2022 Summer Student - Innovation (Nov 2022)

The Offer

We have eight R&D internship projects kickstarting in November 2022 and are looking for keen Innovation Research & Development (R&D), Summer Interns who are wanting to gain kiwifruit industry experience in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. An Innovation Intern will have the opportunity to dive into an exciting Research & Development project and grow their understanding of this industry, and the R&D environment of a corporate organisation, and develop professional skills along the way.

Program dates: Tuesday 29th Nov 2022 - Tuesday 14th Feb 2023 (400 hours incl stat days)

Student Projects

Business improvement projects - To drive these projects the successful candidates will be working towards a degree in science (biology or similar), technology and/or horticultural background, have great communication skills both oral and written, experience with excel, report writing, and referencing.
 

• Project 1 - Fruit Quality Training: This project will involve the development and extension of training programs to upskill the supply chain to work more effectively helping to address fruit quality issues.
• Project 2 - Biosecurity Risk: The project will involve scouting relevant databases and resources to identify key trends in biosecurity data to highlight where there are opportunities to build upon these new learnings to create value for the kiwifruit industry. Emerging technologies projects - Two projects are offered in this space.
• Project 3 - Image Analysis for Measuring Maturity and Quality: This project looks at designing a tool to more efficiently measure fruit quality through image analysis of seed colour and counts. Including an image analysis literature review. An engineering background would be beneficial with the skill set to perform image analysis techniques using open source programs e.g Python/ImageJ or Matlab.
• Project 4 - Environmental Risk Assessment: Environmental data will be sourced and analysed using GIS to produce a report outlining environmental risks for kiwifruit orchards. The candidate will have an engineering/science background. Interest in sustainability and environmental research. Good data analysis and communication skills. Data analysis-driven projects - Four projects are offered in this space. For these projects, you will need a strong background/interest in data analytics and modelling, experience in excel and a passion for thinking out of the box.
• Project 5 - Understanding Impact of Growing Conditions and Supply Chain Conditions on Kiwifruit Quality: Growing conditions and supply chain conditions data will be analysed to understand how these different factors influence quality outturn in markets.
• Project 6 - RubyRed Kiwifruit Colour Quantification: This project will look to better understand the occurrence of red flesh in the RubyRed variety and identify any trends across seasons.
• Project 7 - Outliers Analysis of all the Harvest Clearance Matrices: This project will involve analysis of harvest clearance data sets to quantify the outliers to identify trends in occurrence and present learnings back to the wider technical/fruit performance team.
• Project 8 - Investigating Psa Resistance: Analysing spray data to identify patterns in Psa protectant sprays across years and regions. To look in-depth at copper use on orchards and correlate copper usage to Psa resistance development.

Showcase the region

Our office is based in the beautiful Bay of Plenty a great place to spend the summer, with beaches, waterfalls and the Kaimai ranges all close by for summer day adventures!

Community

Zespri Innovation R&D Summer Interns will have the opportunity to be a part of the Summer Open Lab - a student intern community consisting of four events bringing together students working in companies across the BOP over the Nov - Feb period.

How to apply

Please send through your CV and a one-page cover letter by 30th September. In your cover letter please specify which project(s) you are most interested in and which you feel your skills are best suited to.