The 7-member Arts Research Awards selection panel drawn from across the faculty was unanimous in the following recommendations to the Executive Dean:
Associate Professor Justin DeHart (Music) was awarded the Faculty of Arts Research Award in Humanities, Social Sciences or Creative Arts for 2023. The selection panel drawn from across the faculty was unanimous in their decision and the citation reads: 2023 Arts Faculty research Award; Associate Professor Justin DeHart. Three times Grammy nominee, Associate Professor Justin DeHart is the first and only full-time university professor in percussion in Aotearoa, New Zealand. His exceptional and innovation contribution to musical arts has forged an outstanding body of new musical works for percussion and an extensive international and national network of musicians and composers, through commissioning new works, performances, and award-winning recordings while also building the capacity of emerging musicians nationally, and employment opportunities. DeHart’s outstanding approach to innovation is demonstrated in his ongoing experimentation in music to find new techniques with instruments that have expanded musical possibilities and resulted in a body of highly acclaimed works distributed as albums, scores, writing, live performances and video recordings. In 2021, his album Landfall: NZ Percussion Volume 1 was a finalist for Te Kaipuoro Inamata Toa | Best Classical Artist Aotearoa Music, a highly unusual nomination in a field traditional dominated by string and piano and he is regularly invited to perform internationally. His service to his discipline is evidenced in time dedicated to workshops, coaching, masterclasses, seminars, and writing and his current role as president of the Percussive Arts Society NZ. https://researchprofile.canterbury.ac.nz/Researcher.aspx?Researcherid=5103757
Dr Madi Williams (Aotahi) has won the Kairangahau Māori Research Faculty Award for 2023.
As an early career scholar Dr Madi Williams has already demonstrated the ability to shift boundaries and change directions of inquiry. Her 2021 monograph: Polynesia, 900-1600. Past Imperfect published by Arc Humanities offers a novel examination of the history of Aotearoa|New Zealand, Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) and Rapa Nui (Easter Island) placing this history of Aotearoa in its Pacific context and providing scholarly resistance to a traditional setting of European Medieval studies. This innovative approach to research spans Dr Williams’ early career from her doctorate focusing on Ngāti Kuia histories, to her recent successful Marsden bid to work with Dr Kirsty Dunn to produce the first biography of taniwha. https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/arts/contact-us/people/madison-williams.html
Dr Jonathan Dunn (Linguistics) has been awarded the Faculty of Arts Early Career Research Award in Humanities, Social Sciences or Creative Arts for 2023.
Dr Johnathan Dunn’s innovative and outstanding approach to text-based linguistic analyses is reflected in his 2022 monograph Natural Language Processing for Corpus Linguistics. Elements in Corpus Linguistics, published by Cambridge University Press. The monograph was recognised by his peers and reviewers for outstanding impact, as a ‘a valuable addition to the essential reading list of corpus linguistics research and natural language engineering’. Dunn’s work has shown exceptional merit in his synthesis of computational linguistics using new technologies while integrating existing knowledge created by traditional linguistic analysis. The Early Career Research Award in Humanities, Social Sciences or Creative Arts recognises the achievements of scholars within 10 years of completing their highest research qualification, for a single paper, book or creative project arising out of work carried out largely while in UC. https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/nzilbb/contact-us/people/jonathan-dunn.html
Highly Commended Early Career Research Awards for 2023: Dr Shinya Uekusa (Sociology) https://researchprofile.canterbury.ac.nz/Researcher.aspx?Researcherid=5433592
and Dr Cindy Zeiher (Human Services) https://researchprofile.canterbury.ac.nz/Researcher.aspx?Researcherid=4135433
