Scholarly duo selected for US research

Scholarly duo selected for US research

Two leading New Zealand research scholars have been selected as Fulbright New Zealand Senior Scholars for 2009, allowing them to conduct research vital to New Zealand’s economy and education sector at top American universities. Socio-economist Professor Anne de Bruin from Auckland will conduct research into entrepreneurship at Babson College in Boston, while education researcher Dr Joanna Kidman from Wellington will join a multinational study of indigenous student motivation at the University of New Hampshire.

Professor de Bruin is a Professor of Economics at Massey University Auckland. She will research various aspects of entrepreneurship at Babson College, the top ranked institution for entrepreneurship research and teaching in the United States of America. Her work will include investigations into entrepreneurship among women and in creative industries, and the role of opportunity creation in entrepreneurship, all areas which are lacking in research.

“There is almost universal recognition that entrepreneurship is crucial to economic growth and employment creation,”says Professor de Bruin. “Running parallel to this growing recognition has been a rise in the research and study of entrepreneurship over the past three decades. However, there is still a large gap to be mitigated and my research will take dedicated steps to close the gap in three key areas."

Dr Kidman (Te Arawa, Te Aupöuri) is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Victoria University of Wellington. She will contribute to a multinational research project on indigenous children’s motivation in science classrooms at the University of New Hampshire. Her own data on Mäori students will be analysed alongside that from fellow researchers in Taiwan and Belize as part of the study, which is the first of a number of collaborative projects planned by a multidisciplinary group of indigenous education researchers from the United States of America, New Zealand, Hawai‘i, Canada, Taiwan and the Russian Altai Republic.

“Mäori children’s levels of motivation and educational achievement are a key area of education policy in New Zealand,” says Dr Kidman. “Over the past decade researchers in the United States have begun to re-evaluate the influence of cultural context and accord it greater importance in children’s motivation to learn. These approaches may provide educational policy makers and practitioners in New Zealand with a fresh way of thinking about indigenous Mäori education.”

Fulbright New Zealand Senior Scholar awards offer up to US$32,500 plus travel expenses for three to five months of research in the US.

ENDS

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