UC strengthens aerospace leadership with new appointment

Photo caption: Aerospace flight safety and analysis specialist Dr Christina Dunker will lead UC’s aerospace research strategy from January 2027.  

Dr Dunker will join Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) in January 2027 to lead the university’s aerospace ambitions in one of Canterbury’s fastest-growing sectors.

She brings international research and industry experience spanning Europe, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, including leadership of major collaborative aerospace programmes, complex flight-test campaigns and commercial New Space projects.

Her appointment will help shape UC’s Aerospace Strategy, grow externally funded research, ensure graduates are industry-ready and develop stronger partnerships with industry, government and international collaborators.

Dr Dunker says Canterbury provides an exciting environment in which to grow aerospace research.

“UC has a real opportunity to build something distinctive by bringing rigorous scientific research together with agile, industry-relevant engineering.

“My focus will be on developing the research capability and partnerships that allow us to tackle ambitious aerospace challenges and translate new knowledge into technologies with real-world applications,” she says.

“I’ve worked across public research and commercial aerospace environments, and I see enormous value in bringing those worlds closer together.”

Dr Dunker holds a PhD in aerodynamics and flight-test instrumentation from Technische Universität Berlin (Germany). Her research focuses on technologies enabling next-generation aviation and spaceflight, and her career has included major projects and flight-test campaigns at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

In New Zealand, she spent almost five years with Rocket Lab in flight safety and flight analysis roles, before joining Nova Systems Australia and New Zealand as a Senior Launch and Space Safety Analyst. She is currently Principal Mission Safety Engineer at Outlier Space and is also founder and director of Christchurch-based Skywave Analytics Ltd, providing specialist consultancy in computational fluid dynamics, wind resource assessment and data analytics.

Dr Dunker has previously taught postgraduate wind resource modelling at UC and brings professional networks across the aviation research and New Space sectors in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

Aerospace is a priority growth sectors in Christchurch, with the Waitaha Canterbury Aerospace Strategy setting an ambition for Canterbury to become a global aerospace leader by 2035. The strategy identifies research capability, skilled talent and stronger collaboration between industry and tertiary institutions as critical to the sector’s growth.

UC currently engages with partners across the Canterbury aerospace ecosystem, including Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre. UC graduates are employed by aerospace companies, as well as in related fields such as green hydrogen, sustainability and telecommunications technology.

Professor Stefanie Gutschmidt, Head of UC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, says the appointment will further strengthen and expand UC’s aerospace capabilities, enabling meaningful contributions through the expertise, knowledge, and skills of talented individuals.

“The aerospace ecosystem in Canterbury is rapidly developing, and UC has significant research expertise, facilities, and talent to contribute. There is a real opportunity in front of us, but it also comes with challenges that we can only overcome by building even stronger connections and collaboration between research, people, and industry,” she says.

“Christina brings exactly that combination of research depth, commercial aerospace experience and international networks. We want our graduates and emerging researchers to have deep scientific and technical knowledge, but also to be equipped to solve complex, relevant industry problems and contribute to New Zealand’s aerospace sector.”

UC contributes to New Zealand’s aerospace talent pipeline through postgraduate research, work-integrated learning and specialist qualifications and is the only university in New Zealand to offer both a Minor and Master of Aerospace Engineering. 

With research ranging from green aviation and advanced flight systems to Earth observation and satellite-enabled technologies, UC identifies Space and Aerospace as a Signature Capability in its new Research Identity.