Vice-Chancellor's Awards Recognise Staff Excellence Across 12 Categories
Annual ceremony celebrates outstanding contributions to teaching, research, and university community.
Thirty-two staff members and teams were recognised at the 2026 Vice-Chancellor's Awards ceremony held on Monday in the Great Hall, celebrating excellence in teaching, research impact, community engagement, and professional services.
Among the recipients was Associate Professor Hana Williams, honoured for her pioneering integration of te reo Māori across the Environmental Science curriculum, and the Student Wellbeing and Equity team, recognised for developing an award-winning early-intervention support model that has since been adopted by three other New Zealand universities.
"These awards reflect the values that define Auckland Academy — manaakitanga, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to our students," said Vice-Chancellor Professor James Mitchell.
Other notable winners included the Library Digital Innovations team for their open-access research repository, and Dr. Raj Patel from the School of Engineering for his community outreach programme bringing STEM workshops to secondary schools across South Auckland.
