University of Auckland Celebrates Researchers with Global Reach and Impact

The University of Auckland acknowledged the ambition and effort of its highly cited researchers at the ‘Hīkina kia Tutuki Rise to the challenge: Researchers with global impact’ event at the Fale on the evening of 10 April.

The event celebrates researchers whose exceptional work has global value and impact.  The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dawn Freshwater said, “When we listen to researchers and think about research excellence, we are seeing evidence of deep, meaningful and engaged thinking.”

The academic process of critique, analysis and synthesis, would see the value of that research on society.

Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Simon Holdaway thanked the researchers for their efforts and noted the diverse range of academic fields featured.

“This is about ambitious research confronting humanity’s greatest challenges and working with our communities to show purpose and impact for the better.”

The Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list is based on their Web of Science database of academic outputs, with those featuring on the list being in the top one percent in their field in terms of number of citations over a ten-year period or having equivalent reach in cross-field or interdisciplinary research.

The Stanford Elsevier database, now in its fifth iteration, uses a standardised citation method to rank the top two percent of researchers, as a measure of their influence and global research impact.

Including honorary and emeritus academics, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland has eight researchers represented on the Clarivate list and more than 200 in the Stanford Elsevier database.

Most of their publications are in the top 20 percent of quality journals as measured by the Scopus database with some publications appearing in the top one percent of journals, including Nature Genetics, The Lancet, and Chemical Engineering Journal.

The event featured a selection of six researchers from a diverse range of academic fields – with representation from Education and Social Work, Medical and Health Sciences, Business and Economics, Science, and Engineering – emphasising the comprehensive research strengths of the university.

The speakers were:

• Jay Marlowe, Professor of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the Faculty of Education and Social Work.
• Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Professor of Population Nutrition at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.
• Snejina Michailova, Professor of International Business at the Faculty of Business and Economics.
• Dr Fan Zhu, senior lecturer in chemical sciences at the Faculty of Science
• Professor Dawn Freshwater, the Vice-Chancellor of the University. She leads a research programme on youth suicide.
• Saeid Baroutian, Professor and Deputy Head of Department in the Faculty of Engineering.

The six speakers presented ‘TED’ style talks. The videos will be available on the University’s website shortly.