SAANZ Conference 2021

Chair: David Fisher

1:30pm - 1:50pm
ADDRESSING THE PANDEMIC: VACCINE IMPERIALISM VS GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
Josephine Varghese

In October 2020, India & South Africa introduced a proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily waive intellectual property rules on Covid-19 vaccines and associated medical supplies. The aim of the proposal was to release vital medical research and technology for generic production so that the supply and cost issues that particularly affect developing nations could be systemically addressed. The proposal, although supported by most developing nations, was opposed by a small yet powerful group of rich nations including USA, UK, Germany, and France. In response, the People’s Vaccine movement took shape which has been mobilizing support to push through the proposed waiver. The movement generated enough pressure to effect a partial shift in the US position in May 2021. USA, followed by many other nations including New Zealand currently support waiving patent laws on vaccines, but not all aspects of the proposed waiver. However, others, most vocally the EU, remain fully opposed. Liberal political establishments in the west can be identified as the main gatekeepers of the interests of pharmaceutical corporations at the WTO. In this talk, I present a critical analysis of the response of western governments to the people’s vaccine movement with a focus on New Zealand, arguing for the creation of global governance frameworks that uphold solidarity.


1:50pm - 2:10pm
BUT HOW DO WE LEAD IF THEY WON’T OPEN THEIR CAMERAS? TERTIARY LEADERS AND STAFF WELL-BEING DURING PERIODS OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN
Richard Smith

Much has been written globally about the effects of COVID-19 in tertiary education and the need to deliver lectures and materials in online modes. These mostly take the form of the effects on students as well as staff and their unpreparedness from both perspectives. Unlike the vast array of literature that falls into those important categories, fewer studies have been conducted on the experiences of middle leaders in higher education organisations (such as heads of departments or programmes) who have responsibilities both for the well-being of the students and their pastoral care duties, as well as making sure their staff are cared for appropriately and checking on general well-being. What of the leaders themselves, who cares for them? This paper provides the background scoping and critical literature review for a proposed research project on this topic to be undertaken in 2022. We propose an online survey through SurveyMonkey to all heads of schools or programmes that have education specific qualifications from certificate to doctoral level. This is a project that has the buy in of the majority of the Aotearoa New Zealand universities and the ITP and Wānanga sectors. A number of these organisations will be partners in the research too. The central premise of this research is how prepared were leaders and their staff to deliver materials online and at short notice with a global pandemic? What was the correct balance and boundaries between caring and being intrusive? And what if staff and students refused to open their cameras?


2:10pm - 2:30pm
TOURISM RESEARCH BY WORD OF MOUSE. CHALLENGES IN THE FACE OF COVID-19
David Fisher, Jia Geng, Thuan Huynh, Kiko Qin, Pasang Sherpa, Becky Smiley, Supaporn Supaponlakit, Pradeep Tennakoon & Zhong Ni

2020 ushered in new challenges for research students. This paper analyses how tourism research for postgraduate degrees has had to change as a result of the pandemic. International restrictions on travel, for both the researchers and the subjects of research has meant that many proposed theses have had to be radically revised.

Adaptations and strategic changes made to planned research proposals have depended on where in the research process individual students where when Covid 19 was declared a pandemic. For some students the inability to travel occurred before they began their fieldwork. For others their fieldwork was interrupted. If the researcher had hoped to interview international tourists those tourists were no longer travelling. The need for remote interviewing meant that research questions had to be altered because those initially set could not be answered. Respondents who had no access to internet technology could not be interviewed. In some cases, real time research was impossible, so a more historic approach had to be undertaken. This changed the way in which results could be interpreted. Additional considerations have been the ethical issues inherent in interviewing respondents online using commercial software.

Nevertheless, whilst this process has been stressful new opportunities have arisen.