Join us on the first Wednesday of every month (except December and January).
Next event is 4 November at A Rolling Stone.
Come celebrate Nerd Nite Christchurch’s 5th birthday with us at the last event of the year!
After an evening of Nerd Nite yarns [scroll down to check out our stellar line-up of speakers], we’ll be kicking on at Dice & Slice with pizza and board games.
Tickets to the Nerd Nite After Party are a $5 add-on when you buy your Nerd Nite ticket. We’ll cover the pizza, you bring the banter.
4 November Speakers
“Attacking the Bath Toys: Iberian Orcas Versus Yachts”
by Erik Kennedy
Since 2020, there have been over 700 attacks by orcas on vessels in the Iberian Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Poet and amateur cetologist Erik Kennedy explores the science behind the phenomenon and the outsize cultural impact these attacks have had.
Erik Kennedy is the author of three books of poems, most recently Sick Power Trip (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2025), which was shortlisted in the poetry category in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. He also co-edited No Other Place to Stand (Auckland University Press, 2022), an anthology of climate change poetry from Aotearoa and the Pacific.
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“Death by homeopathic underdose?”
by Doug Campbell
In this talk the speaker will attempt to weaponise the basic principles of homeopathy in order to kill everyone in the audience. (Survivors will, however, not get their money back.)
Doug Campbell teaches courses on critical thinking and the philosophy of science at the University of Canterbury. He devotes most of his time to fruitless attempts at solving some of the toughest problems in philosophy. One notable thing about him is that he owns, not just one, but two of the most badly behaved dogs in Christchurch—an amazing coincidence, since it has nothing to do with him being a bad dog owner, obviously. Have you had a small dog hanging off your ankle while riding down Huntsbury Hill on a bike? If so, he apologises profusely.
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“Sheep, Scrums, and Brain Scans”
by Dr Tracy Melzer
What do sheep, teenage rugby players, and people with Parkinson’s disease have in common? Their brains are helping Canterbury researchers uncover some fascinating secrets about how the brain works, what happens when things go wrong, and what we can (and can’t) learn by sticking someone in a giant magnet.
Dr Tracy Melzer is a brain imaging researcher at the University of Canterbury who uses MRI and other imaging techniques to investigate the brain in health and disease. His main interest is Parkinson’s disease and dementia, but along the way he’s also found himself investigating the brains of rugby players, people who stutter, and even sheep. He’s particularly excited about the fascinating brain research happening right here in Canterbury, where he spends a substantial amount of time staring at brain scans and trying to work out what they’re telling us.