Business

Project 

Join a summer research project focused on climate change, business sustainability, and the circular economy. You will be guided through the initial steps of a systematic literature review and data preparation. You will compile data from diverse sources, assess its quality against certain criteria, and synthesize findings to understand how businesses adapt to climate impacts.

The role

This project offers experience in literature review methods and data analysis, guided by an experienced researcher. The project is ideal for students eager to develop research skills and contribute to solutions for climate resilience and sustainable business practices. Candidates that suit this role well are passionate about sustainability, climate policy, and international business.

Skills gained

This project provides the scholarship recipient with hands-on experience in literature review techniques and data analysis, under the mentorship of a senior researcher. It is perfect for students keen on honing their research skills and contributing to climate resilience and sustainable business practices. More broadly, the scholarship recipient will have the opportunity to pursue their passion for sustainability, climate policy, and international business.

Project 

Join a summer research project focused on climate change, business sustainability, and the circular economy.

The role
This project provides the scholarship recipient with hands-on experience in literature review techniques and data analysis, under the mentorship of a senior researcher. It is perfect for students keen on honing their research skills and contributing to climate resilience and sustainable business practices. More broadly, the scholarship recipient will have the opportunity to pursue their passion for sustainability, climate policy, and international business.

You will be guided through the initial steps of a systematic literature review and data preparation. You will compile data from diverse sources, assess its quality against certain criteria, and synthesize findings to understand how businesses adapt to climate impacts.

Skills gained

This project offers experience in literature review methods and data analysis, guided by an experienced researcher.

Ideal student

The project is ideal for students eager to develop research skills and contribute to solutions for climate resilience and sustainable business practices. Candidates that suit this role well are passionate about sustainability, climate policy, and international business.

Project 

Policies triggered by the RBNZ ACT 1989 induced a swift and substantial inflation reduction. However, the unemployment rate soared from 4% to over 11% immediately afterward. This was in line with the original Phillips curve, which did not consider inflation expectations. Our research applies the standard macroeconomic model of aggregate demand and aggregate supply, incorporating the expectation-augmented Phillips curve.

The aims

We aim to answer two key questions: Did a flawed economic theory or its misapplication lead to this catastrophic macroeconomic outcome? What could have been a more prudent macroeconomic policy to achieve a similar decrease in the inflation rate without a significant increase in the unemployment rate?

The student will be trained in the theoretical modelling of inflation in a general equilibrium setup and will use this knowledge to organise relevant data and conduct econometric tests of competing hypotheses, aligning with alternative specifications of the theoretical model to address these questions.

The role and skills gained
The student will primarily work as a research assistant and commit to accept a contract of no withdrawal after accepting the offer. The summer work should enhance their ability to do independent research on original topics of importance and international relevance. Also, this project should develop the necessary research skills to bring opportunities for research-related jobs.

In the past, a summer research assistant, Ben Pearman, received internships with New Zealand’s most prestigious research institute MOTU, immediately after finishing his summer work. Some others are now well-established researchers in academic institutions, such as Andrew Binning at the New Zealand Treasury, Christina Leung at the NZIER, and Xueli Tang at Deakin University. Xueli displays an outstanding record with several research publications in top journals.

Project 

Rising house prices benefit existing homeowners in New Zealand. Yet, they can also contribute to psychological distress among younger people struggling to buy or rent their homes. As homeownership becomes increasingly out of reach, understanding how housing affordability stress affects the mental health of young adults is essential for policymakers.

Aims

Existing studies have often equated affordability with house price fluctuations alone, failing to capture how young people experience these challenges. To fill this gap, this study investigates the link between housing affordability and mental distress in New Zealand’s young adult population. It employs online surveys targeting young adults, exploring their homeownership aspirations, affordability stress, and reliance on parental financial support, among other factors. By examining these dynamics during the current house price falling period, the study aims to identify how shifts in the housing market impact young people’s psychological well-being.

The role
The student’s role in this project includes conducting a literature review to frame the research on housing affordability and mental health, as well as assisting in preparing and testing the online survey in pilot studies.

Skills gained

This involvement will equip the student with practical experience in designing, conducting, and possibly analysing survey-based research, providing them with transferable skills for future research projects or any type of employment that requires collecting or analysing data.

Project 

How are healthcare professionals adapting to new digital realities where AI tools work alongside traditional systems? This project explores the concept of “fluid agency”—how responsibility and control shift between humans and digital systems—in modern healthcare settings.

The role

As part of a larger research programme, this summer project will conduct a systematic literature review to map current knowledge on how AI and traditional technologies co-exist and impact clinical workflows.

The student will be trained in systematic review methods and work closely with the supervisor to develop search strategies, screen studies, and syntheses of key findings across fields such as health informatics, human-computer interaction, and organisational theory.

Outcome

The outcome will be a scholarly overview of integration challenges and digital-human configurations, laying the foundation for future empirical work.

Ideal student

This is ideal for students interested in AI in healthcare, digital transformation, or organisational behaviour—no technical background required.

Student’s role and skills gained
The student will be involved in every step of the review process—from search strategy design to thematic coding and synthesis. The student will develop skills in systematic review methodology, critical reading, academic writing, and conceptual analysis. The student will gain insight into cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of health, technology, and organisational studies.

This project is excellent preparation for students considering postgraduate research in digital health, information systems, or human-technology interaction.

Project 

Imagine stepping directly into your data, interacting with it intuitively, and having an intelligent AI companion guide your discoveries. Immersive Analytics (IA) already blends data visualization, virtual and mixed reality (VR/XR), and human-computer interaction to revolutionize how we understand complex information.

This project pioneers the next leap: exploring how cutting-edge AI, including Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (Agentic RAG), can forge intelligent and adaptive immersive environments.

The role

You will investigate how AI can enable more natural data conversations and system interactions, while also delivering domain-specific insights to significantly enhance data-driven decision-making. This project is an invitation to dive into the future of data analysis, gain hands-on experience with building VR/XR and AI applications, and help shape how humans and AI can trustworthily collaborate in immersive worlds, contributing to grow the power of IA.

Student’s role 
The student will play an integral role in this research, actively contributing to the implementation of key system components and engaging directly in the DSR process for a comprehensive research experience. Commensurate with their existing experience and evolving interests, the student will have opportunities to contribute to the development of the intuitive AI chat interface and/or the sophisticated AI engine (LLM fine-tuning, RAG system development, and integration of agentic capabilities).

Skills gained

The student will develop skills in research methodology, gaining hands-on experience working on a complex, interdisciplinary problem at the intersection of AI and IA. They will also gain valuable insights into the emerging fields of trustworthy AI, explainable AI, and human-AI collaboration, significantly enhancing their profile for future academic or industry positions in these high-demand areas.

Ideal student

Students interested in Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, Immersive Analytics, data visualization, or the future of collaborative computing will find rich ground here to explore both theory and practice.

Project 

What happens when the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) speaks and who is paying attention? This project explores how different audiences, including financial markets and households, respond to various forms of RBNZ communication, such as Monetary Policy Statements, Monetary Policy Reviews, speeches, and press releases.

We examine whether some formats are more effective than others, and whether it’s the content, tone, or timing that drives responses, from shifts in bond yields and exchange rates to changes in consumer sentiment or inflation expectations.

The project also considers how media coverage might amplify, filter, or distort the RBNZ’s message, and whether this influences how different groups interpret policy signals.

By integrating financial market data, text analysis, and media content, the project investigates how monetary policy communication shapes expectations and behaviour, even in the absence of a change in the official cash rate.

Student’s role and skills gained
The student will be involved in all stages of the research, from gathering data to running basic statistical and textual analysis, to interpreting and presenting results. This project will give the student practical skills in empirical research, experience working with real-world financial and policy data, and exposure to core issues in macroeconomics and central bank communication.

Ideal student

It will be particularly valuable for students considering careers or postgraduate study in economics, finance, or public policy.

Project 

Why are firms increasingly turning to the past as a strategy for navigating the future? From IBM returning to human-centered design through its Enterprise Design Thinking initiative; to Marriott reviving the “golden age” of hospitality through personalized service; and to Nintendo launching mini classic consoles, nostalgia is becoming a powerful tool in international business.

We will investigate an emerging concept known as retro-agency, which explains how multinational enterprises strategically revive past practices, identities, or narratives to navigate institutional complexity, restore legitimacy, and reengage stakeholders.

Retro-agency is a form of global strategy that combines cultural resonance with institutional adaptation. It also connects with the idea of retrotopia—a longing for the perceived comfort and stability of the past amid today’s challenges.

Ideal student

The project involves a systematic literature review tracing how retro-agency has developed in international business research. It is ideal for students interested in global strategy, institutional theory, and organizational change.

Student’s role
The student will serve as a research assistant, supporting literature searches, article screening, data extraction, and coding. I will provide training in literature review methods and introduce relevant tools such as bibliometrix and VOSviewer.

Skills gained

This project provides a strong foundation for students intending to pursue Honours or research-based postgraduate study. It will help them develop core academic skills, including synthesizing literature, identifying conceptual gaps, and generating theoretical insights.

The student will also gain experience linking theory with practice, making the research process both intellectually stimulating and practically valuable.

Project 

Today, many organizations have already implemented AI tools in various business areas or are experimenting with AI tools (including GenAI, such as Copilot). While organizations developing AI tools for business purposes often highlight benefits such as increased productivity and efficiencies (in particular in tasks that are less knowledge-intensive), there is a potential to use advanced AI tools for purposes that typically require high levels of expertise and, therefore, usually relying on knowledge-skilled individuals with extensive experience (which generally are highly paid experts offering advanced and specialized knowledge). Yet AI tools do not replace humans in such jobs but provide an opportunity to enhance human expertise through augmentation.

Aims

This project aims to investigate and identify different types of AI-human collaboration, mapping different interdependencies between humans and AI in completing knowledge-intensive tasks. It will also examine how such interdependencies change over time as AI tools are adopted/embedded in a particular business process or business function.

Skills gained
This project will provide students with research training and an opportunity to gain knowledge on the most recent and fast-developing domain – human-AI collaboration.

Project 

The project proposes a novel approach for understanding and predicting tail risk in asset markets by analysing evolving narratives in business news. Integrating Extreme Value Theory and Natural Language Processing, the study aims to identify how changing narratives—extracted from The Wall Street Journal using topic modeling techniques—relate to rare but significant asset price movements.

This narrative-driven framework addresses the limitations of traditional macroeconomic indicators by providing high-frequency, forward-looking insights into tail risk. The research has implications for asset pricing, risk management, and economic policy, as it enhances our ability to predict and interpret extreme risk events.

Student’s role
The research assistant will handle data collection of CRSP stock returns, implement NLP preprocessing techniques, and assist in coding the Hill estimator for tail risk estimation.

Skills gained

This project, therefore, offers training at the intersection of finance, data science, and computational methods. The skillsets developed through participation in this project are highly sought after in both academia and industry.

Project 

This project explores the growing expectation that company directors consider environmental issues, like climate change, when making business decisions. It is an issue that goes to the heart of corporate law and governance, raising questions about the purpose of companies and the role of boards of directors in promoting environmental responsibility.

The focus

This project explores Aotearoa New Zealand’s company law and policy environment. In particular, it explores the duties of directors asking questions such as how these duties are interpretated and where the development of the law might be heading. Students interested in commercial law, sustainability, and corporate responsibility are encouraged to apply.

Student’s role
The student will assist by identifying relevant literature, summarising key sources, checking footnotes and citations, and helping format the final manuscript according to the publisher’s requirements.

Skills gained

The student will gain practical experience in academic legal research and publication. The student will also deepen their understanding of company law and governance in the context of environmental sustainability. Further, through this work they will develop transferrable skills in critical analysis and written expression.

Project 

Join an international research team exploring how social work academics are contributing to the growing field of social entrepreneurship! This project builds on a completed bibliometric analysis of global research at the intersection of social work and entrepreneurship.

The role

As a summer scholar, you will contribute to the next phase: a systematic literature review that analyses how entrepreneurship is being defined, applied, and adapted within social work scholarship. This project aims to uncover whether a distinct “social work entrepreneurship” approach is emerging and what it might look like.

Ideal student

This project is ideal for students curious about interdisciplinary research, social entrepreneurship, or academic publishing. You’ll be working with researchers from the University of Auckland, Rhode Island College, and University of Virginia.

Student’s role 
The student’s role will include reviewing and coding academic articles, assisting with the development of inclusion/exclusion criteria, organizing and synthesizing data, and contributing to team discussions about emerging themes.

Skills gained

The student will gain training in qualitative coding and systematic review methods, with opportunities to participate in collaborative analysis sessions alongside the international research team. Depending on interest and performance, the student may also contribute to writing and be acknowledged as a co-author on future publications or presentations.

Project 

Are big banks truly safer — or just too big to fail? This project investigates why the largest banks often benefit from lower funding costs (cost of capital). Is this due to scale efficiencies, stronger governance, their market power, or because markets expect government bailouts in times of crisis?

We explore this long-standing “size anomaly” by asking whether its causes have shifted in response to major events like the GFC, the COVID pandemic, and post-crisis regulations such as the Dodd-Frank Act.

The role

The student will help build a comprehensive dataset by using AI tools to extract financial figures from bank financial statements stored in PDF format, focusing on key metrics across time which are not available in our databases.

This problem arises because we have no access to Bank Focus data. There may also be a need for student to assist with textual analysis of bank and media related statements. This work will allow us to test whether implicit subsidies for large banks have declined — or persisted — after these shocks, assess the role of bank governance, and the level of competition in the industry.

Skills gained

The sudent will gain valuable experience with AI and big data collection for those interested in finance, economics, or data science. This role will help the student develop practical experience in AI applications for finance, improve their coding skills, and deepen their understanding of financial statements in a real-world context.

The student will focus on collecting and processing bank balance sheets available in PDF format, particularly for years surrounding major financial events such as the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Their primary task will be to use AI tools (e.g., PDF parsers, optical character recognition, and text-mining techniques in Python) to extract key numerical values from these documents based on specified keywords (e.g., “Total Assets,” “Tier 1 Capital,” “Deposits”). The extracted data will be saved in structured formats such as Excel or CSV files.

Expectations

While the supervisor will provide guidance and help troubleshoot code issues, the student is expected to independently identify, test, and implement appropriate open-source tools and code libraries for financial text data extraction.

Project 

How can we harness the power of the human mind to make green offices even greener? This cutting-edge summer research project explores neurocognitive interventions – subtle techniques influencing thoughts and behaviors – to boost energy savings in sustainable office buildings without compromising occupant comfort.

We will investigate how simple "nudges," like tailored feedback or environmental cues, can encourage energy-conscious actions among building users. You will help uncover practical, brain-based strategies to close the gap between a building's designed efficiency and how people use energy within it.

This is a unique opportunity to dive into the intersection of behavioral science, property management, and sustainability, contributing directly to real-world solutions for greener workplaces. Join us to explore the fascinating link between the brain and building performance!

Student's role
The student will play a vital hands-on role in this project. Student tasks include conducting literature searches, helping to organize and manage collected data (survey responses), and preliminary analysis (using software like Excel and SPSS) under supervision.

Skills gained

This role offers immense value, as the student will gain practical research experience in the rapidly growing fields of sustainable property and behavioral science; develop critical skills in data collection, analysis, and academic writing; deepen their understanding of human-building interaction; and contribute directly to impactful research with real-world applications in sustainability.

Project 

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping economies worldwide, but its development has a long and traceable history. Much of this history is captured in patent applications, which serve as a rich source of information on technological progress.

This project uses comprehensive patent data to track the evolution of AI technologies over time. By identifying key trends and breakthroughs, we aim to understand how AI reached its current state and how this trajectory connects to broader financial and economic patterns. The project offers hands-on experience with real-world data and the opportunity to contribute to research at the intersection of innovation, economics, finance, and technology.

Student’s role 
Students will gain hands-on experience with advanced NLP techniques and deepen their understanding of AI-related topics, significantly enhancing their research skills and career prospects. In addition, students will receive comprehensive guidance and support throughout the project to ensure meaningful learning and development.

Project 

Cultural heritage embodies the legacy of human civilisations, shaping our identities as nations, communities, families, and individuals. While humans have preserved this heritage for centuries, artificial intelligence (AI) now offers transformative opportunities to reveal new dimensions and enrich our collective narratives.

This project explores how human expertise and artificial intelligence technology (AI) can collaboratively advance the curation and interpretation of digital cultural heritage, focusing on enhancing accessibility, inclusivity, and engagement.

The research will explore new workflows for identifying, mapping, and disseminating heritage information with the help of interactive AI-driven curatorial tools. We will also investigate the legal and ethical considerations when integrating AI into cultural heritage interpretation.

Student’s role 
The student research assistant will play an integral role in supporting the project across its phases. They will assist in conducting literature reviews and conducting a survey of cultural heritage cases using AI. They will also contribute to data analysis through a thematic analysis.

Skills gained

The role offers a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge issues at the intersection of AI, culture, and inclusivity while gaining experience in qualitative research, community engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Ideal student

This position is ideal for students interested in inclusive technology design and socio-technical systems.

Project 

How do students from different backgrounds experience the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT in their university learning? This project explores how Generative AI impacts student learning and assessment at the University of Auckland, with a focus on fairness, access, and support.

Over the summer, you’ll help us explore how students use these tools, what challenges they face, and how universities can create more inclusive strategies for AI integration. This project is a great opportunity to contribute to high-impact research while gaining experience in digital equity, and qualitative research. If you're interested in AI, education, or research that makes a difference, this is for you.

Student’s role
The student will work alongside the researcher, contributing to early-stage qualitative research and literature synthesis. They will support the design and refinement of research tools (e.g. interview guides); help transcribe and thematically code qualitative data collected during semester 2 2025; and conduct structured reviews of relevant research.

Skills gained

This hands-on involvement will offer the student training in qualitative methods, digital equity frameworks, and academic writing, providing a strong foundation for future Honours or Masters research. Their contributions may lead to co-authorship opportunities for a conference paper or internal university presentation.

Project 

Experience the real-world magic of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé but economically! This project investigates how major music tours impact local U.S. state economies and stock markets. Using data analytics, we’ll uncover how star-studded concerts influence state economies, consumption, and even stock prices of brands endorsed by these artists.

If you’re intrigued by pop culture, economics, finance, data science and digital storytelling, join us to explore how hit songs translate into economic hits. Our research will help policymakers and companies make strategic decisions about event planning and endorsements.

Student’s role
The student will actively participate in data collection, preliminary exploratory data analysis (EDA), and interpretation of these preliminary results. They will use real-world data sources such as personal and household surveys, Compustat, and CRSP datasets from WRDS. They might need to web scrape for concert related sentiment data on google trends, reddit etc.

Skills gained

The student would use python, R or STATA and develop data science skills on EDA, market research, sentiment analysis, and visualisations crucial for employability in the age of Generative AI. This project will include enhancing soft skills on oral and written communications, resourcefulness and critical thinking for professional development. Hands-on experience on this project will enhance student’s data analytical capabilities, understanding of economic impacts, and exposure to event-driven finance, preparing them for future roles in economics, finance, marketing research or data analytics.

Project 

Are you curious why some people are exceptionally good at interacting with people from different cultures and how this skill helps them excel in the workplace?

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the ability to effectively interact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. It's a skill that can build stronger relationships and leads to more successful outcomes in various settings.

In this project, you will learn all about cultural intelligence. In particular, we look at the importance of CQ in the healthcare sector. CQ is an essential skill for healthcare workers. It enables them to effectively interact with patients from diverse cultural backgrounds. But in the media, we often read about cultural misunderstandings in healthcare that lead to miscommunication and even reduced quality of care.

In this project, you'll explore what makes some healthcare workers great at bridging cultural differences and how their high CQ makes them successful in their daily work.

Skills gained
This project gives you the opportunity to develop your research skills. The main skill you develop in this project is literature review: you will learn how to select relevant sources, how to critically evaluate them, and how to summarize information to support research objectives. You will also learn how to write in an academic way. Moreover, by participating in this project, you might even improve your own cultural intelligence!

Project 

Rivers are the lifeblood of our landscapes; they carry stories of ecology, heritage and community. This design science research project will create an emotionally expressive AI voice persona artefact that lets anyone have a conversation with the Waimatā River as if it were a living entity.

The voice not only answers questions about water quality, biodiversity and history, but also chooses an emotional tone to match the topic. Leveraging generative AI and affective computing, we will design and develop a conversational prototype with a culturally-informed, multi-emotional text-to-speech voice.

Specifically the system will detect user emotion from speech input; map each detected emotion (e.g., calm, concern, encouragement or delight) to tailored response strategies; retrieve relevant ecological facts and cultural narratives through a document-search pipeline; generate context-rich replies via a large language model prompted with both content and emotional direction; and synthesise the river’s responses using advanced text-to-speech with fine-grained controls.

Student’s role 
While the student may participate in all stages of the research project, the key role is to assist in the design and development of the prototype. The student will gain hands-on experience working with speech recognition, emotion classification and voice synthesis tools, while also contributing to the design and evaluation of a novel AI system. This project offers a strong foundation for further postgraduate research and experience in cutting-edge areas like generative AI and affective computing.

Project 

International joint ventures (IJVs) are a common strategy for multinational enterprises (MNEs) entering foreign markets, particularly in the manufacturing sector. These collaborations not only allow firms to share resources and risks, but they also generate spillover effects—benefits (or costs) that extend beyond the immediate partners involved.

This project explores how IJVs in manufacturing contribute to local innovation, capability development, and environmental or social improvements in host countries.

Ideal student

Students interested in international business, strategy, or sustainability will find this project valuable as it delves into the real-world impact of cross-border collaborations. The work will involve gathering real case materials and identifying patterns that help explain when and how these spillovers occur.

Student’s role 
Students will play an important role in data collection and organization. Their tasks will include:

1) Identifying IJV cases in the manufacturing sector

2) Downloading and organizing relevant news articles and company announcements

3) Compiling and categorizing case materials for further analysis.

Skills gained

This experience will help students develop skills in data sourcing, case study research, and international business analysis, making it a valuable stepping stone for those interested in postgraduate research or careers in global strategy and development.

Project 

How does immigration shape New Zealand’s housing market? New Zealand made global headlines in 2018 by tightening the Overseas Investment Act, banning most non-residents from purchasing existing homes. The goal was to ease pressure on housing affordability and keep Kiwi homes for Kiwi buyers. But did it work—and what role does immigration really play in rising rents?

The role

This project examines how the skill composition of migrants affects the rental market, using data from three waves of the New Zealand Census and a method called instrumental variable regression to identify causal impacts. Students will help trace immigration trends, clean and prepare data, and explore how different migrant groups influence rents across neighbourhoods.

This is a valuable opportunity to engage in timely, policy-relevant research. If you are interested in housing, migration, or data analysis, this project offers hands-on experience and insight into one of New Zealand’s most urgent challenges.

Student’s role 
The student will undertake the following tasks as part of the research team:

• Compile historical New Zealand Census data to track immigration trends over time, including digitising printed records into spreadsheet format.
• Map the spatial distribution of migrant populations across regions, identifying areas with significant demographic change.
• Conduct a literature review on the relationship between immigration and housing markets, with a focus on rental dynamics.
• Research immigration policy developments in New Zealand from the 1960s to the present.
• Compare key features of immigration policy across Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Canada to contextualise New Zealand’s approach.

Skills gained

Through these tasks, the student will build skills in academic research, policy analysis, and basic data processing. They will gain valuable exposure to housing and migration policy debates, enhancing their readiness for postgraduate study or careers in research, urban policy, or government.