Department of Accounting and Information Systems

Heba is a lecturer and researcher in accounting, auditing, sustainability reporting, and stakeholder accountability in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research focuses on the quality and credibility of corporate financial and sustainability reporting and on how different stakeholders perceive, interpret, and use reported information. She holds a PhD in Accounting from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.

A central strand of her work examines sustainability reporting and assurance, including the role of assurance in strengthening the credibility of corporate disclosures and supporting stakeholder trust. Her research also explores climate-related disclosure, financial auditing, reporting regulation, and the extent to which reporting and assurance practices promote meaningful organisational accountability rather than primarily serving managerial or reputational purposes.

Heba primarily uses qualitative research methodologies, including interviews, document analysis, and interpretive approaches. Her work contributes to debates on corporate accountability, reporting credibility, stakeholder engagement, sustainability governance, and the role of accounting and assurance in supporting transparent and accountable organisational decision-making.

Jean-Grégoire Bernard's teaching and research focus on issues pertaining to digital innovation, digital platforms, and online networks. His recent work on these topics draws on computational social sciences methods, drawing on a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches.  He obtained a PhD in Management from Queen's University (Canada). 

His research has been published in Social Media+Society, and in the ACM CHI and ICIS conference proceedings, among other outlets.  He has served as Associate Editor of the Communications of the Association for Information Systems and has been Associate Editor for several tracks at the International Conference for Information Systems (ICIS) since 2012. He has been a reviewer for journals such as the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, the Journal of Strategic Information Systems, the Journal of Management Information Systems, and the Database for Advances in Information Systems, among others. He was nominated as 2nd runner-up for Best Associate Editor at ICIS 2018 and won an outstanding reviewer award at ICIS 2017-2019 and ECIS 2026. He is a member of the CTO and TIM divisions of the Academy of Management. 

He was previously the founding Director of the Master of Professional Business Analysis at the Victoria University of Wellington, having led the program's design and successful growth.  He also lectured at HEC Montréal and served as project manager at CIRANO, a Montréal-based academic research centre, for which he led a $1.2 million research project on risk management. 

I focus on channelling Information Systems to promote healthier lives for individuals, families, and communities. I am committed to integrating technology, health, and analytics to improve lives and foster sustainable behaviours in diverse communities.

My work centres on digital health and sustainability, particularly in addressing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. I explore innovative solutions for individual and family well-being through design science research.

I am also passionate about data and business analytics, especially in creating systems that support personal decision-making and lifestyle transformation. My research is supported by several health grants, and I hold an honorary research fellowship in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Auckland.

Peni is the Head of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems and is currently an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Canterbury. Born in Tonga, Peni grew up in Sopu o Taufa'ahau and attended Mangaia Primary School, Tonga High School, and completed further studies in New Zealand, Fiji and Australia. 

He has been in the corporate sector for nearly ten years, but is now working in academia. Peni has worked in Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand.

He loves tennis, singing, sociology, preparing financial reports and accounting research. Peni was also recently introduced to golf and regrets not trying it sooner.

Peni completed his PhD from the Australian National University's Research School of Accounting in 2014.

Anushia Inthiran served as a Senior IT Security Analyst for 6 years with Standard Chartered Bank prior to embarking in a career in academia. In 2004, she joined APIIT as a Lecturer and Program Leader for the Staffordshire University Computing Degree Programmes. Thereafter she pursued her academic career with Monash University in 2012 as a Lecturer and Course Director of the Master of Business Information Systems postgraduate degree program. She joined the University of Canterbury in 2017. She is a fellow of the Advance HE (FHEA).

In 2016, she was awarded the Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning by the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. In 2021, the University of Canterbury Student Association (USCA) awarded her the Student Choice award for Postgraduate Supervisor of the Year. Anushia was awarded the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme by the Malaysian government as Primary Investigator in 2013. This research grant allowed her and her team to examine the information search behaviour of physicians during the practice of evidence based medicine. In 2024, the Health Research Council (HRC) of New Zealand awarded her the health delivery research activation grant as first named investigator. In 2025, she was awarded the Nicholas Tarling Charitable Trust and New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA) grant for Southeast Asia Field Research. She co-leds this grant. 

She is well published and serves as an editorial board member, track chair and reviewer on a number of highly ranked journals and conferences. Anushia is an alumna of the New Zealand Universities Women in Leadership Programme (NZUWiL). Her PhD students have been awarded the Association of Computer Machinery (ACM) and Association of Computer Machinery Special Interest Group (ACMSIGIR- Women in IT) travel grants on several occasions. Anushia is an adjunct research associate with Monash University. She was also a keynote speaker at the 2019 Science Coding Conference, The International Conference of  Artificial Intelligence ans Society  (AICON2026) and the 8th International Public Health and Well Being Conference (2026). 

Research interests include accounting for sustainable development; management accounting in practice, particularly in charities, service organisations and small businesses; accounting history and accounting education.

Research interests include the disputes resolution process, taxation of captial gains (ionlcuidng the application to Māori), aspects of the capital-revenue distinction, legal professional privilege and the non-disclosure right,  aspects of tax administration, the Goods and Services Tax, tax history

I am a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and the Associate Director of UC's MBA programme. 

I am a passionate accounting educator and researcher, with more than 13 years' professional experience in finance roles in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. My PhD thesis was awarded the 'Best PhD Award' by the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. I also hold degrees in Economics and International Relations from Stanford University and the University of Oxford.

My research interests include the tax compliance literature (including behavioural issues, compliance costs, role of tax professionals, complexity, ethics, etc), tax administration issues (including binding rulings and taxpayers rights), developing an international tax organisation, international tax issues (including Base Errosion and Profit Shifting), tax policy development in New Zealand and globally, the readability and understandability of tax legislation, the role of taxation in e-commerce, environmental taxes, devolution of taxing powers, developing a Treatry of Waitangi /Te Tiriti compliant tax system,  and individual insolvency (including alternatives to bankruptcy and stigma issues).

Simone Schwoerer is a lecturer and researcher in commercial law, regulatory design, and sustainability regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work focuses on corporate governance, climate-related disclosure, competition law, cartel enforcement, and the regulatory frameworks that shape business conduct, accountability and public trust.

She holds a PhD in Law from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury. Her doctoral research examined the criminalisation of cartel conduct in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom, and developed her expertise in competition law, enforcement, comparative law, and regulatory design. Before entering academia, Simone worked as legal counsel in Germany, advising on corporate legal matters. She also served as a director of a Romanian subsidiary, which gave her direct experience of corporate governance, business decision-making, and director responsibility. This professional background continues to inform her research and teaching on accountability, compliance, and the practical operation of legal duties within organisations.

Her current research examines sustainability regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand, with particular interest in climate-related disclosure, corporate governance, business responsibility, and the role of regulation in responding to environmental and social challenges. A developing strand of her work focuses on regulatory integrity in climate-related disaster recovery. This project examines whether New Zealand’s legal framework is fit to prevent corruption, conflicts of interest, and improper influence when emergency powers, fast procurement, land-use decisions, infrastructure funding, managed retreat, and public recovery funds interact. Through this research, Simone is interested in how law can support transparent and accountable climate adaptation without delaying urgent recovery. Her work explores whether New Zealand needs clearer legal tests, institutional safeguards, or statutory principles to guide decision-making in high-risk recovery contexts, including the possible development of a disaster recovery integrity test.

Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Simone works across law, accounting, and sustainability-related fields. Her research contributes to debates on commercial law, regulatory design, corporate accountability, climate governance, public integrity, and the role of regulation in supporting effective and trusted institutional decision-making.