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Professor Janet Hoek thumbnailBA(Hons - first class), MA(Distinction), Dip.Bis.Admin(Distinction), PhD
Co-Director ASPIRE Aotearoa

Teaches PUBH744 Healthy Public Policy

Contact Details  

Tel +64 4 832 3192
Email janet.hoek@otago.ac.nz

Research Interests and Activities  

Janet's first degrees were in English Literature. She also studied Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, and French – she is currently trying to regain her fluency in French. Her Honours research examined nineteenth century poetry and she explored irony in Beowulf, a very early medieval poem, in her Masterate thesis. She later completed a post-graduate diploma in marketing and her PhD examined question wording effects in surveys. Janet is co-Director of ASPIRE Aotearoa, a University of Otago Research Centre whose members undertake research into smokefree policy and the regulation of nicotine products.

Janet has led several Health Research Council projects and is currently PI of the Whakahā o te Pā Harakeke programme, funded by the Health Research Council. Her work examining plain (or standardised) packaging and tobacco branding informed policy in New Zealand and internationally. She followed up this work by examining novel on-pack tobacco warnings and the impact of complementing on-pack warnings with efficacy messages.

Janet has also undertaken several studies into vaping. She led a feasibility study assessing 'smart' e-cigarettes and explored whether and how people transition from smoking to vaping. She has also explored vaping uptake among people who smoke and young people who do not smoke, and she has tested strategies to encourage full transition from smoking to e-cigarettes among people who smoke deterring uptake among people who do not smoke. She received the 2022 Universities New Zealand Critic and Conscience of Society Award for her work documenting the harms vaping imposes on young people.

She has also received funding from the Royal Society Marsden Fund. She led a project that critically evaluated tobacco industry arguments framing smoking as an “informed choice”. Subsequent work probed identity shifts among people moving from smoking to vaping, and becoming nicotine free. She has also worked on a Marsden study examining tobacco companies’ self-proclaimed “transformation”.

Janet has been a member of several NGO and government advisory groups, provided evidence to government and Select Committees, and was a member of an Australian government expert advisory group overseeing the introduction and refreshment of plain packaging. She has sat on several research grant and selection committees, as well as strategy development and policy groups.

Publications

Hosking, R., Ball, J., Cochran, C., & Hoek, J. (2025). An assessment of e-liquid label accuracy in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 138(1616), 111-115. Retrieved from https://www.nzmj.org.nz/ Journal - Research Other

Graham-DeMello, A., Gregan, M.-J., Waa, A., Gallopel-Morvan, K., & Hoek, J. (2025). Aotearoa New Zealand's 'endgame' legislation: A critical analysis of the parliamentary repeal debate using an adapted policy dystopia model approach. Tobacco Control. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-059187 Journal - Research Article

Hoek, J., & Graham DeMello, A. (2025). How did Government and Opposition MPs justify and oppose repealing the smokefree endgame measures? The Briefing, (20 May). Retrieved from https://www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/how-did-government-and-opposition-mps-justify-and-oppose-repealing-smokefree-endgame Journal - Research Other

Ball, J., Miller, A., Mizdrak, A., Parata, C., & Hoek, J. (2025). The rising influence of big business on policymaking: What it means for public health in NZ. The Briefing, (21 May). Retrieved from https://www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/rising-influence-big-business-policymaking-what-it-means-public-health-nz Journal - Research Other

Hoek, J., Waa, A., Edwards, R., Gregan, M.-J., & Graham-DeMello, A. (2025). Looking back and planning ahead: The tobacco endgame and controlling tobacco industry interference in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2025.2455498 Journal - Research Article

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