The fifth New Zealand Hydrogen Symposium (NZHS-5) runs 1–3 February 2027 at the University of Otago in Dunedin, hosted in connection with the German-NZ Green Hydrogen Centre and drawing researchers, government agencies, iwi and industry partners from New Zealand and abroad.
The fifth New Zealand Hydrogen Symposium, NZHS-5, returns to the University of Otago in Ōtepoti Dunedin from 1 to 3 February 2027, bringing the country's hydrogen research community back to the city where the series began. The three-day symposium is a research-focused, multidisciplinary gathering that pulls together delegates from universities, government research agencies, iwi, and policy and industry partners, with speakers and attendees drawn from both New Zealand and overseas.
Registration and the programme are being built out over 2026, with an abstract submission deadline of 30 September and early-bird registration closing on 30 November ahead of the event. Enquiries go to the local organising committee at NZHS@otago.ac.nz.
NZHS-5 is hosted by the University of Otago in connection with the He Honoka Hauwai | German-NZ Green Hydrogen Centre, a research and outreach centre based at Otago with a nationwide team. The centre was established with funding from the German and New Zealand governments — through Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) — awarded for 2021 to 2026, and is co-led in New Zealand by Professor Sally Brooker, with German partner Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon.
The centre connects researchers across all New Zealand universities, the MacDiarmid Institute, Crown research institutes including GNS Science and Scion, Ara Ake, Callaghan Innovation and the New Zealand Hydrogen Council. Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu gifted the centre its name, logo and proverb. The local organising committee for NZHS-5 is Sally Brooker, Anna Garden, Nigel Lucas, Michael Jack and Michael Bennington.
The symposium series itself has run every year since 2023, moving around the country: NZHS-1 at Otago in Dunedin (2023), NZHS-2 at Te Papa in Wellington hosted by GNS Science (2024), NZHS-3 at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch (2025) and NZHS-4 in Auckland (2026). It is supported by the New Zealand Hydrogen Council and sits alongside the Council's industry-focused H2 2 ZERO Summit as the research arm of the national hydrogen calendar.
The published invited-speaker line-up already runs to sixteen names spanning catalysis, hydrogen storage, production, transport and policy. International invitees include Professor Thomas Klassen of Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Germany on metal hydrides for storage, Professor Jillian Dempsey of UNC Chapel Hill and Associate Professor Smaranda Marinescu of the University of Southern California on molecular catalysts, Professor Bruno Pollet from Canada, Oliver Mairinger of Alstom Locomotives in Germany on hydrogen for rail, and Professors Shizhang Qiao and Jonathan Love from Australia.
New Zealand speakers include Professor Aaron Marshall (University of Canterbury), Dr Rebecca Peer (University of Canterbury) on hydrogen in Aotearoa's energy future, Associate Professor Ludmila Adam (University of Auckland) on geological hydrogen storage, Professor Chris Bumby (Robinson Research Institute) on green steel, and industry voices from Hiringa, the H. W. Richardson Group and the NZ Hydrogen Council, alongside Terry Nicholas of Ngāi Tahu's Murihiku Regeneration.
The symposium is pitched at a multidisciplinary research and industry audience, with student talk and poster prizes signalling a strong early-career dimension. It is timed deliberately to pair with the MacDiarmid Institute's AMN12 conference in Auckland the following week (8–12 February 2027), making it easier for international delegates to attend both on one trip south.
The University of Otago campus sits close to central Dunedin, the main city of the Otago region on the South Island's east coast. Dunedin is served by Dunedin Airport, roughly 30 kilometres southwest of the city, with regular domestic connections to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; international delegates typically route through one of those hubs. The campus and the central city offer a compact base, with hotels, serviced apartments and university accommodation within short reach of the venue and walkable to the city's restaurants and waterfront.
Holding the symposium at the start of February places it in the New Zealand summer, when Dunedin's weather is at its most settled — a practical consideration for a largely academic audience travelling before the university teaching year begins.
NZHS-5 is a repeat anchor event for Dunedin's business-events calendar: the symposium launched here in 2023 and returns in 2027 after rotating through Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, confirming the city and the University of Otago as a recurring host for a nationally significant research gathering. For a specialist, government- and industry-backed field like green hydrogen, a multi-day symposium that draws international speakers and pairs with a second major conference demonstrates the kind of cross-institution, trans-Tasman and NZ-Germany linkage that makes New Zealand a credible destination for knowledge-sector events. Its academic timing, iwi involvement and tie-in with the AMN12 conference also show how NZ business events can be structured to maximise international travel value and regional spread.
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