Consultants
Find out who our expert consultants are and what they specialise in.
Colleen Ward
Professor Colleen Ward's research speciality is in cross-cultural psychology, with particular expertise in acculturation and intercultural relations. She has published more than 120 journal articles and book chapters.
Colleen received the Te Rangi Hiroa Medal from the Royal Society of NZ in 2011 for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the psychological study of immigration, acculturation, and intercultural relations. She also received the Inaugural Public Contribution Award from Victoria University of Wellington in 2011 for the application of academic research and engagement of community and government stakeholders to address a range of social issues relating to cultural diversity.
Colleen's New Zealand experience includes undertaking research and evaluation projects with the Department of Labour, Ministry of Social Development, Education New Zealand and Office of Ethnic Communities. Colleen has designed and delivered intercultural training packages in New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
Paul Jose
Dr Paul Jose research interests focus on stress and coping in children and adolescents, and family dynamics and their effects on adolescents. Paul's recent research has expanded to include issues of cross-cultural and cross-national investigations of how adolescents cope with stressors.
Much of Paul's current work is related to issues of positive psychology and positive youth development. Much of his current work focuses on savouring and happiness. He also have a strong interest in methodological issues in general, and statistical moderation and mediation in particular.
Ron Fischer
Dr Ron Fischer's research is broadly situated in cultural and applied social psychology. His work is centred around organizational, ethnic and gender diversity issues, often with a particular focus on morale, creativity, satisfaction, engagement.
Ron's New Zealand experience includes the New Zealand Defence Force, Pacific Island Police Forces and the Leadership Development Centre. In Europe and internationally, Ron has worked with Nestle, Unilever, BA, Orange, The Open University, PNOC (largest thermal energy company in the world), and a number of local and international banks in the Middle East, and a number of smaller companies in Britain.
