Pham Van Hau looking like he’s internalised Otago’s frazzle-free pace. “I came here from Hanoi, which is a massive, bustling city that never sleeps. Compared to that, Dunedin is very peaceful and quiet. It took some getting used to at first, but the tranquillity is actually quite nice; it gives you the mental space to really focus on your research and your own growth.”
Pham Van Hau knows that when his name is called out during today’s graduation ceremony, some audience members may find themselves beset by images of breastmilk and testicles.
It’s his own fault though, for he was the student who crafted one of the most audacious opening lines in the University of Otago’s 2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition: “What do breastmilk and testicles have in common?”
Packing such intrigue into eight words helped Pham win that competition – as well as the People’s Choice award at the subsequent 3MT Matariki Network Competition.
Asked if that sentence will be forever etched on his memory, he says, “I practised that opening line every morning in the bathroom, and by the end, even my partner was traumatised by hearing it!”
As frolicsome as that catchy 3MT opener is, it was used to draw attention to a grim issue – that microplastics are continuing to make their silent advance on both our bodies (via ingestion and inhalation) and the environment.
When Pham learnt that New Zealand generates around 23,000 tonnes of plastic milk bottle waste each year and that much of that ends up in landfills or is sent offshore, he decided to make this ubiquitous dairy vessel his doctoral nemesis.
His mission – to understand the systemic issues that keep driving consumers towards plastic milk bottles and look at how marketing can help reduce society’s reliance on single-use plastics.
“Ultimately, I wanted to show that marketing can contribute to a circular economy and a more sustainable future for everyone. It’s about moving beyond ‘policing’ behaviour and toward ‘empowering’ it. I’ve always been passionate about ‘green consumption’ – how we, as consumers, can help the planet.”
That passion served him well. Pham’s PhD research saw his name added to the Otago Business School’s esteemed roll call of ‘Exceptional Theses’.
With a degree in Quantitative Economics from Vietnam’s National Economics University under his belt, Pham hadn’t planned on pivoting to the discipline of marketing.
“To be honest, I used to think marketing was a bit of a scam. I thought it was just about exaggerating products rather than caring for the world. But when I joined the Otago Department of Marketing and met my supervisors – Professor Maree Thyne, Dr Rob Hamlin, and Professor Kirsten Robertson (along with Professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele from Griffin University in Australia) – they completely changed my perspective. They made me realise that marketing can have a massive social purpose, not just a commercial one. It’s about behaviour change for the greater good.”
Asked why he chose to pursue his postgraduate studies at Otago, Pham says he felt a bit lost after finishing his undergraduate degree.
“I felt confused about how my studies applied to the real world, so I started searching online and fell in love with the idea of New Zealand – it’s such a stunning country and it looked like the perfect place for a fresh start.”
He wasn’t wrong. Studying away from his home in Vietnam has been transformative both academically and personally.
“I expected to just come here, study, and leave. But the support system at Otago is so warm that it’s hard not to feel like you belong. I didn't just find colleagues; I found a PhD community that felt like family.”
Pham Van Hou (middle) relishing the vertiginous landscape of Dunedin’s Tunnel Beach with fellow postgraduate students Harsh Khatwani (back) and Ilce Lara Montiel (front). “This journey has never been just about writing a thesis. It’s been about the people I met, the friendships formed, the collaborations built, and the community that supported me along the way.”
Pham says that coming to Aotearoa pushed him out of his comfort zone in every way.
“Academically, it shifted my mindset from just following theories to actually questioning how we can change the world. Personally, it taught me resilience. Living in a completely different culture makes you look inward and discover who you really are when all the ‘noise’ of your home city is gone. It forces you to grow.”
And grow he did. Some measure of Pham’s deep engagement with his adopted home can be seen in the 12 awards, grants, and scholarships he’d managed to notch up by the end of his PhD – including the Service Award bestowed on him last year by the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy.
Pham’s enthusiasm is indefatigable. Asked how his friends would describe his relentless energy, Pham says, “I think they’d say I’m ‘unstoppable’. I love to try new things and I never give up.”
That being the case, the students at Unitec in Auckland are in for a treat, for Pham recently landed a position there as a Marketing lecturer.
“My dream is to stay in academia and continue using my research to make a real, positive impact on the world. If my work can help create a better environment for the next generation, then I’m doing my job right.
“I love the people and the culture here in New Zealand – it definitely has a very special place in my heart now.”
- Kōrero by Claire Finlayson, Communications Adviser (Otago Business School)