Research Interests

My primary research interests are emotions, emotional intelligence (EI), emotion regulation and social emotional wellbeing of teachers and students. Currently, I am a Co-researcher and the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Lead for a Teaching & Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project entitled, “Co-constructing a culturally and linguistically sustaining, Te Tiriti -based Ako framework for socio-emotional wellbeing in education”. I am also involved in other research projects investigating teachers’ wellbeing and EI, and students’ emotions in higher education, in New Zealand and Ireland, where I spent 6 weeks on Sabbatical Leave in 2019. Previous research projects include investigating the emotional impacts of the Christchurch February 2011 earthquake on Christchurch teachers, funded by the University of Canterbury Digital Archive (CEISMIC), and an investigation into emotions in tertiary teaching, funded by AKO Aotearoa. In 2011, the Fulbright-Cognition Scholar in Educational Research Award enabled me to spend three months in the USA. I spent six weeks as Visiting Scholar at Wichita State University, associated with their educational leadership programme and six weeks at the Health Education and Behavior (HEB) Lab at Yale University, where key EI research programmes have been developed. These experiences continue to inform both my research and my teaching.