Kia ora koutou katoa,

As we reach the end of the academic year, I want to sincerely thank all staff across the School for your incredible mahi.  Your continued commitment to teaching, supervision, research and service—despite a year of considerable change—has been greatly appreciated. I want to particularly acknowledge our professional staff for their resilience, adaptability and mana during the challenging staff review process.

It was a privilege to attend the FMHS graduation last Tuesday, one of the highlights of our academic calendar. It was a bumper graduation for SMS, including 16 of our PhD students graduating! We are immensely proud of our graduates, whose achievements reflect both their hard work and the dedication of all our staff, as well as the strength of our programmes.

This has been a significant year marked by many successes, and I am deeply grateful for the collective effort, collegiality and professionalism that continue to define our School. I look forward to building on these achievements together in the year ahead.

Congratulations to our 20 staff who were promoted this year, including the recent announcement of our 2 new Associate Professors – Fiona Radcliff and Maggie Kalev. We also want to recognise the outstanding success of our researchers. This year, we have seen over $50 million in new and activated grants. This milestone would not be possible without the dedicated support of the FIRST team—thank you for your tireless work in supporting our research activities.

On a personal note, I would like to thank the SMS Executive and all staff for the support and encouragement you have shown during my first year as Head of School. It has been a steep learning curve, and I have greatly valued your guidance, generosity and collegiality as I continue to grow into the role.

I hope that you all have a well-deserved, relaxing break over the festive season.

Meri Kirihimete me nga mihi o te Tau Hou.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Noho ora mai,

Clare