co-design smart city technology. This was where the idea of a Manu Meter was first mooted.
The concept was split into two parts. Jack’s project, Developing a Manu-Meter Proof of Concept Algorithm for Scoring Manu Jumps, took the idea to prototype stage. He investigated the use of an AI camera to capture splash height of manu jumps at Tauranga waterfront’s popular Manu Zone, with results automatically displayed on a digital leader board.
Blake’s project, Is It Safe To Manu? Environmental Quality and Safety Conditions, investigated the use of data and sensors to monitor environmental factors such as water quality, depth and tidal conditions, as well as wind and UV index. This information could be displayed on the Manu Meter leader board.
This is the second time Dave Parsons, Senior Programme Manager – Te Manwataki o te Papa Technology, City Experience Technology and Smart Community at Tauranga City Council, has overseen projects through the programme. “Jack and Blake have done an amazing job creating a really cool prototype,” he says. “We’ve got the idea and we’ve got something to sell. We’re going to try and find a way to make it happen and also give it a practical purpose – around the water quality, the environmental information, the environmental awareness, and the safety of the swim.”
For Tauranga City Council, the project exemplified why student research partnerships are so valuable. “I want students to further enable the things that we’re looking at doing, and progress them in a cost-effective, value-for-money kind of way that also gives real-life work experience to our students,” says Dave.
Other research presented on the day focused on reducing embodied carbon in the city’s stormwater networks, and enhancing community connectivity through improved pathway linkages. “It’s a good opportunity to grow small projects that we might not have the capacity or the funding to do, but to get it to a point where you can tell the story,” Dave says. “It wouldn’t happen without The University of Waikato, and the work that the students have done, because they’ve broken the back of it. There’s nothing better than showing. It creates that ability to easily promote the prototype.”
The next step is exploring how the Manu Meter concept could be supported and scaled. “We’ve just got to do it in a way that doesn’t impact on our ratepayers. We need to engage with our local business community to support such a cool project. I’m sure there’ll be some takers here,” says Dave.