Rachel’s inaugural lecture offers insights from her three-decade academic journey as a feminist social scientist. She began her career in India, working on issues related to women, gender and global development. As she built her life in New Zealand, her research has broadly focused on the experiences and needs of the Asian and ethnic migrant communities. Her work spans a range of areas including family and sexual violence, abortion, racism and wellbeing, women’s political representation and multicultural policy.
In this talk, she reflects on themes of migrations and identity in her work as well as the pivotal moments, ideas, and people that have influenced her scholarship – and why feminist research is relevant now more than ever.
Rachel Simon-Kumar holds an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India and a PHD from Waikato University, New Zealand. She has worked in the New Zealand public sector and held academic positions at Waikato University and Victoria University before joining the School of Population Health. She is the co-Director of CAHRE (Centre for Asian and Ethnic Minority Health Research and Evaluation), a past co-editor for the Women’s Studies Journal, current Associate Editor at Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, and a member of several government and community advisory groups. In 2022, she was awarded the New Zealand Fulbright Scholar Award and in 2024 was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for her contributions to women’s studies, health research, and ethnic communities.
Drinks and canapés will be served in the atrium at the conclusion of the lecture. This is a private event for University of Auckland staff members and invited guests of Professor Simon-Kumar.
