Professor Fiona Brooks
Ua noa nei ngā heke roimata e maringi noa ana i te mata o Te Pāpaka a Māui, i te whenua o konei anō hoki, e te hākui, e te taonga o te mate, ka mahue iho mai ko tō hāpori, ko tō whānau o AUT, nei rā mātou e tangi hotuhotu ana mōu e poroporoakitia nā koe, haere, haere atu rā.
Professor Fiona Brooks, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences | Tumuaki Te Ara Hauora ā Pūtaiao, died on Friday 13 January after a short illness.
Since taking up her role with AUT in September 2021 Fiona led the faculty with wisdom, expertise and kindness and her passing will be felt by people across our University and beyond. We mourn the loss of an outstanding, humane leader and colleague who has had an extraordinary impact on her faculty and the wider University. Her strategic leadership and vision, her generosity of spirit, her insight and care into others made a rapid and huge contribution to AUT. In addition to being a very special leader, she was a joy to be around, a vibrant and loving friend and colleague.
Fiona joined the AUT whanau from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) where she held the positions of Associate Dean for Research and Acting Dean of Health.
Fiona's international academic career included more than 20 years of senior academic leadership and research experience, including 14 years as Professor of Health Services Research and Head of the Adolescent and Child Health Research unit at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom; 6 years at UTS in Australia where she acted in the Dean role and was the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research; and her last role in AUT, New Zealand as Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences.
Fiona leaves behind her husband Peter, her children Joshua and Holly and her sister Alison. Fiona met Peter as undergraduate students together at Warwick University in 1980 in the UK’s Midlands after which they both went on to undertake PhD studies together at the University of Sheffield in the North of England.
After her PhD, Fiona’s career took in a number of UK academic and health research roles in the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Bedfordshire and then Hertfordshire, prior to her voyage to the antipodes to join the University of Technology Sydney in Australia and then Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.
Fiona’s international networks in Health research and Adolescence were extensive, with adjunct and visiting roles in UFMG Brazil, UK’s University of Kent, Canada’s Queens and McMaster’s Universities, the USA’s Washington State and the University of Seville in Spain. She was a widely commissioned expert advisor and author for NGOs and government agencies including the Chief Medical Officer and the UK Cabinet Office. She also represented UTS on the SPHERE council and was a founder committee member of the UK charity The Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH). She is currently on the Scientific boards for RUOK and Towards Zero Suicide in Australia.
Arguably her most influential research in the field of health was for the World Health Organisation where had been the UK lead since 2008 on the WHO International Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Study (HBSC) which takes place in 48 countries and is responsible for using data to drive change and policy impact in the health of young people.
Fiona was committed to advancing knowledge on health for adolescence and youth, wellbeing and the health of women, worldwide. Her careered fuelled more than 140 scholarly works in these areas, 20 PhD completions and over $11M NZD in major research funding via agencies such as the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK government and Departments of Health, the EU (Horizon 2020/Marie Curie).