Top economics students awarded prizes by Aotearoa's leading economic research institute

Nov 1, 2021

Motu Research, Aotearoa New Zealand’s top-ranked economic research institute, has just handed out its annual prizes and scholarships to three budding young economists set to make a difference for Aotearoa.

Motu Research helps Kiwi decision makers grapple with complex social and environmental issues with its world class economic and public policy research.

Motu Research also works hard to build capacity in young Kiwi economists. We hand out scholarships and prizes annually to improve the quality of economic research in Aotearoa.

Āheitanga Thesis Scholarship 

Every year, Motu Research offers scholarships to university students of Māori descent who are working on (or are planning to work on) an Honours, Masters or PhD thesis in economics, or some other social science that uses a quantitative methodology.

Taylor Winter (Ngāi Tahu) is one winner, a PhD Candidate at the School of Psychology at the Victoria University of Wellington. Taylor has a broad interest in wellbeing. He will use the scholarship to investigate how income may lead to lower levels of happiness than it has historically.

Rangimaria Aperahama also won this year’s scholarship. She is completing a BA Honours in Economics through Massey University. She will use the scholarship money next year to begin a PhD expand on her current research looking at distribution in the Māori Economy.

Sir Frank Holmes Prize

Justine Lee of the University of Canterbury has won this year's Sir Frank Holmes prize. The prize is awarded annually to the top economics undergraduate student in New Zealand, who is moving on to honours or masters level studies in economics.

Justine completed a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Economics and Psychology. She is interested in using economics as a tool for addressing important environmental and human health issues. She’s interested in investigating how psychology and economics can be used together to improve human well-being. Justine will use the prize money to help fund her study next year, an Honours degree in economics in either Canterbury or Auckland.

For more information:

Emma Williams

Motu Research Communications

Ph 021 837 966