Media Release

19 April 2011

Call for entries Fellowship in Youth Health Leadership

Youth researchers and practitioners with strong leadership skills are being urged to apply for a Fellowship in Youth Health Leadership offered by The Vodafone New Zealand Foundation in association with SYHPANZ (Society of Youth Health Professionals Aotearoa New Zealand).

The fellowship, worth $90,000 over a 12 month period, has been established for promising mid-career researchers or practitioners with proven leadership in the youth sector to complete study, research or undertake a sabbatical.

This is the second year the fellowship has been offered. Northland GP Dr Aniva Lawrence was the recipient of the inaugural Fellowship in 2010. Dr Lawrence is researching the unique health needs of rural youth including a sabbatical to Canada and the United States to explore international models.

She says the Fellowship has enabled her to step back from her day to day work and evaluate what improvements can be made to health services for young people.

My research project is centred around identifying what young people are presenting with to both mainstream primary care and school based healthcare and what else is being asked of them at the time. The research has identified that school based clinics are particularly effective in engaging and meeting the health needs of Maori youth rurally.

I’m now working on developing an IT tool to improve screening of young people and act as a trigger to think about what else could be going on with their health.

Dr Lawrence says the Fellowship is unique in that it is enables a wide variety of people working in youth health services to advance themselves and develop their skills from overseas learnings.

Vodafone Foundation Chair, Michael Stanley says the Foundation’s vision is to promote the health and wellbeing of young New Zealanders.

Youth are our future and we believe developing the leadership skills of those working in the youth health sector is critical to realising this vision, he says.

This is a unique career opportunity for a specialist working within this important field and we strongly urge people to apply.

Dr Peter Watson, Vodafone Foundation Board member and youth health specialist, sees this as an opportunity to progress youth health and development in New Zealand.

The Vodafone Foundation continues to make a unique contribution to the youth sector in New Zealand. This Fellowship will grow inspirational leadership that is critical to improving the health and wellbeing of young New Zealanders.” says Dr Watson.

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