Current and former Vice-Chancellors at the Court of Benefactors function are from left Dr Graeme Fogelberg, current Vice-Chancellor Hon Grant Robertson, Professor Helen Nichoson and Sir David Skegg.
The idea was to invest in people, to build human capital, not bricks and mortar. And 21 years later that investment continues to live up to its initial, far-sighted, promise, through the ongoing impact of world-renowned research undertaken by the Leading Thinkers projects.
The 21st anniversary of the Leading Thinkers Initiative was celebrated last night at the Court of Benefactors function at Otago. Donors, academics, and University leadership from the time the Initiative was created, gathered to celebrate the achievements of the visionary idea.
“The Leading Thinkers Initiative is one of the flagship partnerships for the University of Otago,” says Vice-Chancellor Hon Grant Robertson.
“The breadth and depth of the work done by the Chairs created under this programme is extraordinary. It has been transformative research that is playing a part in changing the world for the better.”
Established in 2003, the Leading Thinkers Initiative was Otago’s unique response to the government’s Partnership for Excellence Framework. Tertiary institutions were offered the opportunity to seek matching funding, from a government contribution of $25 million, for large-scale investment projects.
Unlike other Universities, and not in line with what the government had in mind when setting up the partnership, after some negotiation Otago succeeded in its choice to invest in people.
Instead of using the capital offered for infrastructure, it chose instead to build ‘knowledge leaders’, with the aim of ‘supporting world-class scholarship at Otago in areas considered vital for the nation’s future wellbeing’.
Some of Otago's 'Leading Thinkers' at the function.
Given five years to find the funds from the private sector, the goal of raising $25 million was achieved by Otago six months ahead of target. The project was championed by respective Chancellors Sir Eion Edgar KNZM and Lindsay Brown MNZM, Vice-Chancellors Dr Graeme Fogelberg CNZM and Professor Sir David Skegg KNZM, and it was overseen by Otago’s Director of Development Hon Dr Clive Matthewson MNZM.
In total, $51.7 million was raised. Capital funds were invested in the Otago Foundation Trust as endowments, with income from the investment being used to support the Leading Thinkers projects in perpetuity.
As Leading Thinker Alexander McMillan Chair of Childhood Studies, Professor Nicola Taylor, says, “it’s been set up very cleverly by the University to be the gift that keeps on giving. The capital was invested and the fund continues to grow every year.”
“So it truly is going to be an initiative with far-reaching impact for the University’s role in our community well into the future.”
The final result of the campaign was 27 Chairs and projects, reaching across all academic disciplines and in line with the University’s strategic goals. The diversity of initiatives was a key strength, attracting benefactors with widely varying interests from across the community.
Primarily building on areas of strength at Otago, the projects created a new platform for growing world-class research and scholarship, in areas as diverse as diabetes and obesity; paediatrics; infectious diseases; international health; entrepreneurship; legal issues; Scottish and Irish Studies; Geography; Peace and Conflict Studies; Theology and Public Issues.
Leading Thinkers also created a new platform for partnerships with benefactors.
Director of Development and Alumni at Otago, Shelagh Murray, says a huge amount of credit is owed to the benefactors, for both their incredible generosity and their own foresight.
“They embraced the concept of investing in the people of the University wholeheartedly, and their generosity made the Initiative happen.”
She says the commitment made by the benefactors has been wonderfully reciprocated in the outcomes from the projects over the past 21 years.
The view from two Chairs
The first position to be established was the Edgar Chair in Diabetes Medicine, supported by the generosity of Sir Eion Edgar and Jan, Lady Edgar. The funding enabled the establishment of the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research, with Professor Sir Jim Mann KNZM appointed the inaugural Director.
Following the appointment of Professor Rachael Taylor to the Leading Thinkers Karitane Senior Research Fellowship in Early Childhood Obesity, the Centre became the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre (EDOR).
Professor Mann says Sir Eion’s real interest was investing in people, and he led by example in funding the Centre.
“Everybody thought it [Leading Thinkers] was an absolutely brilliant idea,” he says. “There is absolutely no doubt that it was regarded as a flagship research initiative of the University,” he says.
“I think a lot of it was really visionary and a lot of credit should go to the benefactors and the original people who found the benefactors.”
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Richard Blaikie addresses those at the function.
The Centre’s achievements include numerous studies on the role of diet and exercise in the prevention and management of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). EDOR research on the protective effects of dietary fibre has underpinned World Health Organisation nutritional recommendations aimed at reducing the global risk of NCDs and informed international guidelines for the treatment of diabetes.
The Centre’s community-based interventions revealed the potential to reduce the risk of excessive weight gain in childhood, and of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease amongst Māori in adult life.
“What we have achieved are the tools that are there for the prevention and management of diabetes,” says Professor Mann, who also co-chaired the National Diabetes Action Plan which the government is currently looking at to see which components of, and how, they can implement it.
In 2022, Professor Mann was knighted for services to health.
He believes the strength of Leading Thinkers lies in its diversity and “quite unlikely grouping of initiatives. I think that’s unique”.
“In one of my completely unrelated roles, my consular role for Finland – when I met the Ambassador of Finland at the time he said, ‘oh I know somebody very well from the University of Otago’, and it was Kevin Clements. Kevin Clements is world famous for his Peace and Conflict work.”
Professor Clements was the inaugural Leading Thinker Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies, supported by the Aotearoa New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust. On his retirement in 2017, Professor Richard Jackson took over the Chair.
Illustrating the breadth of Leading Thinkers areas, Professor Mann contrasts Professor Jemma Geoghegan’s (Webster Family Chair in Viral Pathogenesis) world-leading research team focusing on the evolution, emergence and ecology of viruses; Professor Liam McIlvanney’s (Stuart Chair in Scottish Studies) publications on aspects of modern Scottish and Scottish diaspora literature, and his award-winning crime fiction; and Professor David Tombs’ (Howard Paterson Chair in Theology and Public Issues) theological and ethical analysis of national and global challenges facing Aotearoa New Zealand.
“I don’t know of any university who can boast something like this coming from this kind of initiative.”
Alexander McMillan Chair in Childhood Studies, Professor Nicola Taylor, says the Initiative helped underpin the Children’s Issues Centre, first established at the University in 1995.
The generosity of the Alexander McMillan Trust, through its support of the Leading Thinkers project, brought a degree of financial security to the Centre Director’s role which enabled the research and teaching programme to flourish.
“Being a Leading Thinkers Chair and being part of that community of wider Leading Thinkers Chairs within the University, it’s very special. We’re a fairly cohesive group, we’re in regular contact, and we enjoy celebrating each other’s achievements,” she says.
“I think the Initiative enables the University’s strategic plan and internationalisation goals to truly be realised, because all of the Leading Thinkers Chairs are world-renowned in their respective fields.
“We have an influence domestically, but we have also each formed terrific collaborations with international colleagues, which not only advance research and scholarship in our own area, for me Child and Family Law in New Zealand, but for other countries grappling with similar issues too.
“Being part of that global community and the ongoing opportunity to contribute as a Leading Thinker to that, really enables our research and teaching to have an international audience and impact.”
The Children’s Issues Centre, now based in the Faculty of Law, has undertaken an extensive programme of socio-legal research on a broad range of family law, welfare and parenting issues, with significant emphasis on ascertaining children’s own perspectives on key aspects of their lives.
Much of this research has been directed towards law reform initiatives to update family law statutes, evaluate the 2014 family law reforms, upskill family justice professionals, and aid New Zealand’s compliance with international law instruments like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.
Professor Taylor has also co-led a collaborative project to develop a website providing ethical guidance to support researchers globally when conducting research involving children. This highly successful resource is available in six languages and accessed from 185 countries.
Looking ahead, Vice-Chancellor Robertson says, “As we celebrate this milestone, we also look to the future. We want to continue the work of Leading Thinkers, and explore new possibilities. So much has been achieved but now is the time to develop that further.”
Commentary from all the Leading Thinkers Chairs on achievements over the past 21 years, and their aspirations for the future, is published in a book commemorating the anniversary. A digital version will be available on the University website shortly, along with a short video featuring the Chairs.
University of Otago Leading Thinkers Chairs
AgResearch Chair in Reproduction and Genomics (Professor Neil Gemmell). Benefactor AgResearch.
Alexander McMillan Chair in Childhood Studies (Professor Nicola Taylor). Benefactor Alexander McMillan Trust.
Baier Chair in Early Modern Philosophy (Professor Michael LeBuffe). Benefactors Kurt and Annette Baier.
Carney Centre for Pharmacogenomics (Professor Martin Kennedy). Benefactors Jim and Mary Carney Charitable Trust.
Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance (Marcella Giesche 2024). Benefactor Caroline Plummer Memorial Trust.
Centre for Molecular Research in Infectious Diseases (CMRID) (Professor Kurt Krause). Benefactors Dr John and Becca Cason Thrash.
Centre for Trace Element Analysis (Professor Claudine Stirling). Benefactor Community Trust of Otago.
Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies (Professor Richard Jackson). Benefactor The Aotearoa New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust.
Cure Kids Chair of Paediatric Genetics (Professor Stephen Robertson). Benefactor Cure Kids.
Cure Kids Chair of Paediatric Research (Professor Andrew Day). Benefactor Cure Kids.
Dunedin City Chair of Entrepreneurship (Professor Nathan Berg). Benefactor The Dunedin City Council.
Eamon Cleary Chair in Irish Studies (Inaugural Chair Emeritus Professor Peter Kuch. Professor Maebh Long from early 2025). Benefactor Eamon Clearly Charitable Trust.
Edgar Chair in Diabetes Medicine (Professor Sir Jim Mann). Benefactors Sir Eion Edgar and Jan, Lady Edgar.
Gama Research Fellow in Bipolar Disorder (Dr Maree Inder). Benefactor Gama Foundation (Grant and Marilyn Nelson).
Howard Paterson Chair in Theology and Public Issues (Professor David Tombs). Benefactors Paterson Charitable Trust, with support from Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland, and Ian and Annette Tulloch.
Karitane Chair in Early Childhood Obesity (Professor Rachael Taylor). Benefactor KPS Society Limited.
McAuley Chair of International Health (Professor Philip Hill). Benefactor The Sisters of Mercy, through Mercy Hospital, Dunedin.
McKenzie Chair in Clinical Science (Honorary Professor John McCall). Benefactor F & J McKenzie Charitable Trust
New Zealand Institute for Cancer Research Trust Chair in Cancer Pathology (Professor Mike Eccles). Benefactor New Zealand Institute for Cancer Research Trust.
New Zealand Law Foundation Chair in Emerging Technologies (vacant). Benefactor New Zealand Law Foundation.
Ron Lister Chair in Geography (Professor Tracey Skelton). Benefactor The Ron Lister Trust.
Stuart Chair in Scottish Studies (Professor Liam McIlvanney). Benefactor Stuart Residence Halls Council.
Stuart Chair in Science Communication (Professor Lloyd Davis). Benefactor Stuart Residence Halls Council.
TD Scott Chair in Urology (recruitment underway). Benefactor Dr Trevor Scott and Diana Scott.
Webster Family Chair in Viral Pathogenesis (Professor Jemma Geoghegan). Benefactors Robert and Marjorie Webster.
Kōrero by Margie Clark, Communications Adviser Development and Alumni Office