Senior Lecturer in the Children and Families programme, teaching the Children and Public Policy paper. He thinks about why New Zealand children's well-being is so poor in comparison with most other OECD countries and has presented his views at many fora, including the 2006 International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect conference.
Ian is involved in the Every Child Counts campaign, which aims to place children centrally in the decision-making processes of Government and other New Zealand institutions. The campaign is headed by Barnardos (NZ), Plunket, Save the Children (NZ), Unicef (NZ) as well as the Institute of Public Policy at AUT University. Ian was a paediatrician before he became involved in public policy, as a researcher and advocate. He was New Zealand's first Commissioner for Children. His publications are on child health and safety, the status and rights of children and children's place in a sustainable economy and society.