University of Canterbury Computer Science & Software Engineering (UCCSSE)

Congratulations to Dr Pang Suwanaposee on recently celebrating the completion of their PhD.
Dr Suwanaposee was presented with a toki by their supervisor, Professor Andy Cockburn, and enjoyed cake and festivities with staff. Well done, Dr Suwanaposee!

Congratulations again to Dr Harry Dobbs.

Pictured here receiving the Toki from his Professor Richard Green and celebrating with Dr Oliver Batchelor, and Dr James Atlas.

Congratulations to Jack Patterson, a PhD student in Computer Science supervised by James Atlas, on being awarded a prestigious Space Scholarship with NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)!

Jack will spend three months interning at JPL in Southern California, working alongside NASA scientists and engineers. He is one of only seven students selected by the New Zealand Space Agency to contribute to cutting-edge space research—ranging from mission analysis and deep space communication to exploring the early universe.

As part of his PhD, Jack is using deep learning techniques to address challenges in surveying and characterising the outer solar system. During his internship, he’ll focus on data-driven anomaly detection and isolation, both onboard and ground-based, for a rover system.

An incredible opportunity and a testament to Jack’s hard work and talent—well done!

Huge congratulations to Henry Hickman on successfully completing his PhD oral exam this month and with a rare distinction: the examiner has recommended the degree be awarded without any revisions.

Thesis Title: Automating the Assessment of Level One NCEA Programming
Supervisors: Tim Bell & Richard Lobb

An incredible achievement, Henry! Congratulations to your fantastic supervisory team as well!

Belated congratulations to Casey Peat for his successful PhD oral exam, subject to some minor amendments. His thesis is titled: 3D Reconstruction and Registration of Grapevines with Differentiable Rendering. His research was supervised by Richard Green, Oliver Batchelor and James Atlas.

A belated congratulations to Harry Dobbs on a successful PhD oral exam (pending minor amendments)!

His thesis, 3D Tree Structure Retrieval from Point Clouds Using Deep Learning, was praised for its excellent writing by external examiner Professor Bing Xue.

Harry’s research was supervised by Richard Green, Oliver Batchelor, and James Atlas — well done to the whole team!

Bring NZSL into everyday spaces this New Zealand Sign Language Week!

Whether it’s fingerspelling your name, learning a few key signs, or putting up helpful posters, every small effort counts.

Give it a go around campus or your workplace — you might be surprised how much you can pick up in just a few minutes.

Let’s keep building a more inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand, one sign at a time.

This week, we celebrate New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s official languages, and the Deaf community who bring it to life every day.

Whether you're fluent, just beginning, or simply curious, now’s the perfect time to connect, communicate, and celebrate through NZSL.

Let’s champion accessibility, inclusion, and connection, one sign at a time.

🎓 CSSE would like to congratulate the 2025 graduating class award winners!

👏 Congratulations to:

Geordie Gibson – 1st in Class, BE (Hons) Software Engineering

Jack Fawthorpe – 1st in Class, BE (Hons) Software Engineering

Nicholas Grace – 1st in Class, BSc Computer Science

Daniel Scott – 2nd in Class, BSc Computer Science

We’re proud of your achievements and wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

We’re thrilled to congratulate Amelia Samandari on successfully completing her PhD oral exam — with only minor amendments required!

Her thesis, titled “Medium Access Control for Collision-Free Flight in UAV Formations,” was supervised by Professor Andreas Willig, Dr Barry Wu, and Professor Philippa Martin.

Well done, Amelia — what an incredible milestone!

Canterbury is leading the way! 🚀
The region tops New Zealand in both job ads and advertised salaries, showcasing strong growth and opportunities. Exciting times for job seekers and employers alike!

Canterbury leading NZ job growth While consumer confidence is “in the doldrums” in places such as Wellington, Canterbury is experiencing the strongest recovery in job numbers of any region.

Register now for Google’s Tech Internship Information Session via Careers on Air on Friday, 28th March, at 11:00am - 12:30pm AEST. Join this event designed for technical students in Australia and New Zealand, where experienced Google engineers will be sharing insights on the amazing work they are doing, and you will also get to hear from interns-turned-Googlers on their experience and journey into Google. Register at https://goo.gle/3QN6Fxq