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Nevil Pierse 186 x 230BSc (Maths and Stats), MSc (Statistics), PhD
Research ProfessorCo-director of He Kainga Oranga / Housing and Health Research Programme

Contact details  

Tel 64 4 918 6853
Fax 64 4 389 5319
Email nevil.pierse@otago.ac.nz

Research interests and activities  

Professor Nevil Pierse is co-leader of He Kāinga Oranga – Housing and Health Research Programme.

Originally a statistician by training, his current work is done in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders including government and community organisations and is focused on the design and implementation of natural experiments to improve the home and community environments. Nevil and the research team was awarded a Prime Minister's Science Prize in 2014 for this work.

He is currently working on the Healthy Housing Initiative, which looks at home interventions to prevent re-hospitalisation of children with housing-related disease. This programme has accessed and remediated over 30,000 homes in New Zealand and resulted in a decrease of nearly 10,000 hospital admissions. The Healthy Housing Initiative was awarded the Prime Minister's Spirit of Service Award in 2019.

Nevil also leads a programme looking at optimising the housing system, especially for those without housing. He works closely with a leading exemplar of this approach, The People's Project in Hamilton. Nevil has a keen interest in big data and leads five housing and health projects on the integrated data infrastructure. In 2021 this research group was awarded the Rutherford Medal for the quality and impact of their work.

More information on The People's Project

Publications

Yu, C., Buchanan, M., Te Ora, E., Pehi, T., Leigh, L., Howden-Chapman, P., … Pierse, N. (2025). The importance of housing assistance on reducing youth offending in New Zealand. Urban Policy & Research. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/08111146.2025.2503141 Journal - Research Article

O'Sullivan, K. C., Dohig, R. K., Chen, Z., Jiang, T., Pierse, N., Riva, M., & Das, R. R. (2025). Heating up, cooling off: Exploring cooling behaviours at home in Aotearoa New Zealand. Energy Research & Social Science, 125, 104128. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104128 Journal - Research Article

Jiang, T., Fraser, B., Buchanan, M., Aspinall, C., Guha Thakurta, A., Fasoro, A., … Pehi, T., Ombler, J., … Pierse, N. (2025). A survival analysis of mortality in a Housing First population in Aotearoa New Zealand. People, Place & Policy, 19(1), 20-34. doi: 10.3351/ppp.2025.3975282985 Journal - Research Article

Yu, C., Buchanan, M., Jenkins, M., Pehi, T., Fraser, B., Aspinall, C., Howden-Chapman, P., & Pierse, N. (2025). People receiving the emergency housing special needs grant in Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal of Housing Policy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/19491247.2025.2497118 Journal - Research Article

O'Sullivan, K. C., Buchanan, M., Leigh, L., Dohig, R. K., Pehi, T., Jenkins, M., Pierse, N., … Fraser, B. (2025). Working with community research partners to undertake sensitive public health interviews: A qualitative protocol to enhance rigour and safety. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. doi: 10.1177/16094069251337204 Journal - Research Other

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