It is with great sadness that we note the death of Ian Shirley, Professor of Social Policy at AUT, and before that Massey University. Founder of The Policy Observatory, Ian formally retired in 2016, but never stopped writing. His last Briefing Paper, on the child wellbeing strategy, was published in December. Ian will be remembered as a man of integrity who never lost his passion for social justice. He advocated for universities to fulfil their role as the critic and conscience of society, and was a genuinely kind and supportive person, who cared about the welfare of colleagues and students.  

Ian was interviewed when he retired in 2016; you can read about Ian’s career and listen to him speak here:
https://thepolicyobservatory.aut.ac.nz/publications/the-human-laboratory

He was interviewed by Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand in 2017:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201857067/ian-shirley-public-policy-pioneer


Our thoughts are with Ian's family at this time.