Excellence in Education & Research
A world of research opportunities - calling the curious and the brave
The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau is New Zealand’s leading research institution. It is a large, diverse, comprehensive university with strengths in a wide range of disciplines and a commitment to the research excellence, collaborations and impact that this breadth enables. Our comprehensive nature shapes our view of both our place and purpose in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region and positions (indeed obliges) us to address some difficult and important global and local challenges.
We achieve this, and contribute to the societies, environments, cultures, health, technology and economies of New Zealand and the world, through research excellence, connection with our communities, and commitment to the development of people who will lead positive change. Our research-intensive environment nurtures graduates who are able to both articulate and challenge established knowledge, and who are equipped with the skills to reshape our world.
A world-class education - our bold commitment to students
A University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau education puts students at the centre of their learning, engages them in a research-led education and equips them to make a world of difference.
We provide our students with a broad range of intellectually challenging experiences that are informed by international scholarship and anchored by a shared sense of belonging and identity based upon close engagement with mātauranga Māori and the knowledge and culture of tangata whenua. It will also recognise the role played in the life of the University and the wider community by Pacific peoples and the diverse multi-cultural communities of the Auckland region. These curricula and extra-curricula experiences lay the foundations for our graduates to make significant and fulfilling contributions to the national and global workforce and to local and national communities. They also prepare students to benefit from ongoing post-graduation studies that enrich later stages of their personal, social and professional lives.
Large-scale research institutes
The University currently supports two large-scale research institutes: The Liggins Institute is a world-leading centre for research into fetal and child health, nutrition, development, epigenetics and implementation science. The Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) is leading the development of a national Medtech-IQ and includes in its vision the development of virtual human models which can be personalised and used, with new medical devices, as the basis for improved and lower cost healthcare.
UniServices Ltd
Research, innovation and commercialisation are key parts of the University of Auckland’s strategy. Auckland UniServices Ltd provides the business development and contracting function for more than $160m worth of research revenues from granting bodies and industry partners both in New Zealand and overseas.
UniServices champions research and ideas with the power to change the world; it is also responsible for identifying, protecting and commercialising the intellectual property of the University and turning the results of research into financial and societal benefits and impacts.
To deliver those impacts, UniServices owns and operates a portfolio of businesses that apply the outputs of research in programmes and services that generate more than $60m in annual revenues. The company also invests in IP developments, leading to numerous licenses and approximately 10 new companies every year.
What sets UniServices apart from others is our independence. This gives us the mandate and the drive to build a better future by looking for new research opportunities locally and internationally, and by accelerating commercialisation of ideas out of research to do good in Aotearoa and in the world.
The University hosts two National Science Challenges
National Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs)
Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand - Manaaki Mānawa
Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand - Manaaki Mānawa strives towards equity in heart health for Māori and Pacific Peoples and to improve cardiovascular health and well-being in this country. Employing a life course approach guided by Māori values and principles, the CoRE will address the nation’s crisis of equity for cardiovascular health in Aotearoa by earlier, more precise and personalised prevention, prediction, detection/diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery
Maurice Wilkins Centre brings together more than 200 researchers in multi-disciplinary teams, targeting major diseases affecting New Zealanders, particularly cancer, diabetes and infectious disease, by delivering world-class research that enables the discovery of new therapies, diagnostics and vaccines.
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence
Māori leading New Zealand into the future: NPM research realises Māori aspirations for positive engagement in national life, enhances our excellence in Indigenous scholarship and provides solutions to major challenges facing humanity in local and global settings.
Te Pūnaha Matatini
Hosted by the University of Auckland in partnership with Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Canterbury, Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua and Motu Public Policy and Economics Research. Established in 2015 this CoRE aims to develop methods and tools for transforming complex data into knowledge for better decision-making. Research themes include complex data analytics, complex economic and social systems, and complexity and the biosphere.
Ngapouri Research farm
Leigh Marine laboratory
Newmarket Innovation Precinct
Research Hub
Centre of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
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