People in R and E
Dr Tania Pocock is the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s (HRC) representative on SPEaR. Tania is a Senior Advisor – Policy and Business Development, with the Research Policy, Evaluation and Business Development Group at HRC. She took up her position at HRC in March 2003 after completing a PhD in Psychology at the University of Auckland, in the area of domestic violence and child abuse. Working alongside Dr Patricia Anderson (Group Manager, Research Policy, Evaluation and Business Development), Tania is responsible for providing research policy advice, implementing HRC’s research portfolio system and prioritisation framework, reporting on the research investment, contributing to the evaluation of HRC policy and processes, and developing business opportunities to increase investment in high-priority health research areas.
SPEaR Committee member Cherie Englebrecht is a senior policy analyst with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Prior to joining MWA, she worked at Child, Youth and Family, including a period as Private Secretary (Child, Youth and Family) in Parliament. Her current work includes a focus on women in business, “trying to understand why women don’t tend to ‘grow’ their businesses”. She is also working on housing, particularly access to affordable quality housing for women, and social assistance. “I am also involved in ensuring that New Zealand manages its international obligations on the status of women and was privileged to attend the recent Commission on the Status of Women meeting in New York earlier this year.” Cherie says the SPEaR Committee work is important because “good policy is based on sound evidence, and research and evaluation provides that evidence.”
Meenakshi Sankar is a Senior Evaluator in the Strategy Group, Department of Labour. Her role involves contributing to the development of the Department’s Research and Evaluation Strategy, providing support and guidance within the team, and designing and implementing high quality evaluation projects. Meenakshi has a Master’s degree in social work from India. She has more than 15 years’ experience in working in the market and social research sector in India, and has worked extensively in South Asian and South East Asian countries. In New Zealand, she has applied her knowledge and experience in evaluation theory and practice to a public policy setting. She has a keen interest in exploring the use of participatory and collaborative processes to explore key issues. Meenakshi represents the Department of Labour on the SPEaR Committee.
