Did you know that 62% of athletes who need mental health support never seek it? For many, barriers like cost, limited access and fear of judgement mean support remains out of reach. Determined to change that, our latest Featured Founder, AUT graduate Nicky Tregidga, created SE1FMADE – an innovative platform designed to make mental performance support more accessible for athletes.

For a second year, the AUT Innovation Showcase celebrated the incredible research and technologies emerging from the university. Nearly 300 curious people came out to taste, test, try on, and experience hands-on displays demonstrating how over 25 AUT projects can have a real-world impact.

For decades, universities have been the engine rooms of discovery. Behind campus doors, researchers are quietly mapping the future: engineering earthquake-resilient cities, using AI to drive creative production, tracking the health of our native forests with multispectral drones, and unearthing the data needed to close gender and ethnic pay gaps.