SASD 2022 was our first Awards event

• It kicked off with 16 submissions from multiple academic and industry organisations,
• 10 of these were shortlisted to compete in our competition,
• From these 10 we had 3 winners under the SDGs Projects category and 3 under the Research & Ideas category.

"When I decided to enter Smart Aotearoa last year, it was for the experience of taking part in an event focused on new ideas in sustainable development. My hope was that it would motivate me to work on a more innovative project than I had previously, as well as to engage with people who are actively looking for ways of building a more sustainable future ‒ and this is exactly what it did! Much to my surprise, our research on tracking learner development in sustainability received an award. It’s wonderful of course to see your work being recognised, but I really didn’t expect something as abstract as our research topic to win anything. In any case, it was great fun from the outset, and I particularly enjoyed being able to showcase the project to a keen and sympathetic audience. What's more, it has inspired me to keep researching in the fields of education, technological application and sustainable development, no matter how unpromising the topic may seem at first."

"As one of the winners of the SASD 2022 award, I still feel enormously proud of winning the award. I don't think the feeling will ever go away. I was up against tough competition from other exemplary individuals and leading teams from other universities and organisations. It's just wonderful to be recognised for the efforts and milestones I was brave enough to make visible to everyone. Winning this award has inspired me to continue my enthusiasm and move forward with my efforts which will hopefully bring further possibilities throughout my career. This is an award that doesn't just only celebrate what someone or a group of people have done, but the passionate efforts made towards innovation that impact on the education of others. I went to win this award last year, and I strongly encourage others to submit an entry that demonstrates your most innovative practice. If you're not sure on what you could submit, look at what previous candidates did and think about how your own practices could be presented."

We would also like to thank our fantastic organising committee as well as our Technical committee.

Organising Committee members

• Farhad Mehdipour, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Masoud Shakiba, Unitec Institute of Technology

• Melissa Walsh, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Aniket Mahanti, The University of Auckland

• Christiaan Bredenkamp, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Dani Mao, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Ehsan Yaeghoobi, Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology

• John Christopher Faitala, Pacific Business Trust

• Lee Timutimu, Arataki Systems

• Maja Zidov, Unitec Institute of Technology

• Mark Caves, Eastern Institute of Technology

• Martin Fryer, thinkstep-anz

• Masoud Shakiba, Unitec Institute of Technology and TechTALK

• Russell Harray, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

Technical Committee members

• Bing Dai, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Bruno Balducci, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Christiaan Bredenkamp, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Don Samarasinghe, Massey University

• Edwin Rajah, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Emre Erturk, Eastern Institute of Technology 

• Firas Al-Ali, Manukau Institute of Technology

• Guozhen (George) Huang, Victorian Institute of Technology (VIT), Australia

• Iman Ardekani, Unitec Institute of Technology

• Imelda Piri, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Indrapriya Kularatne, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Kathiravelu Ganeshan, Future Skills Academy

• Krish, Naidu, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Lehan Stemmet, Auckland Institute of Studies

• Pii-Tuulia Nikula, Eastern Institute of Technology

• Rajeev Chawla, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Russell Harray, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Sayed M. Shahid, Eastern Institute of Technology

• Soheil Pour, Unitec Institute of Technology

• Srividya Krishnamoorthy,  Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus

• Teong Boon Tan, Ableton Ltd.

• Yury Zhukov, Otago Polytechnic - Auckland International Campus