18 June 2013
Writing Award for Resilience And
Work-Life Balance Research
The Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences at the University of Waikato has awarded
the first of six $10,000 postdoctoral writing awards for
emerging academics to completed psychology PhD student Derek
Riley.
Riley’s PhD research focused on the longitudinal
relationship of work-life balance, and resilience between
work and family conflict and psychological well-being among
New Zealand health professionals.
Within this framing,
he says he examined several important issues. “I looked at
many factors including perceptions of work-life balance,
levels of psychological resilience, and social support from
work (supervisor and colleagues) and non-work (friends and
family) members”.
Advertised as the Postdoctoral
Stipendiary Awards 2013, these were available to recent
PhD students in the faculty who could show plans for
publishing collaborations with academic staff.
From June 1
to August 31 this year, this dairy farmer-turned-academic
will be producing a publication following on from his PhD
research that will be submitted to the International Journal
of Stress and Health.
Riley’s research stemmed from a
wider international work-life balance project of which
University of Waikato Professor Michael O’Driscoll,
Riley’s supervisor, is involved in. The longitudinal
project spanned three years and has now been
completed.
Professor O’Driscoll is pleased that the
importance of his research has been recognised and that this
award gives Riley the financial support to produce a high
calibre publication.
“For the Award Riley is working on
a journal article to submit to an international journal,
highlighting in particular the importance of psychological
resilience for well-being,” says Professor
O’Driscoll.
Catharine Coleborne, the Associate Dean
Graduate and Postgraduate for the Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences acknowledges the value of these awards in fostering
research collaboration in the faculty.
"By demonstrating
the serious investment we wish to make in the academic and
scholarly futures of postgraduate students, we are
signalling that their presence in our faculty is valued for
their research collaboration, their original contributions
to knowledge and their collegial
presence."
ENDS