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Tēnā koutou e ngā rangatira mā,
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It has been an honour to take up the role of President of the NZPSA. I remember first showing up to the Canterbury conference as a grad student and being welcomed into the fold by Geoff Ford and David Belgrave. At different points in my career, NZPSA has served as a great community, and I have loved connecting with scholars from different subdisciplines and locations.
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I am grateful to the academics who have served in the executive roles, including Jeremy as the outgoing President – everyone taking their turn means that the association can continue and we can provide this sense of community for the next generation of scholars.
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On that note, this email is calling on someone to please step up and serve as treasurer.
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Sarah Bickerton has served a term as treasurer but is looking to step aside – she announced this last year before the AGM. This means we are now looking for a treasurer to join our team. What the role involves:
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- A meeting of the executive team on Zoom every 6-8 weeks or so.
- · Making online payments
- · Liaising with the accountant, ensuring they have everything that they need (once a year)
- · Preparing a treasurers’ report for the AGM describing qualitatively how the association is getting on financially (once a year)
All training will be provided with a very informative handover – Sarah will also be available to help with questions and assistance.
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I would like to thank David Jenkins from Otago for taking up the Executive Secretary role. David led an excellent conference at Otago University last year and I am looking forward to working with him and with Flynn Acworth (VUW PhD candidate) as administrator.
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Network convenors – help also please
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The International Relations Network and the Political Communication Network need network convenors. We will follow up with these networks in the coming months but please consider if you’d like to step into one of these roles to ensure the networks continue.
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2026 is a network event year, rather than a conference year. So, filling these network convenor roles is even more important.
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We are also planning some other online events, such as a panel on appearing in the media and a media contacts list for election 2026 coverage (copying Richard Shaw’s work in 2023), and some events on funding including demystifying Horizon Europe.
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Please let me know if there is any other topic it would be good for us to address as an association, or if you have any other questions, comments or suggestions.
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Associate Professor Lara Greaves, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington
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