The appointment
He took up the role in January 2026, leading more than 100 academic and professional staff across Architecture and Built Environment Engineering. The appointment followed six years as Head of Built Environment Engineering from 2020, during which he led the department through its growth, accreditation reviews and a programme of international conferences. On appointment he gave up leadership of the Smart Cities and Infrastructure Research Cluster.
The School
The School of Future Environments, Huri te Ao, brings together disciplines that are often separated in universities: architecture and built environment engineering, including construction management and quantity surveying. Its programmes run from undergraduate degrees to professional master’s qualifications and doctoral research, and many are accredited by professional bodies in New Zealand and internationally.
Leading such a school means holding together different professional cultures, accreditation regimes and research traditions, and turning them into a shared direction. His first year has set that direction around staff and student wellbeing, curricula that keep pace with practice, research impact, industry partnership and a hub for built environment intelligence.
Early outcomes
The first months of his tenure included the School’s first QS subject ranking in Architecture and Built Environment, the partnership with Signature Homes, the launch of the AUT CIB Student Chapter, a ministerial delegation from Viet Nam, the School’s research symposium and the GDI 2026 Industry Chapter. Each is recorded in its own entry.
Leadership approach
His leadership notes describe the approach he brings to the role: designing the conditions in which people can do their best work rather than directing every decision, trusting colleagues with autonomy, keeping priorities few and clear, and removing processes that no longer earn their place. As Head of School, those principles are tested at the scale of a whole academic unit, with its budgets, accreditations and obligations to students and partners.