Professor Richie Poulton, CNZM of Dunedin, for services to science and health research
Professor Poulton is a social scientist whose major areas of research are mental health, nature-nurture interplay in the prediction of complex disorders, and psychosocial determinants of chronic physical disease. He has been Deputy Director and Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit. He established and became a Co-Director of the National Centre for Lifecourse Research. He leads the internationally renowned Dunedin multidisciplinary longitudinal birth cohort study. As part-time Chief Science Advisor to the Ministry of Social Development, he has led much of the work advising government on social investment and was a member of the Rebstock committee reviewing Child, Youth and Family Services. Professor Poulton is one of only four New Zealanders to be named a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson-Reuters.