Title
Research Manager/Post Doctoral Fellow
Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy (Auckland University of Technology)
Research Interests
Dr Kate Prendergast is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey, UK.
Her inter-disciplinary research centres on understanding children and young people’s health and wellbeing in diverse urban environments. She currently works on the CYCLES (Children and Youth in Cities, Lifestyles Evaluation and Sustainability) project, which explores young people's lives in seven diverse cities across the globe. Cities include Christchurch, Dhaka, New Delhi, Lambeth, Makhanda, Sao Paulo, and Yokohama. The study is coordinated by Prof Bronwyn Hayward of the University of Canterbury and Dr Kate Prendergast, for the University of Surrey's ESRC funded CUSP: Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity and involves partners from seven cities.
Kate's previous research work connects health, wellbeing, the built environment, active travel, physical activity, and nutrition. She was a lead researcher on the Sovereign Wellbeing Index; a longitudinal study investigating the wellbeing of 10,000 New Zealanders.
For her doctoral research, Kate integrated positive psychology and public health to explore an approach for promoting health and wellbeing beyond the absence of disease. Her research included quantitative studies, focus groups, and an intervention study.
- Wellbeing
- Sustainable development
- Social research
- Health and lifestyle
- Children and youth
Recent Publications
- Prendergast K., Hayward B., Aoyagi M., Burningham K., Hasan MM., Jackson T., Jha V., Kuroki L., Loukianov A. and Mattar H. (2021) Corrigendum: Youth Attitudes and Participation in Climate Protest: An International Cities Comparison Frontiers in Political Science Special Issue: Youth Activism in Environmental Politics(Front. Polit. Sci., (2021), 3, (696105), 10.3389/fpos.2021.696105). Frontiers in Political Science 3 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2021.794704.
- Prendergast K., Hayward B., Aoyagi M., Burningham K., Hasan MM., Jackson T., Jha V., Kuroki L., Loukianov A. and Mattar H. (2021) Youth Attitudes and Participation in Climate Protest: An International Cities Comparison Frontiers in Political Science Special Issue: Youth Activism in Environmental Politics. Frontiers in Political Science 3 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2021.696105.
- Nissen S., Prendergast K., Aoyagi M., Burningham K., Hasan MM., Hayward B., Jackson T., Jha V., Mattar H. and Schudel I. (2020) Young people and environmental affordances in urban sustainable development: insights into transport and green and public space in seven cities. Sustainable Earth 3(1) 17 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s42055-020-00039-w.
- Duncan S., Stewart T., McPhee J., Borotkanics R., Prendergast K., Zinn C., Meredith-Jones K., Taylor R., McLachlan C. and Schofield G. (2019) Efficacy of a compulsory homework programme for increasing physical activity and improving nutrition in children: A cluster randomised controlled trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 16(1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12966-019-0840-3.
- Mackay L., Egli V., Booker LJ. and Prendergast K. (2019) New Zealand’s engagement with the Five Ways to Wellbeing: evidence from a large cross-sectional survey. Kotuitui 14(2): 230-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1177083X.2019.1603165.
