Strong staff presence in King’s Birthday Honours list

This list recognises both staff and alumni honoured on 1 June. 

Professor Elizabeth Mary Rata – staff, alumna
For services to education.

Professor Elizabeth Rata is a sociologist of education specialising in research on ethnic politics and curriculum knowledge in New Zealand.

Rata, who has an academic career spanning five decades, was a member of the 2024 Ministerial Curriculum Advisory Group and contributed to the New Zealand English Curriculum, years 7-13. She is the developer of the Curriculum Design Coherence Model which is used in curriculum studies internationally.

She was a foundational member of Kura Kaupapa Māori in the 1980s, and an English teacher in her early career. In 2024 she was appointed to the Charter School/Kura Hourua Establishment (later Authorisation) Board. She has been recognised widely by international institutions, including receiving a Senior Fulbright Scholarship to Georgetown University in 2003 and becoming a member of the European Union Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Programme in 2013.

She has authored numerous academic publications, including A Political Economy of Neotribal Capitalism (2000), The Politics of Knowledge in Education (2012), and co-authored Academic Achievement in Bilingual and Immersion Education (2022). Rata edited the Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education (2024), and was one of the co-authors on Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Turn (2025).

Rata isn't afraid to ask hard questions. 

"I'm currently working on on a history of New Zealand education to address the question: ‘What features of the education system produced a high standard of education for a century from 1877 until a major turn from the 1970s, accelerating after 2007, sent the system into decline."

She says the history will be made available as a series of videos as well as in book form. 

Rata says she hopes the recognition will shine a light on educational issues such as "the importance of a standardised, knowledge-rich national curriculum so that all children receive a quality subject-based education".

Associate Professor Paul Andrew Baker – staff, alumnus
For services to health.

Associate Professor Paul Baker, a clinical anaesthesiologist in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, is New Zealand’s leading authority on airway management, who has shaped clinical practice nationally and internationally.

Baker was a foundation consultant anaesthetist at Starship Children’s Hospital, who has contributed more than 40 years as an airway management specialist and paediatric anaesthetist. In 1996 he significantly advanced patient safety by creating AirwaySkills, the first training programme in the southern hemisphere teaching the management of difficult airways. Through AirwaySkills, he has personally trained more than 5,000 anaesthetists, emergency physicians and intensive care doctors.

He founded the medical innovation company Airway Limited in 2006. He led the invention of ORSIM, a virtual reality bronchoscopy training simulator, now used in more than 40 countries and in prestigious medical universities such as Harvard, Oxford and Yale. In 2004 he led a team of 26 clinicians to successfully perform New Zealand’s first Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment (EXIT) procedure, one of the most high-risk and technically demanding operations in modern medicine.

He has authored or co-authored 96 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on airway safety, paediatric airway management and medical ethics. His research led to the adoption of national equipment standards, ensuring every operating theatre is equipped to manage difficult airways. Baker was chairman of the international committee of the World Airway Management Meeting, and president of the Society for Airway Management USA.

Professor Caroline Anne Crowther – staff
For services to maternal and perinatal health.

Professor Caroline Crowther (Liggins Institute) is a leading researcher of maternal and perinatal care, who has significantly influenced policy changes and global recommendations for clinical practice.

Crowther led a randomised trial in 2005 that showed detection and treatment of gestational diabetes significantly reduced perinatal death and birthing problems. Her research led to routine diabetes testing during pregnancy and lowering the threshold for intervention, changing international guidelines for care of preterm birth and mothers with gestational diabetes.

With colleagues, she conducted a trial providing clear evidence that repeat doses of corticosteroids to mothers at risk of preterm birth reduced breathing difficulties and other serious problems in their babies. In 2015 she developed guidelines used in New Zealand and Australia on these findings, which also informed World Health Organisation guidelines published in 2022.

She significantly contributed to research proving magnesium sulphate given to women expecting a very preterm birth reduced the risk of cerebral palsy, with an estimated 11 cases now prevented in New Zealand annually. She has applied rigorous evaluation to emerging medicines, ensuring that ineffective or harmful treatments are not adopted into practice. Crowther founded and led the Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Australasian Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Network in 1994, and was a foundational editor for the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Collaborative Review Group.

Emeritus Professor Pare Areta Keiha, QSO – alumnus, former staff
For services to Māori and education.

Emeritus Professor Pare Keiha (Te Whānau o Taupara o Te Aitanga-a Māhaki, Rongowhakaata) has contributed extensively to education and Māori development and was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in 2008 for his services to business, education and Māori.

Keiha was dean of Te Ara Poutama at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) from 1997 to 2024, the longest serving dean of a Māori Studies faculty in New Zealand’s history. During his tenure, the faculty experienced sustained growth and the introduction of masters and doctoral programmes.

He established the country’s first Māori Media degree and devised a major scholarship for Māori and Pacific students. He held many other senior roles at AUT including pro vice-chancellor for Māori Advancement from 2004 to 2024 and pro vice-chancellor for Learning and Teaching from 2009 to 2019.

He has continued to hold numerous board roles, including chairing the Māori Patents Advisory Committee since 2014, and as a director of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra since 2018.

He was a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s first three Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) Fund committees and is a board member of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, the Māori CoRE hosted by the University of Auckland.

Keiha, who also became a Companion of the Queen's Service Order in the 2008 New Year Honours,  was a lead member of the econometrics team established to provide advice to the Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki claims before the Waitangi Tribunal.

Dr James Alfred Farmer, KC – alumnus, former staff
For services to the law.

Dr James Farmer is a highly regarded commercial barrister, having argued many complex, precedent-setting cases for more than 40 years.

Farmer led New Zealand’s largest-ever civil case, successfully representing the Statutory Managers of Equiticorp during a 13-month trial. He served on the board of Air New Zealand shortly after it was privatised. He was appointed acting chair during the Ansett crisis in 2001, leading negotiations with the government that saved Air New Zealand from insolvency. He represented the Commerce Commission in two major cases, setting precedents which positively affected competition in national markets. He has contributed to professional legal organisations including the Auckland District Law Society and the New Zealand Industrial Relations Society, which he founded and served as president. He led the establishment and was a founding member of the New Zealand Bar Association, serving as president twice.

He was professor of law at the University of Auckland in the 1990s and lecturer of law at the University of Cambridge in the 1970s. He has held significant sports governance roles including with Team New Zealand’s America’s Cup campaigns in the 2000s, the America’s Cup Race Management Board, and as deputy chair of the New Zealand Sports Tribunal. Farmer has volunteered for many community law projects, has mentored Pacific Island lawyers, and undertook public interest briefs in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court pro bono.

Chloe Smith, alumna
For services to the screen industry.

Chloe Smith is a leading film and television producer and line producer, with a 43-year career in the New Zealand screen industry.

Smith has been involved in 47 major projects, including Academy Award winning films The Piano (1993) and The Power of the Dog (2021), and internationally renowned television series including Spartacus (2010). She collaborated with American producers on Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995), helping establish world-class production and post-production facilities in New Zealand.

She has worked to promote local talent and storytelling, particularly as producer for Dark City – The Cleaner (2024) and Sione’s Wedding (2006). She helped establish the New Zealand Cinematographer’s Society Gender Diversity Programme, which has placed 29 women in paid crew roles on professional productions and created pathways for women in the industry.

She has been a member of the Screen Production and Development Association New Zealand (SPADA) and Women in Film and Television New Zealand (WIFTNZ). She has contributed to The Blue Book guidelines, a collaboration between SPADA and the Screen Industry Guild, outlining standard guidelines for screen production crews and allied crafts in New Zealand. Smith was awarded the WIFTNZ Award for Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand Screen Industry in 2006.

Colin David Mantell – staff, alumnus

For services to health education, obstetrics and gynaecology.

Emeritus Professor Colin Mantell (Ngāi Tahu) is a pioneering leader in Māori health, obstetrics and gynaecology.

Mantell (Te Kupenga Hauora Māori) has published widely and became internationally recognised for his research in foetal physiology and neonatal medicine. He was instrumental in founding and chairing the Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme at the University of Auckland from 1977 to 2005, and later Vision 20:20, an initiative aimed at ensuring that 10 percent of New Zealand’s health professionals were Māori or Pacific by 2020. Vision 20:20 has supported an increase of Māori and Pacific health professionals to a combined 13.8 percent by 2024.

As Professor of Māori Health at University of Auckland, he helped establish Hikitia Te Ora – Certificate in Health Sciences, a foundation year to support Māori and Pacific students entering Health sciences, and shaped the curriculum to create an environment where Māori and Pacific could thrive in the Health workforce.

Over 60 years, he has directly contributed to a significant increase in Māori and Pacific doctors, and helped reduce health inequities by embedding cultural safety, support systems, and indigenous-led pathways into medical education. As a founding Board member of Turuki Health Care since 2000, Dr Mantell’s leadership has been key in shaping healthcare delivery centred in Te Ao Māori, with a strong focus on whānau-centred care.

Evan Welch Davies – alumnus
For services to business and governance.

Evan Davies has contributed to multiple businesses, government and not-for-profit organisations locally and internationally.

Davies was the inaugural chief executive of SkyCity Entertainment Group from 1996 to 2007 and oversaw the establishment of one of New Zealand’s most iconic structures, Auckland’s Sky Tower. He was responsible for conceiving, licensing, the building, opening and operations of SkyCity in Auckland.

He was recognised by the Deloitte Top 200 awards as the 2000 Chief Executive of the Year and led SkyCity to win Company of the Year in 2001.

Davies has been a trustee with the Melanesian Mission Trust Board since 1998 and a trustee with the Anglican Trust for Women and Children since 2005. He has been a director of the Auckland City Mission since 2017 and has chaired the finance committee of the Auckland Arts Festival since 2021. He has held several central and local government appointments, including chair of the Health Capital Investment Committee, chair of the Hospital Redevelopment Partnership Group Canterbury, deputy chair of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and board member of Waterfront Auckland.

Davies is currently the group chief executive of Todd Corporation.
 

Professor Richard George Douglas (MNZM) – staff, alumnus
For services to rhinology.

Professor Richard Douglas is an internationally recognised rhinologist, a subspecialist ear nose and throat surgeon and a leading academic.

Douglas was head of department of surgery at the University of Auckland from 2015 to 2021. He established a thriving research programme in rhinology and skull-base surgery that has seen him supervise numerous doctoral candidates, both scientists and clinicians, and has contributed to New Zealand’s reputation globally in academic surgery.

He currently leads an active research group and directs a clinical fellowship programme in rhinology at Auckland City Hospital. His research, particularly on bacteria and mucosal immunity in chronic rhinosinusitis, has produced more than 200 academic publications. As a clinician, he delivers advanced sinus and skull-base surgery at Auckland City and Gillies Hospitals.

He is a former president of the Australia and New Zealand Rhinologic Society and is active with the American Rhinologic Society and Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. Douglas founded the Tarāpunga Charitable Trust, through which he donated a mobile ENT van to provide outreach care across Northland, improving healthcare access for remote communities in Te Tai Tokerau.

Dr Lesley Ansell, staff
For services to midwifery.

Dr Lesley Ansell has had a career in midwifery, initially in the United Kingdom and since 1992 in South and Central Auckland.

While working in Middlemore Hospital, Ansell observed a high rate of the childbirth emergency known as ‘shoulder dystocia’, involving the entrapment of the baby’s shoulders during birth which can lead to injury or death of the baby. She questioned the complicated, established manoeuvres in practice at the time and advocated an easier solution. The evaluative work and quantitative research that followed led to the technique ‘axillary traction’ becoming the basis of her master’s degree, demonstrating successful resolution of the problem. The Auckland midwifery and obstetric community quickly adopted this technique, which was easier to remember and more successful in resolving the problem.

She continued to evaluate the success of the manoeuvre using quantitative research methods, with the results being published in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 2019 and subsequently in her doctoral thesis.

Her work has been included in the development of New Zealand hospital guidelines, the Pacific Emergency Maternal and Neonatal Training Manual and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology guideline. Dr Ansell’s expertise in the field is widely recognised and included in multiprofessional training in hospitals and midwifery education throughout New Zealand.

Dr Shuchi Kothari, staff
For services to the screen industry.

Dr Shuchi Kothari is Associate Professor in Screen Production (Faculty of Arts and Education), who has advocated for Pan-Asian filmmakers in New Zealand for more than 20 years.

Kothari co-wrote and co-produced the feature film Apron Strings (2008), which was invited to 15 international film festivals. She co-produced NETPAC winning film Kāinga (2022), and co-created A Thousand Apologies (2008), New Zealand’s first Asian prime-time sketch comedy show.

She was a juror for the New Zealand Screen Awards and the Show Me Shorts International Film Festival, and has been an industry assessor for the New Zealand Film Commission since 2009.

In 2018 she co-founded the Pan-Asian Screen Collective (PASC), advocating for equitable representation of Asian screen practitioners in New Zealand. She was creator and convenor for the ‘Episode One Web Series Pilot Programme’, which enabled participants to develop and make a pilot episode. She has designed and run workshops for PASC, the Pasifika Screen Artists Guild, and delivered talks at Ngā Aho Whakaari (the Indigenous Screen Guild).

Her work as a filmmaker, mentor and advocate was recognised by Women in Film and Television New Zealand’s ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Screen Industry’ award in 2022. In 2021, as co-principal investigator, Kothari received a Marsden Fund Standard Grant to research the first history of Asian New Zealand screen production.

Dr Alison Claire Talmage – staff, alumni
For services to music therapy and seniors.

Dr Alison Talmage (Centre for Brain Research) has transformed the landscape of music therapy for seniors and people with neurological conditions in New Zealand.

Talmage is a registered music therapist, educator, and academic. She cofounded the CeleBRation Choir in 2009 at the Centre for Brain Research. The Choir is a pioneering initiative that uses singing to restore communication, confidence, and well-being for people living with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, or dementia. She has led the choir since establishment and under her leadership it has become an exemplar for therapeutic choirs in New Zealand, inspiring similar programmes across the country.

In 2017 she founded a further community music therapy choir Sing Up Rodney. She has produced practical guidelines for clinical approaches to music therapy choirs. In 2024 she published The VOCCAL Handbook – a Toolkit for Neuro Choirs offering a framework and resources to support practitioners to establish and manage neurological choirs.

Her research continues to contribute to international understanding of music therapy and ageing. She was chair from 2014 to 2016 and is a current board member of Music Therapy New Zealand. She is an advocate for equitable access to music therapy, working to overcome financial and geographic barriers, particularly in rural areas. Talmage’s work was recognised with a 2024 New Zealand Association of Gerontology Early Career Award.

Talmage recently graduated with her PhD. Read the story here.