Business School wins health funding

06 Nov, 2020
 
Business School wins health funding

The Health Research Council (HRC) has awarded funding to two research proposals led by academics in the Business School.

The HRC’s Health Delivery Research Activation Grants fund projects by established researchers in order to build the evidence base for future-funded research.

Associate Professor Katherine Ravenswood (Management) will lead an investigation into the problem of workplace violence for carers in home care settings, including how this issue is experienced by Pasifika and Māori carers.

Associate Professor Ravenswood’s team includes AUT Department of Management’s Dr Julie Douglas and Dr Betty Ofe-Grant. Associate Professor Ravenswood's project will also collaborate externally with Dr Fiona Macdonald (RMIT, Australia), who specialises in the disability support sector, and with the Ē tū and PSA unions and the charitable trust, Lifewise.

Dr Tago Mharapara (Management) will lead an inquiry into the wellbeing of community-based midwives. The project seeks to identify the impact of work and non-work factors on their lives in order to develop an evidence-based pathway for sustainable wellbeing.

Dr Mharapara will work with Associate Professor Ravenswood, as well as AUT’s Dr Janine Clemons (Midwifery) and Dr Nimbus Staniland (Management). Dr Mharapara’s project will also include external collaboration with the New Zealand College of Midwives, Rua Pokai Nga Maia I Te Rauroha, and Pasifika Midwives Aotearoa.

“HRC funding is both competitive and coveted, so we are particularly pleased to congratulate our colleagues for their successful applications,” says Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Business School, Professor Kate Kearins. “By supporting the early stages of their AUT research, HRC acknowledges the potential impact of these projects to make a real difference to the lives of real people in our communities.”