University celebrates researchers with global impact

The University celebrated the work and innovation of researchers who have a global impact at the inaugural Hīkina kia Tutuki, Rise to the Challenge: Researchers with Global Impact event, on 19 June at the Fale Pasifika.

The Vice-Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater said, “The research excellence across the University is the foundation for our national, regional and global reputation and translates directly to the respect with which this University and its people are held worldwide.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Frank Bloomfield said, "Researchers with Global Impact, recognises our researchers whose work is at the peak of international recognition in their field or in cutting across fields of research.”

He congratulated University researchers who featured in the Clarivate Highly-Cited Researchers list. To be named in this list, researchers' publications have to rank in the top one percent of their field by citation, or who work in cross-disciplinary across fields but have equivalent impact and reach.

Of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists, those named on the annual Highly-Cited list are one in 1000 researchers. Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland has six academics on staff in the 2022 Clarivate High-Cited Researchers list:

• Professor Andrew Allan, plant science
• Emeritus Professor Roderick Brodie, economics and business
• Professor Brent Copp, pharmacology and toxicology
• Adjunct Professor Ed Gane, cross-field
• Professor Ajit Sarmah, cross-field
• Professor Geoffrey Waterhouse, materials science

Professor Bloomfield said that having University academics named on the Clarivate Highly-Cited Researchers list showed the value and impact of research at the University. The majority of publications from the University’s research community are published in the top 20 percent of journals as measured by the Scopus database with those journals being highly diverse.

University academics published nearly 400 papers in journals regarded as in the top 1 percent of their fields last year, these include Science, Nature, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.