Hopkins Lecture: Living with Landslides in a Changing Climate
Join this lecture exploring how landslides shape New Zealand’s landscape and what increasing rainfall under climate change means for future risk. The lecture will be presented by Ross Roberts (Chief Engineer at Auckland Council) and draws on recent events, including Cyclone Gabrielle, to explain how landslides occur and how engineering, science, and planning are helping manage an increasingly unstable landscape.
Date: Monday 21st September 2026.
Time: 6 to 7.30pm.
Location: Ngaio Marsh Theatre at the University of Canterbury () and livestreamed online.
Cost: FREE.
Landslides have shaped New Zealand's landscape. From the Southern Alps to Auckland's urban hillsides, they are a natural consequence of our young geology, steep terrain and dynamic climate. They can also be devastating for people and communities, killing more people than earthquakes and volcanic eruptions combined over the past 200 years. Recent events - particularly the devastating impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle - have highlighted the vulnerability of our communities when extreme rainfall meets unstable ground.
Climate change is expected to increase the intensity of heavy rainfall events across much of New Zealand, raising important questions about how landslide hazards will evolve over coming decades. The science increasingly points to more frequent triggering of landslides in susceptible areas, but significant uncertainties remain. Equally challenging are the engineering, planning and social decisions that follow: where should we continue to build, how should existing communities be protected, and what level of risk is society prepared to tolerate?
Find out more about the 2026 Hopkins Lecture, including how to register or access the livestream (Humanitix).