Six University Research Medals awarded for 2024

University Research Medals are the highest awards for research bestowed by Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University. Each year the university recognises the outstanding achievements of staff in the categories of: Individual, Early Career, Supervisor, Exceptional Research Citizenship, Exceptional Leadership in Advancing Māori Knowledge, Exceptional Leadership in Advancing Pacific Knowledge and Team-based research innovation and leadership.

An Individual Research Medal has been awarded to Professor Mark Bebbington from the College of Sciences and the Exceptional Research Citizenship Whaowhia Ngā Kete o te Wānanga Medal has been awarded to Associate Professor Anna Powles from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Professor Leigh Signal from the College of Health and Professor Rochelle Stewart-Withers from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences have both been awarded Supervisor Research Medals.

Sonya Withers from the College of Creative Arts and Associate Professor Rosemary Gibson from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences have both been awarded Early Career Research Medals.

Provost Professor Giselle Byrnes says the university community is hugely proud of the 2024 winners.

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 in the coming months.

Individual Research Medal winner – Professor Mark Bebbington

Professor Bebbington is Aotearoa New Zealand’s foremost volcano statistician. He has been instrumental in advancing the development of probabilistic methods of assessing natural hazards, with his research fundamentally improving our response to volcano crises.

Professor Bebbington has led, managed and participated in numerous collaborative multi-disciplinary projects resulting in ground-breaking research outcomes worldwide impact. His recent research funding success highlights his commitment to Te Tiriti principles, where the development of mana whenua-led volcano observatories were noted as particularly excellent. His expertise is often requested by national and international volcano advisory panels, with recent examples including unrest at Taupō (2022/2023), Ruapehu (2022) and serving on the technical team for the United States’ Department of Energy to determine the volcanic risk to a nuclear waste storage facility.

Professor Bebbington’s dedication to meticulous research design, methods and implementation enhances the research ethic of his students and colleagues and resonates through the wider research community at Massey.

Exceptional Research Citizenship Whaowhia Ngā Kete o te Wānanga Medal winner – Associate Professor Anna Powles

Since joining Massey in 2013, Dr Powles has actively engaged in bridging the gap between the scholarly, policy and public spheres through research and public engagement. Her contribution, informed by research and grounded in a commitment to advancing knowledge and public understanding, has focused on two inter-related areas: the evolving security and geopolitical landscape in the Pacific Islands region and New Zealand’s foreign and defence policy.

Dr Powles has advanced new ideas, promoted informed dialogue and tested received wisdom through influential and theoretically grounded policy-relevant academic research, the development of and participation in track 1.5 and track 2 diplomacy mechanisms in New Zealand, the Pacific, Australia and the United States, as well as domestic and international media appearances, and published commentaries. Her contributions have promoted new ideas that address contemporary challenges and serve to inform policy and public perspectives on Pacific security and New Zealand’s strategic interests.

Supervisor Research Medal winner – Professor Leigh Signal

Professor Signal is an exceptional researcher and mentor in the field of sleep science. She provides guidance and support to a postgraduate student in development, implementation and completion of their research project. Her passion for research is evident and inspiring to her students.

Professor Signal has supervised and mentored many of the individuals now advancing sleep science and supporting the sleep health of individuals in the community. In New Zealand there is no prescribed undergraduate or postgraduate pathway for studying sleep science, so students come from differing backgrounds. The impact that these individuals now have in their various professional roles is significant.

Her former students are now experts in their own fields including behavioural sleep medicine, sleep health inequities, maternal sleep and maternal mental health and fatigue risk management research and practice. As noted by her students, Professor Signal has been instrumental in supporting these individuals to develop not just their knowledge and skills in sleep science research, but to translate sleep science into real world outcomes and to grow in confidence as researchers and health professionals.

She also creates opportunities for postgraduate and early career researchers to further their skills in working with industry and government agencies and in scientific consulting roles.

Supervisor Research Medal winner – Professor Rochelle Stewart-Withers

Professor Stewart-Withers, Ngāti Rāhiri Hapū o Te Ātiawa, demonstrates a highly competent skill set in terms of her significant research-led expertise in methodology and ethics, but is also well known for her empathetic approach to supervision. She often works with more vulnerable students (e.g. less academic experience or international students away from home) as well as with Māori and Pacific graduates. Professor Stewart-Withers is a sought-after supervisor by both students and staff.

Professor Stewart-Withers is committed to Massey’s aspirations to become a Te Tiriti-led university and thinking through what this might mean as a supervisor and in terms of being a good ancestor. She is actively committed to doing the mahi to ensure Māori student success and demonstrates commitment and excellence in terms of working with international/ESL students. She has demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership to the postgraduate and supervision space which benefits both students and other academics.

She has found innovative ways to make the most of opportunities while also looking to create opportunities for herself and students. She has supported students and others to win approximately $800,000 in funding.

Early Career Research Medal winner – Sonya Withers

Ms Withers has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to Pacific design and research practice in New Zealand. A particular highlight of her research is the motivation to realise its capability in contributing to the wellbeing of Pacific Peoples, particularly through the aspirations of their cultural contexts and knowledge systems.

Some examples are the Mātauranga Moana x Bee Healthy Kaupapa funded through the Health Research Council - a project that centres Pacific design practice and the culture of whānau to reshape systems of access. Alongside this is the work done under Te Muka Taura and the guidance and participation Ms Withers has provided with Iwi and Māori academics to carefully realise Mātauranga Māori in textile science.

Ms Withers has actively contributed to course design as an extension of her research practice and has demonstrated academic leadership and service to peer reviewing journals, as well as supporting applications for established and emerging artists.

Early Career Research Medal winner – Associate Professor Rosemary Gibson

Dr Gibson’s research portfolio is associated with 25 research projects and more than $20 million of funding (approximately $1 million as principal investigator). She has a distinguished reputation for her research activities in the topics of sleep with ageing and dementia, sleep of informal carers and sleep as a social and cultural experience.

She is affiliated with Massey’s Health and Ageing Research Team and the Sleep/Wake Research Centre and has a growing body of international collaborations, including a fellowship with the University of Surrey.

Dr Gibson is inherently engaged with the stakeholders who sustain the sleep science field and regularly convenes conference activities. She has served on committees within the Australasian Sleep Association and is Vice President of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology. Her work is disseminated via 42 research articles and over 45 conference presentations. She also mentors postgraduate students and collaborators, the quality of which has recently been recognised by an award from the local Sleep Association.

Dr Gibson conducts regular peer review of articles and funding applications and contributes to various media.