High quality business translation awards

The 2022 judging panel comprised Spark’s Sebastian Watson, NBR co-editor Hamish McNicol, and Waka Kotahi’s Iain McGlinchy.

The judges commended the entrants, noting there was a “very high standard of submissions and the top half dozen entries in the open category were separated by half a dozen points (out of a possible 300)".

Winners from around the motu

Special congratulations to the scholars who took out the main awards:

• First place, Established research: How do New Zealand’s agricultural cooperatives positively impact climate change? By getting farmers, managers and scientists in the same room (Lisa Callagher et al., University of Auckland)
• Runner up, Established research: A sobering picture: alcohol access and criminal behaviour among young Kiwis (Alexander Plum, with Christopher Erwin and Kabir Dasgupta, Auckland University of Technology)
• First place, Māori and Pacific research: Enhancing Pasifika Students Success in Accounting Education (Anil Narayan, with Irshad Ali, Auckland University of Technology)
• First place, Early Career research: Food Fad or Future of Food? Flexitarianism and Young Adults’ Fight for Climate Autonomy (Joya Kemper, University of Canterbury and Sam White, Lincoln University)
• Runner up, Early Career research: Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: Do Gender Differences Matter? (Mia Pham, Massey University)

Translation increases research impact

Dean of AUT Business School, Professor Kate Kearins, says the competition highlights the value of academic research to the wider business sector and shows the importance of making peer-reviewed scholarship understandable to non-academics.

“Evidence is at the heart of all robust research – and the ability to translate that evidence is crucial to those who form policy, make decisions, and establish best practice. Far from ‘dumbing down’ scholarship, the process of translation is about 'opening up' and sharing important findings,” says Professor Kearins.