Kiwi professor honoured for work to reduce global poverty

Professor Stuart Carr with colleagues from Tshwane University of Technology and Kliptown Youth Programme, Soweto. Photo / Supplied

Professor Stuart Carr, an industrial and organisational psychologist in the School of Psychology at Massey University, has been honoured internationally for his research into reducing global poverty.

Carr was awarded a Fellowship to the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology at its annual conference in Philadelphia.

He was commended as "a thought leader and key driving force for the evolution of Humanitarian Work Psychology which promotes humanitarianism and social advocacy on a global scale."

Carr has conducted global research on work-related humanitarian issues. His findings have been referred to at the highest levels, including the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Although he says he is personally honoured to have received the fellowship, he comments that team work has yielded most of the outcomes.

"Collectively, for example, our teams have helped to highlight the injustice of 'dual salary' systems that are funded globally, and which pay expatriate versus in-country workers radically different wages, even though they are often equally qualified and experienced," Carr says.

"More recently, in conjunction with MPOWER at Massey University, we have been looking at the humanitarian work psychology of living wages, and whether there is an evidence-based business case for shared prosperity."

Carr is currently in South Africa, under a Memorandum of Understanding with Tshwane University of Technology, working with its Department of People Management and Development on living wages in South Africa and New Zealand, and their contribution towards poverty reduction. He is also working with the Kliptown Youth Programme, a local organization, which enables education for children from the Kliptown Squatter Camp in Soweto.

Last year, Professor Carr was made a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

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