About us
Here you can read about the Principal and Associate Researchers on the project. Click here to read about our research assistants.
Susanna Trnka
Associate Professor
Is a social and medical anthropologist with expertise in embodiment, subjectivity, and the politics of health. Her previous research has included examinations of citizen-state relations during states of emergency (in Fiji). She has also worked extensively on the politics of respiratory health in relation to global asthma policies (as taken up in New Zealand and central Europe). She has contributed to new theories of (personal, collective, state and corporate) responsibility through her work on asthma in her monograph, One Blue Child: Asthma, Responsibility, and the Politics of Global Health (Stanford University Press, 2017), and, more broadly, her co-edited volume, Competing Responsibilities: The Politics and Ethics of Contemporary Life (with Catherine Trundle, Duke University Press, 2017). In addition to her role as the Principal Investigator on “Ka Hao te Rangatahi: Fishing with a New Net? Rethinking Responsibility for Youth Mental Health in the Digital Age”, she is involved in a series of projects examining New Zealand’s governmental and public responses to Covid-19.
Kerry Lynn Gibson
Associate Professor
Is an Associate Professor and clinical psychologist based in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland. She has many years of clinical and research experience in youth mental health. Her work aims to ensure that young people’s voices are heard in the design and delivery of mental health support. Her ongoing research, conducted as part of the Mirror Project, highlights young people’s own experiences of mental health distress and asks them what they want from support services. Her most recent work focuses on the way that young people use digital technology to help them with their mental health. You can read more about her research at https://www.themirrorproject.co.nz/. Kerry is a former president and a fellow of the New Zealand Psychological Society.
Dr. Pikihuia Pomare (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga)
Tēnā koe, ko Pikihuia tōku ingoa, nō Hokianga me Tauranga Moana ahau. Nau mai ki tō mātou pae tukutuku.
I am a Kaupapa Māori lecturer and a registered clinical psychologist in the School of Psychology at Massey University based in Albany, Auckland. I completed my studies at the University of Auckland and worked in clinical practice with adults, tamariki, rangatahi/taiohi and whānau in Māori services in the wider Auckland region. My clinical and research interests include Mātauranga Māori, Tamariki and Rangatahi mental health and wellbeing, whanaungatanga and engagement in Mental Health, rongoā Māori and whānau wellbeing. I am a raukura (graduate) of Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori (Māori immersion schooling) and my clinical practice and research is grounded in Mātauranga Māori (Indigenous Māori knowledge) and Indigenous Psychology.
Dr. Jemaima Tiatia-Seath
Is the Co-Head of School, Te Wānanga o Waipapa, School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies, University of Auckland. She is of Samoan descent and has a public/community health background. She was one of six panellists on the New Zealand Government’s 2018 Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry. Her research interests include: Pacific Studies, mental health and wellbeing, suicide prevention and postvention, health inequities, climate change and youth development.
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Dr. Monique Jonas
I am an ethical theorist, which means I spend my time thinking about makes things right and wrong. I am particularly interested in ethics in family settings and the relationship between families and the state. I have written about the concept of harm in childhood, competence to make decisions for yourself, and the ethics of advice-giving. I teach Bachelor of Health Sciences students and in the medical school at University of Auckland. In my spare time I horse around with my children and our various pets- two horses and two big, lazy loveable dogs.
Shauney Thompson
My family ancestry comes from both Eastern Europe, Ireland and the Cook Islands (Mangaia), though I have always called Aotearoa and the Waitākere Ranges home. I have always had a passion and interest in working with young people to support their mental health and wellbeing needs. More recently, I have been working as a residential care worker, but generally have experience in working with anxiety, depression, young people self-harming, confidence and self esteem difficulties, and working with young people and their families with care and protection orders. I have always felt extremely privileged to work beside young people and support them in a way that suits their own needs.
I am undertaking a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology with the intention to register as a Clinical Psychologist and continue my work with young people. My role in this Marsden project is through my thesis, which will look at how young Pasifika people (aged 16- 22-years) are using the internet for their mental health and wellbeing needs.
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Luca Muir
Luca is currently conducting his MA research in Social Anthropology under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Susanna Trnka and Dr. Christine Dureau. Luca’s project, “The Digital Age: Youth, Disability, and Mental Health” in part is an examination of disabled youths perspectives on the Covid-19 pandemic.