Four University Research Medals awarded for 2023

Professor David Hayman from the School of Veterinary Science Tāwharau Ora and Professor Regina Scheyvens from the School of People, Environment and Planning have each been awarded an Individual Research Medal. Professor Pamela von Hurst from the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition has been awarded a Supervisor Research Medal, and Dr Alice Beban from the School of People, Environment and Planning has been awarded an Early Career Research Medal.

University Research Medals are the highest awards for research bestowed by the university. Each year, the university recognises outstanding achievements of staff in up to five categories.

Massey University Provost Professor Giselle Byrnes says the university community is hugely proud of the 2023 winners.

“Congratulations to our new university research medallists and well done to all the nominees – it was again a highly competitive round. In our recently released research plan Te Pou Rangahau, we commit as a university community to celebrating excellence across our broad research portfolio and this year’s results amply attest to the world-class and highly impactful research that Massey researchers are leading. We want our talented researchers to know they are valued here at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University.”

Nominations are considered by the University Awards Selection Committee, a subcommittee of the University Research Committee. The award winners will be honoured at an in-person ceremony next year.

Individual Research Medal winner – Professor David Hayman

Professor David Hayman is an internationally recognised epidemiologist and disease ecologist, working at the intersection of human, animal and environmental health. He is a Professor of Infectious Disease Ecology and the Percival Carmine Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health. Professor Hayman co-directs a large research team in the School of Veterinary Sciences, the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory and directs a virtual infectious disease research centre.

Professor Hayman is a Strategic Leadership Group member for Te Pūnaha Matatini, a Centre of Research Excellence, has been invited to ad hoc groups by the US White House-led Global Health Security Agenda initiative and US National Academy of Sciences, and is a One Health High Level Expert Panel member providing expertise to four United Nations agencies. His research, reviews and perspectives on diseases like Ebola, COVID-19 and rabies have been published in over 100 journal articles. He has received prestigious fellowships and contracts to perform this work and is inclusive, supporting equity in science and society.

Individual Research Medal winner – Professor Regina Scheyvens

Professor Regina Scheyvens has achieved sustained excellence in the research field, which is demonstrated through the wide impact of her publications, award of three Marsden grants, receiving of one of only three James Cook Fellowships awarded across the sciences and social sciences in Aotearoa New Zealand between 2021 and 2023, receiving the Distinguished Geographer medal from the New Zealand Geographical Society in 2022 and the John Rooney Award from the Association of American Geographers in 2019. Professor Scheyvens has supervised 69 master’s and PhD students as well as mentoring countless other students, staff and early career researchers.

She sits on the editorial board of six journals and serves the Development Studies profession in New Zealand through leadership of DevNet, through which she secured $5 million of funding for running conferences, supporting postgraduate students and Pacific researchers over the 2022-2027 period. Professor Scheyvens’ research and leadership, with colleague Dr Api Movono, is having impacts at the level of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, where findings from 2020-2023 research on tourism, wellbeing and resilience during the pandemic are helping to inform policy and practice.

Supervisor Research Medal winner – Professor Pamela von Hurst

Professor Pamela von Hurst’s research profile and excellent teaching led to her becoming a sought-after postgraduate supervisor and she has been successful in acquiring funding to support numerous students over the past 12 years. She is adept at creating well-funded, large multidisciplinary projects which can accommodate up to five master’s students and at least one PhD student.

Professor van Hurst’s research is highly translational, with almost immediate impact on the community once completed. Her students have all been able to secure industry positions, at universities and some in the Ministry of Health, where the strong foundation on which their graduate studies were built was an advantage to them. Under her mentorship, students obtain skills in project management, data analyses and interpretation, as well as working as a team. All her research has been published and presented, resulting in students gaining skills in presenting and writing for peer-reviewed journals.

Early Career Research medal winner – Dr Alice Beban

Dr Alice Beban’s research outputs and support letters from leaders across several fields show scholarly excellence, policy and community impact and leadership. Her PhD was conferred in 2017 from Cornell University in the United States, where she was a Fulbright Scholar in Developmental Sociology. Since joining Massey in 2017, Dr Beban has established a flourishing research programme in Feminist Political Ecology. She is driving research on environmental conflict, rural social change and health into new domains through feminist epistemology.

Dr Beban’s research embodies the university’s pou of Sustainability and Climate Action and Global Engagement. She has had 30 journal articles published, as well as an award-winning book and nine book chapters. She has attracted more than half a million dollars in grants as a primary investigator and is a team member on grants worth more than $5 million. Dr Beban takes an active role in service to the discipline, within Massey, and in leading exciting research initiatives.