AUT Business School was the big winner at the recent New Zealand Business Research Translation Competition.
The event aims to show the relevance and impact of New Zealand business research to practitioners, professionals and
industry leaders, as well as to the public at large.
The competition has steadily grown since it began in 2014; in 2020, business and economics scholars from all eight of
New Zealand’s business schools were invited to participate.
A judging panel comprising businesspeople and policymakers reviewed the submissions, focusing primarily on the entries’
appeal and usefulness to external stakeholders.
As the competition guidelines state: Business research is expected to contribute to society, the environment, and the
economy. Governments and funding agencies across the world have been calling for academics to demonstrate the relevance
of their research, show a return on public investment, and articulate the resulting knowledge in a language that is
accessible to those who can benefit from it.
Congratulations to the AUT Business School scholars who took out the main awards:
Dr Nimbus Staniland – Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe – (Management), who won the Māori and Pacific Research category for her entry, “Indigenous and
boundaryless careers: cultural boundaries in the careers of Māori academics” (read the original journal article)
Dr Jessica Vredenburg (Marketing), who won the Early Career category for her submission, “Brand Activism: What, when, where and how,
translating theory into practice” (read the original journal article)
Dr Lydia Cheung (Economics), who won the Established Researcher award for her entry, “An empirical analysis of the competition in print
advertising among paid and free newspapers” (read the original journal article).
Dean of AUT Business School, Professor Kate Kearins, say the competition results reflect how seriously AUT academics
take their responsibilities not only as experts within their field but also as “translators” to ensure wider audiences
understand the value of their work.
“The Business School is dedicated to delivering research that matters. The ability to share scholarship with
non-academic audiences is a skill that is increasingly recognised and required – with and beyond the university. When it
is presented in language that is accessible, academic research takes on a whole new level of impact for those who pay
for it – the citizens of New Zealand,” says Professor Kearins.
The 2020/2021 New Zealand Business Research Translation Competition was open to AUT Business School, Lincoln University
Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Massey University Business School, Otago Business School, UC Business School,
University of Auckland Business School, Waikato Management School and Wellington School of Business and Government.