Spotlight on children's issues: an interview with Anne Smith

A series in which we ask a leading researcher to distil three key ideas from their work over the years.

Anne Smith has whipped across the Tasman to look after sick grandchildren in Melbourne when set catches up with her. The practical and personal has always been right up there, informing her research into children’s issues and her strong advocacy on their behalf. She is Emeritus Professor of the Children’s Issues Centre at the University of Otago, where she was director from 1995 until last year. She is “retired” in the manner of many academics: leaving behind the administrative and bureaucratic pressure of running a centre, but continuing to write a book and be actively involved her own research and that of some students.