Twelve academics from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington have been recognised in the 2021 Reseach Honours Aotearoa Awards, which are presented by Royal Society Te Apārangi and Health Research Council to celebrate outstanding achievements and excellence among New Zealand researchers.
Academics from New Zealand’s top-ranked university for intensity of high-quality research have been recognised for their contributions across a range of fields, including the social sciences, analytical chemistry, literature, climate change, and sustainability.
Te Herenga Waka Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford says, “With a passion for finding solutions to real-world problems, our staff pursue ambitious research that is designed to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of new knowledge.
“It is a matter of immense pride that so many of our staff are being recognised as part of the Research Honours this year. These honours are Aotearoa New Zealand’s highest recognition for exemplary work in areas that can deliver transformative outcomes for the world we live in.”
The Pou Aronui Award, which recognises distinguished service to the humanities over a sustained period, has been presented to Professor Harry Ricketts, a writer, teacher, editor, and promoter of local intellectual culture who is acknowledged as one of Aotearoa’s most significant literary figures.
The Mason Durie Medal for outstanding contributions to social sciences originating in New Zealand with global impact has been presented to Professor Tony Ward for his original research on treating violent individuals, which has been hugely influential around the world.
Professor Eric Le Ru receives the Hector Medal for his world-leading research in physics and analytical chemistry at the nanoscale using surface-enhanced spectroscopies. The Hector Medal is awarded for work of great scientific or technological merit that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of a particular branch of science.
The Scott Medal, which recognises outstanding contribution towards advancing a branch of engineering sciences, technologies, and their applications, has been presented to Dr Zhenan Jiang, a Principal Scientist at the Robinson Research Institute for his work on measuring and modelling the response of superconductors, leading to cost-effective superconducting machines.
Dr Kyle Clem has been awarded the 2021 Hamilton Award, the Royal Society Te Apārangi Early Career Research Excellence Award for Science, for his research on the warming of the remote interior of Antarctica, which revealed this region—once thought to be isolated from the effects of anthropogenic climate change—is actually one of the fastest warming places on Earth.
Dr Emily Beausoleil has been presented the 2021 Royal Society Te Apārangi Early Career Research Excellence Award for Social Science for her research that seeks to enhance equality of voice in diverse communities by studying the conditions that underlie chronic inattention and inaction by advantaged groups, and the insights these have for designing more effective forms of civic engagement.
The Imagining Decolonised Cities team, which was presented the Te Rangaunua Hiranga Māori Award, is a collaboration of staff from various organisations, including Dr Rebecca Kiddle (previously with the Wellington School of Architecture), Dr Ocean Mercier, Dr Mike Ross and Dr Amanda Thomas. The award recognises excellent, innovative co-created research conducted by Māori that has made a distinctive contribution to community wellbeing and development in Aotearoa, and the team has been recognised for its innovative work combining decolonial scholarship with urbanism practice.
The 2021 Rutherford Medal-winning team led by Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman (University of Otago, Wellington) also includes Te Herenga Waka’s Adjunct Professor Ralph Chapman, Professor Robyn Phipps, and Professor Arthur Grimes. The group’s groundbreaking research has quantified the effects of housing interventions on occupants’ health and wellbeing, and informed legislation and policy.
Recently, researchers from Te Herenga Waka also received 22 Marsden grants, totalling over $14 million, and four Rutherford Discovery Fellowships, further consolidating its position as New Zealand’s number one University for intensity of high-quality research.
