Category: Community-Centred Research

Auto Added by WPeMatico

Posted on

EIT Te Pūkenga farewells respected Executive Dean and animal welfare researcher | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

EIT | Te Pūkenga has farewelled respected Executive Dean and animal welfare researcher Professor Nat Waran.

EIT | Te Pūkenga has farewelled respected Executive Dean and animal welfare researcher Professor Nat Waran’

Professor Waran has also been made Professor Emeritus in recognition of her commitment to research and innovation at EIT | Te Pūkenga. Professor Emeritus appointments acknowledge normally retiring professors who are recognised nationally and internationally as having made an outstanding contribution in their discipline; have contributed significantly to the success of the institute over an extended period of time; are respected and esteemed by colleagues; and intend to maintain a continuing association with the institute.

Professor Waran has been Executive Dean and Professor of One Welfare since she joined EIT | Te Pūkenga in 2016 and has led the growth of research capabilities and structures within the institution.

Professor Waran is an internationally respected applied animal welfare scientist and educator with expertise in applied research, and the design and delivery of evidence-based education initiatives. She has more than 30 years of experience working as a strategic leader at senior level in the tertiary sector in NZ and overseas.

Prior to returning to New Zealand in 2016 she was the inaugural Director of the Jeanne Marchig International Animal Welfare Centre established at the University of Edinburgh’s veterinary school, where she collaborated with various organisations to advance animal welfare in developing countries.

EIT | Te Pūkenga Executive Director Glen Harkness paid tribute to Professor Waran, who was farewelled at a function on the Hawke’s Bay Campus on Friday, 15 September.

“In the past seven years, Nat has been an exceptional leader not only across EIT and Te Pūkenga but also in research bodies around the world. In particular, at EIT, Nat’s stewardship of the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Health Sciences, development of the EIT Research and Innovation Centre, the Ōtātara Outdoor Learning Centre, and contribution to developing the EIT Institute of Sport and Health has been invaluable.”

“Outside of EIT, Nat was a founding member of Te Poari Akoranga and te Ohu Whakahaere committees at Te Pūkenga, developed the new Te Pūkenga Animal Research and Teaching Code of Ethical Conduct and facilitated the Te Pūkenga Research Ethics Framework. We have been lucky to have Nat’s expertise as a world expert in equine welfare and one-welfare, all while maintaining professorial roles at leading international universities and providing leadership in research projects.”

“It goes without saying that Nat has contributed widely to the life and reputation of the institution and will be a huge loss and missed by all of us,” said Mr Harkness.

Professor Waran says she has enjoyed her time at EIT.

“I feel very proud of all that we have achieved together over the past years. I haven’t ever regretted the decision to accept the offer of the role of Executive Dean at EIT and to bring our family back to NZ from Scotland. EIT has always been about our people and our positive relationships, and it’s been an absolute pleasure to work alongside such great colleagues.”

Posted on

New funding boost for significant EIT | Te Pūkenga study into vaping among school students | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

2 days ago

Members of a EIT | Te Pūkenga research project addressing the epidemic of youth vaping among intermediate and high school students are Assoc. Prof. Rachel Forrest, Jocelyn Lañas-Pangan, Melody Khan, Assoc. Prof. Anita Jagroop-Dearing, Dr Helen Ryan-Stewart, Dr Sue Scott-Chapman.

A local EIT | Te Pūkenga research project addressing the epidemic of youth vaping among intermediate and high school students (ākonga) in Hawke’s Bay has received a funding boost from the Health Research Council (HRC) of New Zealand.

The research is being conducted by a team lead by Associate Professor Anita Jagroop-Dearing from EIT | Te Pūkenga. This study will build on another project recently funded by the Health Research Foundation, Hawke’s Bay and led by EIT | Te Pūkenga. This programme of research will capture the stories, experiences and health awareness of e-cigarette vaping by our youth.

“There are limited studies in Aotearoa that formally explore an in-depth analysis on these topics,” says Assoc Prof Jagroop-Dearing.

The Health Research Council study is entitled Scoping Solutions to Address the Epidemic of Youth Vaping in Aotearoa.

“The funding will be used to carry out a synthesis of both quantitative and qualitative studies about vaping programmes. We consider national and international research to scope culturally and age appropriate, youth vaping-cessation programmes for Aotearoa. The team intends to identify any currently used anti-vaping educational tools with a view of co-designing a pro-equity anti-vaping programme for use in intermediate and high schools in Aotearoa NZ.”

The new funding from the Health Research Council, has enabled research assistants Jocelyn Lañas-Pangan and Melody Khan to join the team.

“This will also allow us to do more interviews with students and student-facing staff. We can therefore consider various student ethnicities, age and school decile, so that we can understand any unique factors that underpin these students decision-making as it pertains to vaping”.

The research sets out to understand reasons for vaping and barriers or enablers for quitting vaping.

 “We also want to determine what knowledge students have about the health-harms and wellbeing impacts of vaping. If there is a broader understanding about student vaping, we can tailor a more effective solution to support vape users to quit, discourage new users and to develop more holistic intervention strategies around vaping,” says Assoc Prof Jagroop-Dearing.

Assoc Prof Anita Jagroop-Dearing is a member of the Stop Adolescent Vaping E-Cigarettes (S.A.V.E.) group, which was formed in March 2020 as a multidisciplinary collective of Hawke’s Bay Professionals, which feeds into a wider national group.

She says the group is “alarmed by the high levels of youth vaping”.

“The problem seems to be out of control with increased school absenteeism, inability to concentrate on school lessons due to nicotine addiction, respiratory and mental health problems. We are concerned about the creation of this new generation of nicotine-dependent youth who also seem to be graduating to cigarette-smoking.”

Assoc Prof Jagroop-Dearing says there has been an enthusiastic response from schools to support this research. She says more could be done with Government policy to target the marketing and sale of vaping products containing nicotine.

Interviews are set to begin soon, with the literature review expected to start next year.

“Work is needed urgently. Unofficially, we hear about issues related to vaping by speaking with students, school staff and parents. Just being out in public, you can see there is an urgent need for some kind of solution, but as a scientist, I need to go through the research process. I don’t have that magic bullet.”

“What I hear is that the schools are at a loss, the parents are at a loss, and the students themselves don’t know where to turn to for help as they become addicted to nicotine. They just don’t know how to stop even when they want to stop!,” she says.

The EIT | Te Pūkenga researchers Associate Professor Rachel Forrest, Dr Sue Scott-Chapman, Dr Helen Ryan-Stewart, Jocelyn Lañas-Pangan and Melody Khan are working with Associate Professor Anita Jagroop-Dearing on these projects.

“We need to do everything we can to protect our young people from the harms of vaping,” said Assoc Prof Jagroop-Dearing. “This research is a critical step in that effort.”