Faculty of Arts

I am interested in how information-rich computational systems can better support human discovery and learning, particularly through tools that enable more interpretable and collaborative forms of understanding and communication. Focus areas include:

• Intelligent systems for environmental and social challenges
• GIScience and spatial data science
• Representation across machine learning models, natural language, and domain-specific data
• Dynamic and automated scientific workflow systems
• Decentralized knowledge systems

Kia ora! My name is Ellie - I love pushing the boundaries of interactive technology. I enjoy working on storytelling projects with a central identity/kaupapa of curiosity, knowledge and play, with particular interest in cinematic AR/VR, games, physical and/or digital interactive exhibitions and virtual film production.

My professional background is within film and television, with a special focus on factual/educational media. My academic interests are within the development of 360-degree cinematic virtual reality and non linear storytelling experiences, with my recent research being on interactive portals. In particular, my focus is on 360-degree scene transitions utilising cutting edge, novel techniques for enhancing narrative and spatial coherency in VR spaces.

I teach literary studies (especially Shakespeare) and (at graduate level) creative writing.

My research involves analysis of the ways in which the natural world is represented in culture and literature.  My scholarly books include Disturbing Nature in Narrative Literature (Routledge 2025), Sheep (Reaktion 2016), A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in our Culture, History and Everyday Life (co-authored with Annie Potts and Deidre Brown, Auckland University Press 2013), What Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity (Routledge 2008), Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis (Routledge 2001), and Shakespeare's Visual Regime (Palgrave 2000).

My creative work, which includes poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, has been published in a range of journals and anthologies in Aotearoa, Australia, the UK, and the USA. I have published two collections of poetry: Sinking Lessons (Otago University Press 2020), which won the Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry in 2019, and Touch Screen (Otago University Press 2025). "Tenuous Grounds", a piece on the Canterbury earthquakes, won the 2011 Landfall Essay Prize.

Natalie is a Professor in the Faculty of Law | Te Kaupeka Ture at the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha.

Natalie's research and teaching interests are in the areas of international human rights, disaster law, refugee law and Pacific legal studies - all broadly under the public law umbrella. The first part of Natalie's career was spent in the New Zealand public service including at the Crown Law Office, the Cabinet Office (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) and the Law Commission. She also worked as a VSA volunteer at the Cambodian Defenders' Project in Phnom Penh. Natalie draws on all this expertise and experience in both her research and teaching.

Natalie is passionate and experienced in all levels of university learning and teaching – from first-year to post-graduate. She is currently the Co-Director of Postgraduate Studies in Law, and a member of the Law Faculty’s Leadership Team. Natalie has a strong personal service ethic, with much of her service reflecting the themes of equity and diversity including past governance roles with Trade Aid New Zealand and Amnesty International. Natalie is currently a part-time member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal | Te Taraipiunara Mana Tangata.

Dr Kyle Barrett is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa-New Zealand, whose research sits squarely within the human and behavioural sciences, with particular strengths in sociological, cultural, and political‑economic analysis of media, class, and power. His scholarship draws on Marxist theory, critical political economy, and decolonial and neocolonial analysis to examine how cultural and media practices reproduce, negotiate, or resist capitalist and colonial social relations.

Kyle’s research has a sustained focus on class formation, cultural identity, and power, exploring how working‑class, marginalised, and peripheral communities articulate belonging, solidarity, and resistance within constrained political‑economic conditions. His work bridges cultural sociology, media studies, and social theory, contributing to human and behavioural science understandings of how ideology, labour, and cultural production shape everyday social experience.

Empirically, Kyle examines low‑budget and grassroots production cultures, popular media, and vernacular cultural practices as key sites where classed and gendered identities are made visible, contested, and lived. His research treats media not as technological artefacts, but as social spaces embedded in wider structures of inequality, enabling fine‑grained analysis of how cultural practices intersect with labour, precarity, and neocolonial power.

Kyle’s scholarship has been published in leading interdisciplinary journals and edited collections spanning cultural studies, communication, film studies, and social theory, including Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Comedy Studies, South Central Review (Johns Hopkins University Press), European Journal of Communication, New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, The Routledge Companion to Transmedia Studies, and Iperstoria: Journal of American Studies. Collectively, this body of work demonstrates sustained engagement with human behaviour, cultural meaning‑making, and the social consequences of media and economic structures.

Alongside his academic research, Kyle is an award‑winning documentary filmmaker whose creative practice informs his ethnographic sensitivity, analytical reflexivity, and engagement with lived experience. His documentaries — including Artefact 93 (2019), Glass Shards (2020), and Dear Alba: A Portrait of Craig McClure (2024) — have screened internationally and focus on working‑class lives, cultural memory, and social marginalisation. This practice strengthens his ability to conduct ethically grounded, participant‑centred qualitative research, particularly with under‑represented communities.

Kyle currently serves on the Editorial Board of New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film and the Advisory Committee for the Journal of Class & Culture. These roles reflect his standing in international scholarly networks concerned with class, culture, inequality, and the social analysis of media.

Dr. Christoph Bartneck is a professor in the department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury. He has a background in Industrial Design and Human-Computer Interaction, and his projects and studies have been published in leading journals, newspapers, and conferences. His interests lie in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction, Science and Technology Studies, and Visual Design. More specifically, he focuses on the effect of anthropomorphism on human-robot interaction. As a secondary research interest he works on projects in the area of sport technology and the critical review on scientific processes and policies. In the field of Design Christoph investigates the history of product design, tessellations and photography.

He has worked for several international organizations including the Technology Centre of Hannover (Germany), LEGO (Denmark), Eagle River Interactive (USA), Philips Research (Netherlands), ATR (Japan), and The Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands). Christoph is an associate editor of the International Journal of Social Robotics. Christoph is a member of the ACM SIGCHI, The New Zealand Association Of Scientists and Academic Freedom Aotearoa. The press regularly reports on his work, including the New Scientist, Scientific American, Popular Science, Wired, New York Times, The Times, BBC, Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Economist.

I have been working in the field of graphic design for the past 20 years, beginning in small production houses, design studios and advertising agencies and now lecturing in graphic design as part of the School of Fine Arts programme at the University of Canterbury. I also have an exhibition practice, with projects presented locally (Scape Biennial, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch Arts Festival, Jonathan Smart Gallery) and internationally (Wuhan, China; Frankfurt, Germany; Melbourne, Australia). My involvement with the art world and arts administration (The Physics Room Board member 2001–2014, Ilam Campus Gallery Chairperson 2011–2016) give me a unique perspective as an exhibiting artist, professional designer, gallery administrator and educator. Over the past ten years I have won numerous design awards both locally and internationally and have set-up a small arts publishing house (Ilam Press) with my colleague Luke Wood, which has seen us present and launch publications in Melbourne and Mexico City.

Qualification

MFA

Selected Awards

2019 MAPDA (Museums Australia Publication Design Awards ) Best in Show Us v Them – Tony de Lautour Christchurch Art Gallery

2018 PANZ (Publishers Association of New Zealand) Best Book, Best Illustrated Book, Best Cover and People’s Choice Award for New China Eyewitness Canterbury University Press

2018 BEST Awards (Designers Institute New Zealand) Gold Pin for It’s A world Full of Cover Versions Ilam Press

2016 PANZ (Publishers Association of New Zealand) Best Cover Design 101 Works of Art Christchurch Art Gallery

2016 BEST Awards (Designers Institute New Zealand) Finalist Editorial and Books Occasional Rain Ilam Press

2016 BEST Awards Finalist Editorial and Books Everything is Going to be Alright: Christchurch Art Gallery

2015 MAPDA (Museums Australia Publication Design Awards ) Bulletin Christchurch Art Gallery

2014 BEST Awards Finalist Editorial and Books Gavin Hipkins Leisure Valley Ilam Press

2014 MAPDA Invitation design Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky Christchurch Art Gallery

2013 BEST Awards Finalist Editorial and Books Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky Christchurch Art Gallery

I am a singer, composer, and audio engineer with a deep commitment to exploring the intersection of technology, creativity, and music performance. Originally from Suffolk, England, I moved to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2005, bringing with me a background in contemporary live music performance and a passion for creating original music and sonic art.

I hold two bachelor degrees in contemporary music and audio production, a postgradute diploma in composition, an LTCL in classical singing and a doctorate in musical arts specialising in studio production and vocal performance. Before joining the University of Canterbury, I led programmes in audio production, music, and digital screen at the Southern Institute of Technology, teaching across composition, acoustics, sound for visual media, and vocal performance.

At UC, I lecture in creative music technology, digital screen and composition, while continuing to expand the boundaries of music technology research. My doctoral research at the University of Otago focused on the autonomous production of choral recordings through advanced vocal modelling, exploring how ensemble interaction and human consciousness shape creativity and music-making in ways that technology cannot fully replicate.  This study lays the foundation for my passion in researching and designing new performative sound technology. My work integrates innovative technological practice with traditional music disciplines, contributing to new frontiers in multidisciplinary music production and education in Aotearoa.

Sebastiaan is a lecturer in the Political Science and International Relations department at UC. He teaches POLS206 (Introduction to Public Policy and Policy Analysis) and POLS301 (Contemporary Political Theory).

His research and teaching interests are in democratic theory, utopianism, populism, cities and the built environment, and conspiracy theories. He completed his PhD in political theory at the University of Galway—his thesis explored the parallels between populism and early twentieth-century utopianism, with a specific focus on urban spaces and ideology.

Anne Blumenthal is the German Studies Programme Coordinator at the University of Canterbury as well as the South Island DAAD Representative in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Anne completed her Master's Degree in German as a Foreign Language Teaching and Cultural Studies in 2017 before she joined a private language institute in Berlin where she was responsible for language teaching and university placement of international students. Anne then came to Aotearoa New Zealand as a DAAD teaching assistant at the University of Auckland for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was involved in implementing emergency teaching methods as well as developing blended learning material. 

She is interested in digital teaching and blended learning formats, including authentic learning material, as well as creating opportunities for engagement outside of the classroom.

Besides teaching in the German Studies Programme, as one of the DAAD representatives (German Academic Exchange Service) to NZ, Anne informs about studying and conducting research in Germany, about scholarship options, and she is actively involved in the German network of institutions, teachers, and other relevant contacts all over New Zealand.

Dr Phil Borell has been researching and teaching in Aotahi: School of Māori and Indigenous Studies since 2008. Phil graduated his MA with Distinction in 2013. His thesis provides a thorough analysis of Māori contributions to the sport of rugby league between 1908 and 2012. 

In 2022 he completed his PhD thesis, titled 'PolySaturated: Illuminating Polynesian Experiences in Professional Rugby League'. This doctoral thesis utilizes Māori and Pasifika research methods (Pūrākau and Talanoa) to give voice to the experiences of Polynesian (Māori and Pasifika) athletes in professional rugby league.

Phil's research has grown out of his time as a rugby league player, fan and now as a trainer in Canterbury's Premier rugby league competition.

Phil has also published written works examining Māori sporting practices; indigenous masculinity; the politics of sport in Aotearoa-New Zealand; and sport and education in Aotearoa-New Zealand. His current research has a focus on critiquing and rewriting dated narratives of Polynesian masculinity and using sport as a platform for de-colonial practice.

Professor Anne-Marie Brady FRSNZ is a specialist on the Chinese Communist Party (domestic politics and foreign policy), polar politics, Pacific politics, and New Zealand foreign policy. She is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker. She is founding and executive editor of The Polar Journal (Taylor and Francis Publishers). She has published ten books and over fifty sole-authored scholarly papers. She has written more than 60 opeds on her research for newspapers such as the New York Times, The Guardian, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Financial Times, The Diplomat. In addition to her duties at the University of Canterbury, Professor Brady holds a number of honorary roles. She was a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC from 2014 to 2025. In 2014 she was appointed to a two-year term on the World Economic Forum's Global Action Council on the Arctic. She is an advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). 

Professor Brady's books include Marketing Dictatorship: Propaganda and Thought Work in Contemporary China (Rowman and Littlefield, 2008), Looking North, Looking South: China, Taiwan and the South Pacific (World Scientific, 2010); China's Thought Management (Routledge, 2012), The Emerging Politics of Antarctica (Routledge, 2013), China as a Polar Great Power (Cambridge University Press and Wilson Press, 2017), and Small States and the Changing Global Order: New Zealand Faces the Future (Springer, 2019). Her 2017 conference paper 'Magic Weapons: China's foreign influence activities under Xi Jinping' helped to spark a global conversation on China's foreign interference and espionage activities, as well as legislative change. Professor Brady's groundbreaking, policy-relevant, research demonstrates the important role of the academic as "critic and conscience" in a modern democracy. 

I grew up on a farm in the backblocks of Wairoa, Hawkes Bay.

My qualifications include:

• A BSc in Biology from the University of Canterbury
• A Diploma in Computer Scuience from the University oF Auckland
• An MSc in Philosophy from the University of Canterbury
• A PhD in Philosophy from the University of Arizona

The areas of philosophy that I write and research on include:

• The Philosophy of Mind (especially consciosunes and intentionality)
• Epistemology (especially the problem of induction)
• Metaphysics (especially the idea that the world is built of primarily of facts and only secondarily of things)
• The Philosophy of Biology, with a focus on the evolution of human altruism
• The Philosphy of De-extinction

I teach into courses on:

• Critical Thinking (PHIL110 and ARTS102)
• The Philosophy of Science (SCIE101 and PHIL203/303)
• The Philosphy of Technology (PHIL235/335)

My personal research website with preprints of my articles is here:

http://douglascampbellphilosophy.blogspot.co.nz

Born in Gore, Aotearoa New Zealand, in 1976, Steve Carr graduated with an MFA from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 2003. He co-founded the Blue Oyster Gallery and served on the board of Artspace (2002–04), contributing to the ecology of artist-led and institutional practice in Aotearoa.

Across more than two decades, Carr has developed a practice structured around controlled experiments in time, material, and expectation. Working across sculpture, moving image, and photography, he isolates minor events—paint-filled balloons punctured by a needle, bubbles collapsing on cactus spines, surfaces stretched to breaking point—and extends them through slow motion, looping, and durational display. These gestures are deliberately modest. Their scale and simplicity resist spectacle, yet their staging grants them disproportionate attention.

Humour operates here not as anecdote or decoration, but as a structural device. Carr’s works often culminate in moments of release, collapse, or quiet absurdity. These climaxes hover between bathos and revelation. They neither resolve into moral insight nor escalate into drama; instead, they suspend the viewer at the threshold where seriousness threatens to dissolve. In doing so, the work subtly unsettles the cultural assumption that depth must announce itself through gravity, monumentality, or narrative consequence.

Since 2020, Carr has focused on the touring sculptural installation In Bloom, presented across Aotearoa and Australia, including at the Christchurch Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and STATION. In this and earlier exhibitions, Carr positions transformation as both event and anti-climax: something that happens, and at the same time refuses to signify beyond itself.

Rather than affirming permanence, his work dwells in contingency. Rather than offering transcendence, it stages interruption. If seriousness signals cultural value through endurance and moral weight, Carr’s practice tests what happens when meaning slips, falters, or laughs quietly at its own construction. The result is not frivolity, but a measured destabilisation of the structures that determine what counts as significant.

Steve Carr lives and works in Christchurch. He is represented by Gow Langsford Gallery and STATION, and has been a Senior Lecturer in Moving Image at Ilam School of Art since 2016.

Professor Natalia Chaban focuses her interdisciplinary research on cognitive and semiotic aspects of political and media discourses, image and perceptions studies within the EU and IR contexts, and public diplomacy and political communication. Her international recognition is demonstrated by consistent leadership of large multicultural, multinational research teams with direct engagement and outcomes for policymakers. A leader of a number of transnational research projects supported by the European Commission, EU member states, and NATO, Natalia widely publishes including articles in high impact journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies, Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of European Integration, Foreign Policy Analysis, Mobilities, Comparative European Politics. Having researched Ukraine since independence, she focuses her research on how the current war has impacted communication, expectations, and attitudes internationally, specializing in crisis, youth, cultural, and heritage aspects in EU-Ukraine public diplomacy. Natalia's new research interests include science diplomacy, TechPlomacy, and digital diplomacy in the contexts of increasingly geopolitical world and its securitisation, as well as the role of emotions in shaping international perceptions and expectations.

Her 2024 award of the Royal Society of New Zealand Mason Durie Medal recognises Professor Chaban as the nation’s pre-eminent social scientist with outstanding contribution which has originated in a New Zealand environment and had an international impact.  In 2025, the UC Council awarded Professor Chaban UC Research Medal in recognition of her sustained excellence in research, teaching, and innovation. In 2024, she was awarded the UC Faculty of Arts Research Award in Humanities, Social Sciences or Creative Arts. Professor Chaban is a twice awarded Jean Monnet Chair (in 2011 and 2018), a highly competitive, prestigious title awarded by the European Union to selected leading researchers in recognition of research and teaching contribution to the field of EU integration studies in the world.

Professor Chaban is a director of UC research centre Public Diplomacy and Political Communication Forum.  She is the President, Ukrainian Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand; fouding co-editor, peer-reviewed Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies (now with Scopus, Q2), and a member of editorial boards of Journal of European Integration, European Security, European Foreign Affairs Review, Media, War and Conflict, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and Cognition, Communication, Discourse.

Visiting Professor, Vienna Diplomatic Academy, Austria (2025-present)

Visiting Professor, College of Europe at Natolin, Warsaw, Poland (2023-present)

Visiting Professor, Sciences Po Grenoble, France (2024)

Visiting Professor, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania (2019-2022)

Adjunct Professor, Cherkasy National University, Ukraine (2014-present)

In 2023-2026, Professor Chaban leads Work Package 5 "Strategic Communication" (30 researchers) within Jean Monnet Policy Network “Challenges and Opportunities for EU Heritage Diplomacy in Ukraine” (HER-UKR).  The Network, supported by the European Commission, includes 15 partners from around the world.  In 2024-2028, she is an invited Associate Partner within Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network Contested EU Foreign Policy in an Era of Geopolitics (EU-FOG).  The Network includes 17 partners from around the world. In 2025-2030, Professor Chaban is an invited Associate Partner in the “Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel".