Who are we?

Scott’s research centres on creating environments that allow people of all ages to live healthy, active lives. As Director of Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, his role is to liaise with our key partners and collaborators while providing strategic direction and oversight across all aspects of the programme.

 

In his down time Scott enjoys playing/coaching baseball, watching sci fi flicks, and indulging in the odd video game (when his children are asleep).

Erica’s research focuses on the impact of the built environment on physical activity and wellbeing. Using an evidence-based citizen science and community-based participatory research approach, she seeks to empower communities to address inequities in their neighbourhoods for improved wellbeing. Erica leads Project 1 of Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, focusing on community wellbeing and lived experiences.

Erica loves the great outdoors, catching the sunrise every morning with her loving dog Rosko, and keeping active and healthy. She is also a huge fan of Star-Trek-the Next Generation and Jean Luc Pickard, and apocalyptic movies.

Julia has a background in research management with specific expertise working with Government funding bodies. She is the Te Hotonga Hapori  Programme Manager and oversees all programme related tasks and processes, in other words she ‘whips the team into shape…’. Julia’s personal research area is in the nutrition field and she runs a website and blog on low carb diets.

In her spare time Julia can be seen riding her Ebike around the North Shore, or enjoying the east coast beaches!

Gail’s focus is on research, scholarship and application of integrated data to help inform social policy and wellbeing. She leads Project 5 of Te Hotonga Hapori- connecting communities where her role is to provide oversight on analysis using administrative and survey data to investigate the impact of urban redevelopment on a range of wellbeing indicators.

When in her down time Gail enjoys playing games with her kids, consuming far too much Netflix, and watching many sports (particularly cricket and rugby league – Go Warriors!).

Tania’s research focuses on two interrelated themes. The first is Māori language revitalisation interventions which has expanded into the Pacific through working with communities on creating digital resources and tools to increase access to their endangered languages. The second is mātauranga Māori and Indigenous knowledges and their validity within the academy. Tania is an Associate Investigator on Te Hotonga Hāpori and she also provides cultural advice to the research team.

Outside of work Tania enjoys being in the garden, watching movies and spending time with her whānau, particularly her mokopuna.

Albert is an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at AUT. His research is in Pacific spatial and architectural environments and their transformations in the diaspora. As an Associate Investigator in the Te Hotonga Hapori team and a Principle Investigator for two Marsden funded projects on Pacific spaces and buildings, Albert will be bringing his knowledge of Pacific and Māori concepts of space and their evolution and transformations over the last 50 years in urban developments.

His hobbies include playing his Fender Jaguar guitar, making playlists on Spotify, doing yoga and growing his hair. He likes wearing his Japanese selvedge jeans and US-made leather boots.

Lisa is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport and Recreation at AUT University. She applies a wellbeing approach to her teaching and research which is centred on enabling people and communities to lead healthy, active lives. Her role in Te Hotonga Hapori is to gather insights on what matters most to the wellbeing of individuals and their communities.

In the weekend, she enjoys spending time with family, in the garden, watching her kids play sport, or exploring her hometown, Tāmaki Makaurau.

Tom is a Senior Research Fellow and Statistics Advisor at the AUT Human Potential Centre. His work is focused on how the environment is related to behaviour and health, and how optimising these environments can produce better health and wellbeing outcomes. As part of this work, Tom provides consultation on research design analysis methods.

In his time off he enjoys going fishing and doing nerdy things like analysing data.

Conal is a Wellington-based economist with interests spanning the economics of well-being, valuing intangible costs and benefits, social capital and trust, the behavioural drivers of economic outcomes, and social policy more generally. Conal is a Principal at Kōtātā Insight, a member of the World Wellbeing Panel and a senior associate at the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies. He has worked as a senior economist at the OECD and in managerial and senior policy roles in a range of different New Zealand government agencies.

Dan’s background in health geography and spatial epidemiology informs his research in the use of big data to identify and provide potential solutions to inequities that are found in health and social outcomes. He recently developed the New Zealand Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), a tool to better understand the drivers of area-level deprivation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Within Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, Dan provides geospatial expertise to the measurement of neighbourhood determinants of wellbeing, across many aspects of the programme.

In his spare time, and when able to, Dan enjoys travelling, photography and the odd bit of gardening, as well as being in the kitchen baking or making jams and chutneys to share!

Megan is currently on a secondment to AUT from Kāinga Ora where she has worked for the past eight years in both housing strategy and evaluation and research.  Megan’s role in Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities involves relationship management, oversight and coordination of information sharing and community collaborations, between the two organisations.

Outside of work Megan loves hanging out at the beach up in sunny Northland with her 12 year-old daughter (Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi), coordinating ‘The Gardening Hour’ at their local school, and walking their gorgeous rescue dog Fae.

Vivienne is a Technical Principal, Social Science, Resilience and Public Health at WSP’s Research & Innovation Centre in Petone. Her research starts from the question – ‘if I reside here, how do I live well?’ She takes a systems approach to investigating mobility and liveable environments, and understanding how neighbourhood infrastructure can create healthy, equitable living environments. She contributes expertise in public health, stakeholder engagement, and qualitative research methods to Te Hotonga Hapori programme.

For her, the world always looks fantastic while rowing at dawn on Wellington’s harbour and just recently, spending time with the world’s best granddaughter.

David is the creative and a founding director of Isthmus Group, a New Zealand based inter-disciplinary design studio.

The isthmus design philosophy is inspired by Land People Culture.

David’s design work crosses the boundaries of art and design, landscape architecture, architecture and urban design. His design work spans some 30 years and has seen him lead project teams that have won national and international awards in; landscape architecture, architecture and urban design, resource management, planning and engineering.

David awards list is testament to his creative and “no boundaries” approach to his work. He is strong on conceptual thinking, problem solving and team leadership.

His personal inspiration comes from New Zealand, its landscape, culture and those people he collaborates closet with.

Jasper’s research interests revolve around two main topics, conducting multi-disciplinary intervention studies to create active living environments, and developing tools and methods that make it possible to measure active living and the environment it takes place in.  Jasper is President of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH), actively contributing to the mission to advance and promote physical activity as a global health priority through excellence in science (research), education, capacity building and advocacy. Jasper’s expertise in GPS-based measures of activity behaviour will provide the Te Hotonga Hapori team with international perspective, guidance and support.

To balance a busy worklife, Jasper enjoys being at home on his family farm where there are always dogs to walk, horses to ride, and Scottish Highland cows to brush (yes, really, it is a very relaxing experience, and not just for the cow).

Basile’s research centres on how the physical environment influences health, exploring the impact of transport on health, and the health impacts of heat waves in regard to the ‘urban heat island’. Basile’s expertise in his own research projects, and Te Hotonga Hapori is around monitoring participants using wearable sensors to capture location, behavior and environmental exposures, using the Eco-emo tracker smartphone App.

In his spare time, when he is not involved in outdoor and cultural activities with his two kids, Basile is at concerts with friends, playing online medieval video games, or taking care of his countryside house and garden.

Mo’s research focus is on built environment attributes, namely public open spaces in the urban setting concerning different population group’s experiences.  She is primarily involved in Project 1 of Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, looking at community wellbeing and lived experiences.

Mo is a ‘Dr’ by day and a ‘dancing diva’ by night, with the performing arts world being a huge part of her life she teaches a popular African partner dance (Kizomba) regionally and nationally and has her own dance school. Her mantra in life is “Whatever I do, connect  mind, body and soul.”

Lana’s research centres on youth wellbeing in regenerating neighbourhoods. As a research associate with Te Hotonga Hapori she supporting Project 1, exploring lived experiences in regenerating communities.

In her off time Lana enjoys family time in the garden and bush, BBQing, and playing ukulele.

Ananth’s research centers on exploring ‘big data’ using advanced data science methodologies. As a PhD candidate in Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, his role is to explore, model and predict population-wellbeing outcomes using machine-learning techniques and administrative data from Statistics NZ Integrated Database Infrastructure.

 

In his free time, Ananth enjoys playing tennis, lifting weights and spending time with friends.

Linda’s research is focused on econometrics, using ‘big data’ to provide data-driven evidence to support policies and research findings. As a PhD candidate in Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, her role is to examine the wellbeing impacts of urban regeneration using administrative data from Statistics NZ Integrated Database Infrastructure.

In her free time, Linda enjoys hiking, rock climbing, skiing and swimming. When she is not being active, she embraces her youth by following a strict skincare regime, playing a game of Sudoku, watching the 6pm news before getting into bed by 8pm every night.

Elias’ research focuses on how wellbeing is an entangled lived ‘story’ that includes human and non-human actors in relation to land and the experience of home. He is involved in Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities, using the metaphor of theatre and dramaturgy to study the complex interactions between the diverse actors of a system in search of holistic wellbeing.

Elias is a theatre director and a dancer; he can be very dramatic and clowny in the theatre of daily life. To move and play with his kids in nature and make them laugh is blissful.

Tuputau Lelaulu has ancestry connecting to Vaovai and Gataivai in Samoa. After graduating in architecture, he has worked on local and international architectural projects focussing on designs that incorporate local knowledge to develop active responses to environmental issues facing the planet. His PhD MAUMOANA re-examines the potential of developing specific regional identity through the creation of a regenerative design and development guide and methodology for Moana built environments. His architectural and educational practice MAU Studio explores how architecture can play an ecosystemic role in the alleviation of systemic challenges facing marginalised communities in the Global South.

Having missed out on selection for the Manu Samoan Rugby Team, Tuputau now loves drinking ‘ava with his buddies and spending time at Ihumātao with his partner Pania and their young daughter Levasaomanū.

Alongside running the Human Potential Centre and representing the School in University wide led Events, Dee’s role within Te Hotonga Hapori – connecting communities is as Project Co-ordinator.  Dee is in the engine room of the programme and making sure the team are where they need to be.

Dee is a passionate Hurricanes and Wellington rugby supporter in the heart of Blues country – making life interesting during rugby season!