Meet the team
Drawing on our diverse professional strengths, we'll support you along your study journey. We'll strive to provide you with skills and knowledge that you can take into many different careers.
What separates our degree from other Global Studies programmes is our emphasis on cultural exchange. There's a strong focus on language acquisition and area studies training to address real-world problems.
We've grown exponentially since the programme was launched in 2018 by founding director Dr Hilary Chung. We began with fewer than 100 students, and we're now 500 strong.
Our team
The Global Studies team consists of three full-time academic staff and a Programme Adviser, as well as academic staff from across the University who teach courses in the programme's four undergraduate majors.
Associate Professor Chris Ogden
Chris moved to New Zealand from Scotland in 2023, and has previously lived in Japan, Nepal and India. His research interests relate to the interplay between identity, culture, security and domestic politics in India, China, South Asia, East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Chris' outside interests include politics, swimming and film noir.
Associate Professor Jamie Gillen
Jamie is a senior lecturer in Global Studies and joined the team in January 2020. An American citizen and trained geographer, Jamie moved to Auckland from Singapore. His research focuses on tourism, urbanization, agrarian change, and fieldwork issues in mainland Southeast Asia.
Jamie’s favourite food remains pepperoni pizza and, when he has time, he likes to play the guitar and swim.
Dr Lio Basilone
Lio joined the Global Studies programme in February 2019. He is a comparatist and specialises in cross-cultural encounter, identity construction and political discourse with focus on East Asia and Europe. He is also interested in the connections between national literatures and political activism/dissent in late modern and contemporary society.
Lio is originally from southern Italy. Prior to moving to New Zealand, he studied and worked in Beijing and Manila. His outside interests include jogging, cooking and creative writing.
Dr Lana Kostrykina
Lana is the Student and Programme Adviser for Global Studies. She is your first port of call for all questions related to the programme. She is originally from Volgograd, Russia, and joined the Global Studies team in 2017.
Lana completed her PhD in International Education at the University of Auckland. Her areas of professional interest include student support and engagement, intercultural communication, the global education industry and the knowledge economy.
She is a Red Cross volunteer and a part of the Arts First Responder’s support network.
If you have an enquiry, please email globalstudies@auckland.ac.nz
In memoriam: Dr Hilary Chung
Dr Hilary Chung, the inspiring and energetic founding director of the Global Studies programme at the University of Auckland, passed away in August 2020. Hilary’s passion was instrumental in the development and success of the programme.