Research Excellence Award winners 2022

Professor Gordon Cheung

Department of Management and International Business

Gordon is internationally recognized as a leading expert in structural equation modelling and its application in business studies. He has demonstrated research excellence throughout his career and during his tenure at the University of Auckland Business School which he joined in 2016. He has had many publications in high-ranking academic journals, and his work has received over 19,000 citations. Gordon is recognized as being among the world’s top 100,000 scientists in a study by scholars at Stanford University, and also ranked among the top 1% of the scientists in the Business and Management subfield globally.

Gordon also made significant contributions to the research environment, at the international disciplinary level and within the department, the School and the University. At the international disciplinary level, he is regularly invited to deliver workshops and seminars on his research methods expertise and to serve in leadership roles at prominent international organizations. At the University of Auckland, Gordon has been providing much-needed and much-appreciated guidance on research methods to his colleagues, and he has mentored many graduate students across the Business School, the University, and internationally.
 

Dr Valery Pavlov

Department of Information Systems and Operations Management

What the Committee found particularly appealing and rather distinct in terms of excellence is the very nature of Valery’s research contributions to his discipline - Operations Management. His research outputs have managed to challenge some of the dominant thinking in this field. His research portfolio has been built to serve this highly ambitious purpose. Managing to publish research that has questioned and problematised long-standing assumptions in a rather mature scholarly field is something to be recognised and appreciated. Any researcher who has tried to stand against the majority of scholars in a particular stream of literature and offer solid evidence and strong arguments that counter well-established thinking will recognise the difficulties of doing so, the perseverance it requires to make it to the top journals and the fact that this is an achievement of high calibre.

The four publications listed in Valery’s portfolio are in journals that are part of the FT-50 list and the even more exclusive UTD-24 list. As the nomination has noted, there are only a few Australasian academics who have so far managed to achieve this. Valery’s key contribution to the research environment in our institution is the role he played and continues to play as a co-director of DECIDE (the cross-departmental Laboratory for Business Decision Making). In a university environment where inter-, cross- and trans-disciplinarity is valued highly, his engagement in the Lab is meaningful and timely.

Dr Lily Chen

Department of Accounting and Finance

Lily is awarded for the relevance and impact of her innovative research on integrated reporting. She has been and continues to be a member of a team of researchers conducting research on Integrated Reporting, which resulted in publications in leading accounting journals and a significant impact on practice.

The research produced by Lily and her team is cited in reports by numerous professional bodies and organisations, including the International Integrated Reporting Council (now part of the International Sustainability Standards Board), KPMG, EY, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. It has also been cited by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its recent report on “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors”.

The findings have informed standard setters and policymakers and have influenced the standard-setting process, corporate disclosures, and accounting professional practice, contributing to evolving corporate disclosure practice toward a sustainable future. These achievements underline the relevance and impact of Lily’s research in solving issues the accounting profession faces.

Professor Steven Cahan

Department of Accounting and Finance

Prof Steven Cahan has demonstrated sustained research leadership over the last decade in numerous ways. Steven has made a substantial contribution to research in the areas of financial reporting/disclosure, auditing, and corporate social responsibility. He has published over 75 journal articles, which include publications in the leading accounting journals. This includes A* journals on the ABDC list as well as journals that appear in the FT-50 list.

Steven’s leadership is evident in his engagement with the academic community by delivering keynote speeches and seminars at various leading international accounting conferences and workshops, signalling his leadership in the field of Accounting. The impact of his work is also evident beyond academia. Steven is one of 15 Life Members of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand and is the former President of that organization. Steven is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand. He is a former member of the Consultative Advisory Group for the International Accounting Education Standards Board and, from 2018-2021, was a member of the Academic Oversight Body of the International Integrated Reporting Council.