2022 Professorial promotions announced

Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas congratulated the staff on their achievements, acknowledging the hard work and time they have dedicated to their career, and Massey.

“It’s fantastic to see so many promotions, highlighting the inspiring work of many, and inspiring others to achieve. We have so many incredible researchers and teachers across the university, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for them and their careers."

College of Sciences

Professor Carolyn Gates

Professor Carolyn Gates is a veterinarian, researcher and educator who is dedicated to changing how we share animal health knowledge to improve the lives of animals and the people who care for them. Her experiences working in clinical practice and completing a PhD on controlling the spread of infectious diseases in livestock populations made her realise the value of having good information to support decision-making at the animal, herd, and national level. Since joining Massey as a lecturer in 2015, she has collaborated with many stakeholder groups across New Zealand to learn more about the challenges they face and how science can be used to help them generate evidence-based solutions. This has included building the business case for eradicating bovine viral diarrhoea virus from cattle herds, co-designing a platform for exchanging backyard poultry information and exploring models for leveraging veterinary nurses and technicians to improve animal health care delivery. Professor Gates is committed to using evidence-based approaches in her teaching to better prepare veterinary students for their future careers in clinical practice. Her work in developing innovative blended learning and peer learning environments to enhance veterinary clinical education has been recognised through university, national, and international awards.

Professor James Rotimi

Professor James Rotimi’s background is in construction management, with research focused on creating transformational improvements in construction performance and integrating its supply chain to optimise the achievement of project deliverables. He has advanced the frontiers of knowledge dissemination in the construction supply chain, economics and performance by establishing the International Journal of Construction Supply Chain Management (IJCSCM, Q3-ranked) in 2011. Professor Rotimi has extensive international research collaborations, serving in editorial boards of distinguished international journals, actively participating in organising and scientific conference committees, and is currently visiting Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Professor Rotimi led an extensive redevelopment of the two majors in the Bachelor of Construction degree programme. He also led the development of the Diploma and Graduate Diploma programmes in Facilities Management, the first of its kind in New Zealand Universities. He is one of the Project Leads on a five-year Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour research programme on creating capacity and capability for the New Zealand construction sector. Professor Rotimi has published more than 195 peer-reviewed articles in high-ranking international journals and conferences in his research field.

Professor David Horne

Professor David Horne’s research has focused on understanding contaminant losses from a range of farm systems and identifying and developing mitigation practices and techniques to minimise the impacts of these losses on the receiving environment. He has studied key challenges related to agricultural water management including technologies to improve environmental outcomes and crop performance under irrigation and effluent applications. He is also investigating the natural and built attenuation of nitrate, and the use of edge-of-field technologies to strip contaminants from drainage and runoff as they leave farms. He has researched the impacts of alternative plant species and production systems on soil, water and environmental properties.

Professor Ngaio Beausoleil

Professor Ngaio Beausoleil is an animal welfare scientist whose research employs behavioural and physiological methods to investigate various aspects of welfare across a range of species. She is a leader in the interdisciplinary field of conservation welfare, which brings welfare science and conservation biology together to understand and mitigate human impacts on the welfare of wild animals. She co-led the evolution of the Five Domains Model for Welfare Assessment which has been adopted by dozens of Non-Government Organisations, industry bodies and companies worldwide and pioneered the scientific exploration of breathlessness in animals. After 13 years of teaching animal physiology to Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Veterinary Science students, Professor Beausoleil led the development of the animal welfare major in the Bachelor of Animal Science degree. She is the Co-Director of the Team Research Medal-winning Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre. She is the first female and first non-veterinarian Chair of the NZ Veterinary Journal editorial board and independent scientific expert on the Australia New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching. In 2020, she was appointed as the international expert in wildlife welfare and ethics to an expert advisory panel reviewing the Victoria State Government’s Wildlife Act.

Professor Peter Tozer

Professor Peter Tozer is an agricultural economist by training, but specialises in agricultural systems modelling covering farm production, impacts of pests and disease outbreaks in production sectors and the socio-economic impacts of sand and dust storms. He has undertaken economic research on apples, cherries, beef, dairy, sheep, hops, cider and potatoes in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Professor Tozer has been on the faculty of universities in Australia, the USA and New Zealand. He has supervised graduate students in New Zealand and the USA and has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles across a range of agricultural science, agricultural systems, and agricultural economics journals. He is currently the postgraduate lead in the School of Agriculture and Environment, which has one of the largest cohorts of PhD students at Massey.

Professor Keren Dittmer

Professor Keren Dittmer is a veterinary pathologist that specialises in animal bone diseases.. Her additional research interests are in vitamin D and genetic diseases. Currently, a major research focus is determining the cause of humeral fractures in first calving dairy heifers. She has authored chapters on bone pathology and bone tumours in the two most authoritative reference texts of veterinary pathology, along with chapters in five other textbooks, including an update of the WHO classification of bone and cartilage tumours. She is currently co-leading a team developing international reporting guidelines for canine osteosarcoma. Professor Dittmer is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and with the veterinary pathology, the teaching team was successful in obtaining a team teaching award. She is the current president of the New Zealand Society for Veterinary Pathology.

Professor Eloise Jillings

Professor Eloise Jillings, Ngāti Māru, is a Bachelor of Veterinary Science graduate who has worked at Massey since 2001, initially as a clinical veterinarian and then in a teaching role. She is now a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her academic interests have evolved from clinical pathology and cells to include veterinary education, veterinary student selection and educational equity for Māori. She is leading the efforts of Tāwharau Ora, the School of Veterinary Science, to progress in a more Tiriti-led direction. To that end, Professor Jillings developed VetMAP, an equity pathway to provide holistic, culturally appropriate support for Māori veterinary applicants and ultimately address the under representation of Māori in the veterinary profession. Professor Jillings chairs an international committee on veterinary student selection and serves on two other international committees - the Council for International Veterinary Medical Education and a Diversity Equity and Inclusion committee.

Professor Jaspreet Singh

Professor Jaspreet Singh is an internationally recognised expert in the area of plant-based foods such as potatoes, legumes and cereal grains. His research program has developed innovative and sustainable food processing technologies and delivered key outcomes to many New Zealand and multinational industries. He has been invited and appointed as an expert consultant for international initiatives focussed on future food security and malnutrition in developing countries. Professor Singh has created an active collaboration network with the world’s top researchers and institutions and has made a strong impact globally by delivering keynote lectures and chairing scientific sessions at international conferences. He has been invited to serve as editor and member of the editorial boards of peer-reviewed scientific journals in the field of food science and engineering. He has produced more than 100 publications comprising top-tier journal papers, book chapters, industry reports and conference papers. He enjoys undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at Massey and has been appointed as a visiting professor at universities in Japan, China, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Professor Jasna Rakonjac

Professor Jasna Rakonjac’s research in the field of Microbiology encompasses bacteriophage structure and biology, phage display technology and antimicrobial discovery. She is a founder of two Massey University spin-off companies, Nanophage Technologies and Retrabac Therapeutics. Her work has been published in prestigious journals including Nature Communications and Science. In 2019 Professor Rakonjac was named a Distinguished Orator by the New Zealand Microbiological Society for her service to New Zealand Microbiology. She has led the redesign of the microbiology major, whose success as a multi-departmental program, led by the School of Natural Sciences, stems from the strength of microbiology as a discipline at Massey. Professor Rakonjac has successfully supervised 25 PhD students and postdoctoral scientists, most of whom are now active academics and scientists.

College of Health

Professor Cath Conlon

Professor Cath Conlon is an expert in early-life nutrition. She originally trained as a paediatric nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where she gained valuable experience with children being treated for complex medical problems and challenging nutritional needs. This led to her undertaking a PhD investigating the health outcomes of preterm infants. She was appointed to Massey University to teach nutrition and set up a platform of research in early-life nutrition. Making a difference has always been key for Professor Conlon, whether it’s through her programme of research, her evidence-based teaching in early life nutrition, or ensuring that her research is translated into practice through her close connections with the health workforce in New Zealand. Her research on complementary feeding of infants has been internationally recognised and she collaborates both nationally and internationally. She was an invited expert on the technical advisory group to the Ministry of Health, advising on the maternal and infant dietary guidelines and is an Associate Investigator at The Riddet Institute.

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Professor Jodie Hunter

Dr Jodie Hunter is a Cook Island New Zealander with a passion for social justice and equity in education. She began her career as a primary school teacher before becoming an academic with an interest in mathematics and Pacific education. Dr Hunter is currently a Rutherford Discovery Fellow and was previously a Fulbright Research Scholar. She co-leads a large-scale professional development and research project focused on culturally sustaining pedagogy and ambitious teaching in mathematics. This project spans schools across New Zealand, Niue and the Cook Islands. Her research interests and expertise include developing early algebraic reasoning, drawing on the funds of knowledge of diverse students and families to develop mathematical tasks, and examining student perspectives including their values and experiences in the classroom. Dr Hunter has been the recipient of research excellence awards both in New Zealand and Australasia. She holds a range of national and international leadership roles, including as Deputy Chair of the board for the New Zealand Council for Educational Research and the Secretary for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.

Professor Alison Kearney

Professor Alison Kearney is a teacher and educator whose work is driven by a long-standing passion for educational equity and inclusion. Her research has focused on theorising students’ marginalisation and exclusion from and within education. She has made significant contributions to the New Zealand and international evidence base of this subject area. Professor Kearney was the founding Co-Director of the Equity Through Education Centre and a long-standing editor of the journal Kairaranga. She has served on numerous Ministry of Education advisory and working groups and has been instrumental in establishing and implementing programmes for specialist teachers who work with disabled students. Professor Kearney was the Head of the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the previous College of Education and is now Head of the Institute of Education.

Professor Leonel Alvarado

Professor Leonel Alvarado is the author of 12 books of poetry, criticism, and short fiction, as well as several journal papers that have been published in well-known magazines related to Latin American studies. He has served on the editorial boards of major international journals and the judging panels of prestigious literary awards. He has received a number of international literary awards, and his poetry has been translated into multiple languages and published in several literary periodicals and anthologies. Before joining Massey, he finished his PhD work at the University of Maryland, while receiving a Fulbright scholarship. Hailing from the Mayan region of Honduras, the richness of indigenous knowledge is essential to his writing and teaching. This has led to collaborations with Māori and international artists and several books exploring the relationship between indigeneity, migration, nation-building and cultural identity. He coordinates the Spanish and Portuguese Programmes at Massey and the Spanish Programme at the University of New England, Australia.

Professor Elspeth Tilley

Professor Elspeth Tilley is a transdisciplinary scholar with a passion for investigating creative activism as a social justice and environmental communication methodology. She has academic expertise across postcolonial studies, communication ethics and the arts. She is an award-winning political playwright and collaborates with national and international partners in research to decolonise and evaluate creative activism. Professor Tilley has published four books, including White Vanishing and Creative Activism: Research, Pedagogy and Practice. Her playwriting has been produced and published worldwide, translated into French, Italian, and Belizean Kriol. She has been awarded multiple prizes, including winning the British Theatre Challenge three times and the Playwrights’ Association of New Zealand Outstanding Achievement Award. Her three teaching awards include the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Sustained Teaching Excellence Award 2018. She is also a recipient of a Peking University Research Fellowship and a Prime Minister’s Group Scholarship to Latin America.

Professor Imran Muhammad

Professor Imran Muhammad is an urban planning scholar whose research focuses on generating world-class theoretical and practical knowledge that contributes to sustainable urban development in New Zealand and developing Asian countries. He questioned the extreme pro-road policies and mega transport projects and argues for greater recognition of the role of governance and the historical-political nexus in transport decision-making. He has contributed to knowledge on how a smooth institutional transformation towards low-carbon transport can be achieved. He is the author/co-author of two books: Moving the Masses: Bus-Rapid Transit Policies in Low-Income Asian Cities and Institutional barriers to sustainable urban transport in Pakistan. He is a Chartered Town Planner and has served as a Vice Chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute, UK and Hong Kong University Accreditation and Partnership Board.

Massey Business School

Professor Janet Sayers

Professor Janet Sayers’ research and teaching are driven by a long-standing commitment to removing barriers to full participation in employment and education. Janet collaborates extensively with international scholars through co-publishing, editorial roles, editing books, and organising international conferences. She has a corpus of work that attests to her international reputation as a critical and creative scholar who is dedicated to improving her understanding of business challenges and is always concerned first and foremost with processes of marginalisation. She has published over 50 articles in highly ranked journals, as well as several chapters in ground-breaking collections, and two edited books. She is the series co-editor of Routledge’s Women writers In Organisation Studies and has led and been a senior member of several research teams looking at issues for women and work. She is currently an associate editor of the journal Gender, Work and Organisation.

Professor Henry Chung

Renowned marketing scholar Professor Henry Chung has been cited in the world's top two per cent Researcher List, developed by Stanford University, from 2021 to 2023. His research spans the fields of international marketing strategies, immigrant effect and immigrant enterprises, relationship marketing and technology and marketing. Professor Chung has published 41 refereed journal papers. His h-index is 25, and there are more than 2000 citations for his work. Professor Chung is the current Vice Chair of the Academy of International Business Asia Pacific Chapter. He has served on the editorial board of distinguished international journals and has hosted international conferences in New Zealand and abroad. He has received research funding awards from the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan), City University of Hong Kong, National Sun-Yat Shen University, and Massey University. His research has significant theoretical and practical applications in industry and communities, and his expertise has received extensive coverage in both Australasian and worldwide media.

Professor Jo Bensemann

Professor Jo Bensemann has a research background in management, entrepreneurship and innovation and has taught a number of subjects at Massey. Her PhD in marketing studied women’s experiences of being in business with their partners, and this area of research is something that she hopes to get back to one day. Recently, Professor Bensemann has been involved in projects which explore various aspects of entrepreneurial engagement and innovation, and she also pursues work on rural entrepreneurship, sustainability and women in business. She is currently the Head of the School of Management and says she feels very fortunate to be working with the diverse and dedicated academics and professional staff within the school and in the wider Massey Business School team.

Professor Matt Roskruge

Professor Matt Roskruge, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama, is an economist, Rutherford Discovery Fellow, Director of Te Au Rangahau, Associate Dean Māori for Massey Business School. He has an academic background in health and population economics, and researchers broadly as an applied economist and social scientist. Professor Roskruge specialises in applied econometrics, mixed-methods and kaupapa Māori research with a particular passion for social capital, population studies, public economics and the Māori economy. His research has been supported by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Te Apārangi Royal Society, Health Research Council of New Zealand and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga with whom he is collaborating to invigorate Māori economics and inspire new Māori economists.

Professor Andrew Gilbey

After joining the School of Aviation in 2005, Professor Andrew Gilbey’s research has primarily focused on the decisions that pilots make to ensure the safety of their aircraft, particularly while they are flying in deteriorating weather conditions with limited reserves of fuel. He has published many studies and supervised several PhDs that focus on why sometimes a pilot’s decision is suboptimal. Although aviation is one of the safest means of travel, human error remains the primary cause of accidents when they do occur. Professor Gilbey is a member of the worldwide community of researchers whose research aims to help reduce the rare occasions when aviation accidents occur. He is also the School of Aviation’s Director of Academic Programmes and has previously won the Massey Business School supervisor award and research translation competition.

Professor Jeff Wongchoti

Having served as a financial economist for the past 20 years, Professor Jeff Wongchoti has contributed to his discipline through numerous high-quality publications. Twenty of which are ranked A and A* level in the Australian Business Deans Council list. With more than 40 co-authors within his domestic and international research networks, his research has tackled emerging issues that matter to academics, practitioners and policymakers. Examples of his research topics include corporate social responsibility, shareholder activism, stock price informativeness, the profitability of trading strategies, political aspects in financial markets, financial flexibility and cryptocurrency. As a mentor to seven PhD graduates, his established expertise has also led to invitations to review and examine hundreds of manuscripts submitted to journals and conferences worldwide.

Massey’s Newest Associate Professors

College of Creative Arts

Associate Professor Dave Carter

Associate Professor Dec Cumming

Associate Professor Emma Febvre-Richards

Associate Professor Bridget Johnson

Associate Professor Kerry Ann Lee

Associate Professor Richard Reddaway

College of Health

Associate Professor Taisia Huckle

Associate Professor Hugh Senior

College of Humanities & Social Sciences

Associate Professor Sally Clendon

Associate Professor Ian de Terte

Associate Professor Ian Goodwin

Associate Professor William Hoverd

Associate Professor Tara McLaughlin

Associate Professor Raj Rahubadde Kankanamge

Associate Professor Damien Rogers

Associate Professor Kirsty Ross

Associate Professor Pania Te Maro

College of Sciences

Associate Professor Penny Back

Associate Professor Rene Corner-Thomas

Associate Professor Gabor Kereszturi

Associate Professor Ruggiero Lovreglio

Associate Professor Sanjay Mathrani

Associate Professor Lara Matia-Merino

Associate Professor James Millner

Associate Professor Thomas Odom

Associate Professor Nicola Schreurs

Associate Professor Olin Silander

Associate Professor Kristin Stock

Massey Business School

Associate Professor M.Humayun Kabir

Associate Professor Yuanfei Kang

Associate Professor Jing Liao