Top grant for learning innovator
Exploring neurodiversity in work integration
Kathryn Hay, of Paraparaumu Beach, is one of seven recipients of the annual Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Awards. Hay will go to the private Drexel University in Philadelphia where she will learn from experts in the field of work-integrated learning, including how it applies to neurodivergent learners and their transition to work.
She will bring back her findings to Massey University where she is an associate professor in social work, and associate dean of workintegrated learning in the College of Health.
“A lot of my teaching and research relates to work-integrated learning … we’re currently developing a quality framework for work-integrated learning at Massey, so the findings from this project will contribute to that. I’m hoping to develop more-responsive policy, systems and processes for students across disciplines here.”
She was rapt to receive the Fulbright award.
“It’s a real privilege to have the opportunity to go and do the project.
“It’s a cultural exchange as well as an educational exchange, which is also amazing.”
The project was for five months with a grace period on either side of 30 days. Hay was also excited to learn about American culture, visit other universities, and anticipated she would do some volunteer conservation
work.
She will be joined by her husband, Craig Steed, who is finishing up as principal of Paraparaumu College at the end of term one. It will be a good chance for Steed, who is unable to work in the United States, to unwind from the pressures of being a college principal.
“It’s worked out really well for us because throughout our careers, he’s had the less-flexible one.”
The other award recipients: Hona Black (Tūhoe, Te Whānaua-Apanui, Te Whakatō hea, Tūwharetoa) receives the 2024 Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award and will explore language interference with te reo Māori and the Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii.
Jason Ingham, of Auckland, will research heritage and sacred architecture with a focus on vulnerability assessment and remediation at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Mahsa McCauley, of Auckland, will explore transforming bee welfare with secure AI-enhanced precision apiculture at the Farm Security Operations Centre (FSOC) at North Carolina A&T State University, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Mei Peng, of Dunedin, will research parental decision-making on plant-based food choices at the University
of California, Davis, and Washington State University, Pullman.
Jesse Pirini, of Wellington, will research how innovative data visualisation can support indigenous development at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst and Boston).
Ashley Shearar, living in Rotorua, will research the emerging field of young adult justice at Columbia University in New York.