Dean's List 2023

This page is updated each month as new doctoral candidates are added to the Dean's List.

Courtney Lynch, Science
Thesis title: Development of quantitative real-time PCR assays for forensic body fluid identification
Main Supervisor: Dr SallyAnn Harbison
Co Supervisor: Rachel Fleming

Kapish Gobindlal, Science
Thesis title: Mechanochemical Reactions at Solid Interfaces: the Destruction of Toxic Forever Chemicals
Main Supervisor: Prof Jonathan Sperry
Co Supervisor: Dr Cameron Weber 

Yuxin Wang, Science
Thesis title: Chemical Synthesis of Homogeneous Glycoprotein Mimetics
Main Supervisor: Prof Dame Margaret Brimble
Co Supervisor: Dr Paul Harris 

Yezhou Liu, Science
Thesis title: Formal Verification of Biologically Inspired Computing Models
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Jing Sun
Co Supervisor: Dr Radu Nicolescu

Katie Brasell, Science
Thesis title: Molecular and paleolimnological investigations of natural disturbance effects on in-lake biological communities
Main Supervisor: Dr Xavier Pochon 
Co Supervisors: Dr Kevin Simon and Dr Anastasija Zaiko

Ocean Wu, Science
Thesis title: Learning and Adapting Continuously for Data Streams
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Yun Sing Ko
Co Supervisor: Prof Gill Dobbie

Kristian Larsen, Creative Arts and Industries
Thesis title: That's Really a Band for Dancing. Choreosonic Improvisation, Obsolescence, and Renovation
Main Supervisor: Dr Mark Harvey 
Co Supervisor: Dr John Coulter 

Yun So, Business
Thesis title: Three Essays on the Geography of Economic Opportunity
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy
Co Supervisors: Dr Asha Sundaram and Assoc Prof Barry Milne

Laura Duntsch, Science
Thesis title: Genomic insights into the adaptive potential of the hihi (Notiomystis cincta), a threatened Aotearoa New Zealand bird
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Anna Santure
Co Supervisor: Assoc Prof Craig Millar

Chanelle Duley, Business
Thesis title: Coordination failure and its consequences
Main Supervisor: Prof Prasanna Gai
Co Supervisor: Assoc Prof Steffen Lippert 

Chiara Gasteiger, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Improving the transition to biosimilars: The influence of communication strategies, companions and patient concerns
Main Supervisor: Prof Keith Petrie
Co Supervisor: Prof Nicola Dalbeth

Conor O'Hanlon, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Modelling Renal Function in Drug Pharmacokinetics
Main Supervisor: Prof Brian Anderson
Co Supervisors: Dr Jacqueline Hannam, Prof Malcolm Tingle and Prof Nick Holford

Lynn Buckley, Law
Thesis title: Directors’ Duty to Act in Good Faith and in the Best Interests of the Company in New Zealand: Understanding the implications of the duty for environmental consideration in director decision-making
Main Supervisor: Prof Susan Watson
Co Supervisor: Assoc Prof Ljiljana Erakovic 

Vivian Nunez Medina, Creative Arts and Industries
Thesis title: Toroidal Dance: A Yogic Perspective of Choreography, Transdisciplinarity, and Dance Dramaturgy
Main Supervisor: Dr Becca Weber
Co Supervisors: Assoc Prof Emma Willis and Dr Mark Harvey 

François Audrezet, Science
Thesis title: Characterization of the role of marine plastic debris as vectors for the spread of marine pests
Main Supervisor: Dr Xavier Pochon 
Co Supervisors: Prof Gavin Lear and Dr Anastasija Zaiko 

Magdalena Bofill Rodriguez, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Evidence for treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding, women’s perceptions and current practice in New Zealand
Main Supervisor: Prof Cindy Farquhar
Co Supervisors: Assoc Prof Vanessa Jordan and Assoc Prof Michelle Wise

Erin Stroud, Science
Thesis title: Understanding the Delicate Balance Between Microbial Pathogens and Insect Pests and Optimizing Protection in Actinidia Chinensis
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Matthew Templeton
Co Supervisors: Dr Jay Jayaraman and Dr Erik Rikkerink

Dipendra Magaju, Engineering
Thesis title: Fish passage design for Southern Hemisphere small-bodied fish: Hydrodynamic and behavioural assessment using spoiler baffles
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Heide Friedrich
Co Supervisors: Prof John Montgomery

Emilee Benjamin, Science
Thesis title: Assessing the potential to restore green-lipped mussels in Pelorus Sound/Te Hoiere, New Zealand
Main Supervisor: Prof Andrew Jeffs
Co Supervisor: Dr Jenny Hillman

Victoria Neilson, Engineering
Thesis title: Synergies in Sidestepping and Running - The Uncontrolled Manifold Approach and Implications for ACL injury prevention
Main supervisor: Assoc Prof Andrew McDaid
Co supervisor: Assoc Prof Gwyn Lewis

Corey Wadsley, Science
Thesis title: To act and not to act: Multimodal investigations of selective stopping
Main supervisor: Prof Winston Byblow
Co supervisors: Dr Arne Nieuwenhuys

James Morse, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Population pharmacokinetic pharmacodynamic modelling to improve anaesthesia in children and adults
Main supervisor: Prof Brian Anderson
Co supervisors: Dr Jacqueline Hannam

Anna Fergusson, Science
Thesis title: Towards an integration of statistical and computational thinking: Development of a task design framework for introducing code-driven tools through statistical modelling
Main supervisor: Assoc Prof Stephanie Budgett
Co supervisors: Prof Chris Wild & Assoc Prof Maxine Pfannkuch

Taygen Edwards, Liggins
Thesis title: Childhood Outcomes after Dextrose Gel for Treating and Preventing Low Glucose Levels in Babies
Main supervisor: Prof Dame Jane Harding
Co supervisors: Assoc Prof Christopher McKinlay & Mr Gregory Gamble

Leanne Te Karu, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Optimal medication therapy in Indigenous populations: A case study of gout in Māori
Main supervisor: Prof Bruce Arroll
Co supervisors: Dr Matire Harwood

Fiona Sing, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Regulating the marketing practices of the unhealthy food and beverage industry Using regulatory mechanisms to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing
Main supervisor: Dr Sally Mackay 
Co Supervisor: Prof Boyd Swinburn

Anya Samarasinghe, Arts
Thesis title: A taste for Britain: the history and significance of Victorian paintings in Aotearoa/New Zealand's public Collections
Main supervisor: Assoc Prof Linda Tyler
Co supervisors: Dr Deborah Montgomerie

Guangda Ma, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: Contributions to Clinical Dose Individualisation
Main supervisor: Dr Jacqueline Hannam
Co supervisors: Prof Nick Holford & Prof Jeff Harrison 

Vipula Dissanayake, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
Thesis title: Multimodal Emotion Recognition in the wild using Unsupervised Representation Learning Techniques
Main supervisor: Prof Mark Billinghurst
Co supervisors: Assoc Prof Suranga Nanayakkara & Dr Elliott Wen 

Carolin Nieder, Science
Thesis title: Comparative hearing abilities in sharks
Main supervisor: Assoc Prof Craig Radford
Co supervisor: Prof John Montgomery

Marco Annandale, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: The role of cardiac fructose in the diabetic heart
Main supervisor: Assoc Prof Kim Mellor
Co supervisor: Prof Lea Delbridge

Edy Setyawan, Science
Thesis title: Movement Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Conservation of Reef Manta Rays (Mobula alfredi) in Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Main supervisor: Prof Rochelle Constantine
Co supervisor: Dr Ben Stevenson

Jeevan Karki, Arts
Thesis title: Rising from the Rubble? Examining Post-Disaster Recovery and (Re-)Development in Nepal
Main supervisor: Prof Steve Matthewman
Co supervisor: Dr Jesse Grayman

Jonathan Simpson, Science
Thesis title: Laboratory Investigations Into the Dynamic Nonlinear Elastic Behaviour of Fault and Volcanic Rocks Under Realistic Subsurface Conditions
Main supervisor: Dr. Kasper van Wijk
Co supervisor: Dr Ludmila Adam

Vincent Russell, Science
Thesis title: Statistical Inverse Modelling of Aerosol Size Distributions
Main supervisor: Prof. Tom ter Elst
Co supervisor: Dr Ru Nicholson

Marcos Orseli, Science
Thesis Title: Equivariant index on toric contact manifolds
Main supervisor: Dr Pedram Hekmati
Co supervisors: Dr David Baraglia & Professor Rod Gover

Anthony Young, Creative Arts and Industries
Thesis Title: Harmony and Structure in Postminimalism: An Analytical and Compositional Approach
Main Supervisor: Dr Leonie Holmes
Co Supervisor: Dr Gregory Camp

Elizabeth Cooper, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis Title: Improving the Therapeutic Potential of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in the Treatment of Glioblastoma: Conjugation with Heptamethine Cyanine Dyes
Main Supervisor: Dr Thomas Park
Co Supervisors: Professor Michael Dragunow, Dr Jiney Jose & Dr Peter Choi

Andre Bellve, Science
Thesis Title: Reconstructing animal-vectored nutrient fluxes in paleoenvironments: A case-study of Aotearoa New Zealand’s burrowing procellariiforms
Main Supervisor: Professor George Perry
Co Supervisor: Associate Professor Janet Wilmshurst

Steve Waqanivavalagi, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis Title: The Green Lane Valve: A Novel Decellularised Heart Valve
Main Supervisor: Professor Jillian Cornish
Co Supervisors: Professor Poul Nielsen, Paget Milsom

Jennifer Muhl, Science
Thesis Title: The Relative Contribution of 3S-Glutathionylhexanal and its Bisulfite Adduct in the Production of Volatile Thiols in White Wines
Main Supervisor: Dr Rebecca Deed
Co Supervisors: Professor Bruno Fedrizzi, Dr Lisa Pilkington

Edin Whitehead, Science
Thesis Title: Oceanic Storytellers - Integrative methods for seabird conservation monitoring
Main Supervisor: Dr Brendon Dunphy
Co Supervisor: Professor James Russell

Lily Zhang, Engineering
Thesis title: Event Triggering Control of Networked Control Systems
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Akshya Swain
Co Supervisor: Dr Nitish Patel

Sam White, Medical and Health Sciences
Thesis title: A grounded theory study of postgraduate addiction education
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Marcus Henning
Co Supervisor: Dr Peter Huggard

Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau, Medical & Health Sciences
Thesis title: Matauranga Māori and Systems Thinking for improved children's nutrition
Main Supervisor: Dr Sarah Gerritsen
Co Supervisor: Prof Boyd Swinburn

Joseph Chen, Medical & Health Sciences
Thesis title: Investigating the psychopharmacology of scopolamine in major depressive disorder
Main Supervisor: Dr Suresh Muthukumaraswamy
Co Supervisors: Assoc Prof Frederick Sundram & Dr Rachael Sumner

Nina Waddell, Science
Thesis title: The Importance of Examining Traditional Gender Roles and Sexist Attitudes within Intimate Relationships: Consequences for Couples, Parents, and Wellbeing
Main Supervisor: Dr Nickola Overall
Co Supervisors: Dr Danny Osborne & Dr Jessica Maxwell
 

Sarah Knox, Creative Arts and Industries
Thesis title: “It’s such a tangle”: Choreography educators’ meanings and experiences of teaching collaborative choreography within tertiary dance education in Aotearoa New Zealand
Main Supervisor: Prof Ralph Buck
Co Supervisor: Dr Becca Weber

Georgia Rudd, Education & Social Work
Thesis title: Measuring Academic Resilience in Quantitative Research: Exploring Researchers’ Methodological Decisions
Main Supervisor: Dr Kane Meissel
Co Supervisor: Dr Frauke Meyer

Samantha Ladewig, Science
Thesis title: Plastic pollution impacts on seafloor ecosystem function: A collection of field-based analyses
Main Supervisor: Prof Simon Thrush
Co Supervisor: Prof Giovanni Coco

Max Briel, Science
Thesis title: Self-consistent predictions of electromagnetic and gravitational wave stellar transients
Main Supervisor: Prof Jan Eldridge
Co Supervisor: Dr Nicholas Rattenbury 

Jingjing Liang, EDSW
Thesis title: Understanding The Professional Identity of University-Based Teacher Educators in China
Main Supervisor: Assoc Prof Fiona Ell
Co Supervisor: Dr Kane Meissel

Md Nahid Alam, Accounting and Finance
Thesis title: Economic value of integrated reporting assurance: Managerial investment efficiency, litigation risks, and environmental, social, and governance controversies
Main Supervisor: Prof Steven Cahan
Co Supervisor: Dr Lily Chen

Kumar Jena, Engineering
Thesis title: From Disorder to Power: Unveiling the Potential of Amorphous Titanate Nanomaterials Towards Sustainable and High-Performance Lithium Ion Battery
Main Supervisor: Prof Peng Cao
Co Supervisor: Dr Sherry Xu