Two new Fellows of the Royal Society

Professor of Philosophy Gillian Brock and Professor of Indigenous Studies Linda Waimarie Nikora were honoured for their international distinction in research, scholarship and the advancement of knowledge in the humanities. They will be inducted into the Academy early next year, and will be able to use the post-nominal 'FRSNZ' after their name to indicate this honour.

Professor Brock is one of the most significant scholars currently working in the field of global justice. Her scholarship spans ethics, political and social philosophy, several applied ethics fields and various interdisciplinary areas including those at the intersection of philosophy and public policy. She was a recent Fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and joint winner of the Amartya Sen Prize from Yale University.

A prolific author, Professor Brock's work regularly appears in top-tier international academic journals and her books are published by leading academic presses. She holds numerous editorial positions for esteemed philosophy and multidisciplinary journals, and serves on several prominent international committees.

Professor Nikora is an outstanding Māori scholar and leader whose research has been positively transformative for Māori and for the discipline of psychology. With colleagues, she has led important research investigations into Māori health, development, culture change and resilience, death, Indigenous psychology, Māori sexuality, and media representations.

Professor Nikora has written five books including her co-authored award-winning book Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo, and numerous research articles. Her research into the development of a kaupapa Maori curriculum fundamentally changed ways of working, researching, and training for indigenous psychologists worldwide, and she has grown a new generation of Māori psychologists. 

Actively involved in the life of her iwi, Professor Nikora contributed fundamental research instrumental to the return of Te Urewera National Park to Tuhoe.