AERC Welcomes: Dr Kelsey Deane

AERC is excited to welcome Dr Kelsey Deane to our team.

Dr Kelsey Deane has joined AERC as a Senior Lecturer in Evaluation. Kelsey brings over 17 years of experience in evaluation theory, research, and practice, and specialist expertise in youth development and wellbeing, social innovation, and applied psychological sciences. Her pluralist approach to evaluation and wide breadth of methodological knowledge enables her to design and implement rigorous, context-sensitive evaluations. Kelsey has a strong track record of working collaboratively with organisations to co-design evaluations that build stakeholder capacity and improve service delivery. Her work has been published in leading interdisciplinary journals, and she has contributed to the development of novel evaluation processes.

Most recently, she served as Research and Evaluation Manager at the Brave Foundation, where she led projects to evaluate mentoring models for marginalised young parents and coordinated Brave’s young parents lived experience advisory group. Prior to that, Kelsey held several academic and leadership roles at the University of Auckland, including as Co-Director of Campus Connections Aotearoa | Tūhono Aiopīpī, a campus-based therapeutic youth mentoring program for adolescents who are alienated from mainstream education.

Kelsey has received numerous accolades for her contributions to teaching and research. These include the University of Auckland Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award (2016) and Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award (2020). She has supervised 17 higher degree research students to completion and her leadership in developing and delivering innovative academic programs and initiatives, such as the Master of Social and Community Leadership, has been recognised for its impact on student learning and engagement.

We are thrilled to have Dr Deane join our team and look forward to her contributions to AERC’s research, teaching, and community engagement initiatives.