Center for Culture Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) proudly presents its Faculty Collaborators, an integral part of our dedicated team advancing culture-centered communication solutions. Our faculty members represent a diverse and esteemed group of experts committed to employing their specialized knowledge and experience in furthering our research initiatives.
Distinguished Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith
Distinguished Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith, a Māori educationalist, currently holds the position of Te Toi Ihorei Ki Purehuroa – a distinguished professorial Chair at Massey University, NZ. He has been at the forefront of many successful, Māori self-development initiatives within the education field, including the development of Māori language immersion schooling, the establishment of a National Māori Centre of Research Excellence, created a significant national programme to enhance Māori PhD growth and capacity and was the foundation Chair of Council for the establishment of the Indigenous Higher education institution – Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi.
Dr Graham later became the CEO/ Vice Chancellor of this institution for eight years. His academic work has centered on developing theoretically informed transformative strategies related to advancing Māori cultural, social, educational and economic positioning. He has worked alongside many other indigenous communities across the world, including in Canada, Hawaii, USA mainland, Taiwan, India, Norway, Chile, Australia and the Pacific nations.
Dr. Sy Taffel
Dr. Sy Taffel is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies and co-director of the Political Ecology Research Centre at Massey University, Aotearoa-New Zealand. He is the author of Digital Media Ecologies (Bloomsbury 2019), and an editor of Plastic Legacies (University of Athabasca Press 2021) and Ecological Entanglement in the Anthropocene (Lexington 2016). Sy has published in peer-reviewed academic journals including New Media and Society; Media, Culture and Society; Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space; Convergence; and Cultural Politics. Sy’s research focuses upon the ecological, material, cultural, and political affordances of digital technologies. His current research project explores the intersections between digital technologies, degrowth and postgrowth futures.
He can be reached at: Dr Sy Taffel – Senior Lecturer – Massey University
Dr. Fatima Junaid
Dr. Fatima Junaid is an experienced consultant and educator working within public and private sector for over a decade. Dr. Junaid has done extensive research with marginalized communities including refugees, women, migrants and fishers’ communities. She focuses on developing mechanisms of support for better wellbeing outcomes. She is an international member of American Psychological Associate, a member of Australia New Zealand Mental Health Association, and country representative of the international body for Psychosocial risks COPSOQ.
As a lead researcher Fatima has recently completed research projects for Maritime New Zealand, and Federation of Islamic Associations. Currently she is a Senior lecturer at Massey University and a member of the several wellbeing (academic and professional) organisations. She also runs a social media support network group for Pakistani women in academia.
She can be reached at f.junaid@massey.ac.nz or https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatimajunaid1/
Dr. Usman Afzali
Dr Usman Afzali is the principal investigator of Muslim Diversity Study and currently works as a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer in the School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing at the University of Canterbury.
The Muslim Diversity Study focus on examining the effects of religion on social attitudes, values, resilience, flourishing, meaning-making, overall well-being, and the experiences of Muslims in New Zealand. In this role, Dr Afzali leads a team of 30 research assistants that work closely with the community.
During his PhD, Dr Afzali received training in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, with a primary focus on memory suppression and the use of brainwave (EEG/ERP) data to investigate possession of criminal knowledge. His research also extends to contemplative neuroscience, where he explores the neural correlates of contemplative practices.
Dr Afzali has expertise in experimental (behavioural and neuroscientific) and observational (longitudinal as well as cross-sectional) research methods, conducting both quantitative and qualitative research.
His fields of research include Psychology of Religion, Human Flourishing, Islamophobia, Contemplative Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology: Memory Control, Forensic Neuroscience.
Dr. Jagadish Thaker
JT or JAGADISH THAKER (Ph.D., George Mason University) is a Senior Lecturer in Communication at School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland. He has also taught at the University of Auckland and has been a Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University until 2021. He is an affiliate researcher with the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. His research examines ways to understand and enhance vulnerable communities adaptive capacity to climate change impacts in India. Dr. Thaker specializes in the fields of science and climate change communication, health communication, and strategic communication campaigns. His work at CARE relates to building community partnerships and implementing community-led campaigns related to women farmers voices on climate change, and stigma reduction campaigns with sexual minorities advocacy groups.