Dr Rebecca Evans

Māori (Te Rarawa), Tangata Tiriti, French

Contact Details:

Phone: +64 9 921 999 extn 32129
Email: rebecca.evans@aut.ac.nz

Qualifications:

PhD, BSc(Hons), BMus

Research Areas:

Music, arts and creative engagement amongst tamariki and rangatahi in relation to health and wellbeing outcomes; Kapa haka and ngā toi Māori participation; Whanaungatanga/relationships and wellbeing; Music’s role in developing and strengthening social bonds.

Overview

Dr Rebecca Evans is a Lecturer at Te Ipukarea Research Institute, Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies | Te Ara Auaha. Her research explores music, arts and creative engagement amongst tamariki and rangatahi (children and young people) in relation to health and wellbeing outcomes, including kapa haka involvement, whanaungatanga (relationships), and music’s role in developing and strengthening social bonds. She is currently leading projects with the involvement of Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture and Heritage, L'Etude Longitudinale Francaise d'Enfance (The French Longitudinal Study of Childhood | ELFE), and the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) | University of Auckland.

Rebecca has previously worked as a Research Fellow, at the University of Auckland's longitudinal birth cohort study, Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ). Her training was in cognitive and developmental psychology, and prior work in perinatal psychology (EPS Erasme, France) focused on mother-infant relationships, with a special interest in maternal speech, singing and interpersonal collaboration and synchrony. Her PhD in Music Psychology (Nanterre University, Paris) involved studying jazz musician improvisation and the socio-biological experience of playing ‘good time’ together.

Honours, master's and PhD students are welcome to join existing research projects, or design new projects, with a particular focus on Māori language, culture and knowledge. Projects could use existing GUiNZ data or could explore additional data collection (quantitative and/or qualitative) and could focus on the development of and associations between language, music and collaborative cultural practices; parenting practices including warmth, involvement and shared activities, in diverse family structures; and the role of the arts in fostering positive developmental outcomes.

Current research projects

Project 1: Arts, Culture and Recreation Participation Amongst Young People in Aotearoa.

Bespoke ongoing project funded in part by Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The focus of this research is on the social, mental and physical wellbeing benefits of arts, music, drama and other recreational activity participation, including ngā toi Māori participation, for young people in Aotearoa. This is an inter-disciplinary collaboration with Te Ipukarea (AUT), policy partners (including Manatū Taonga), Josie Tait (Growing Up in New Zealand, University of Auckland), Dr Ying Wang (Centre for Arts and Social Transformation, University of Auckland) and Dr John Fenaughty (Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland).

July 2023 - present

Project 2: Music in the Home and Across the Lifespan.

Collaborative, ongoing project with Dr Bronya Dean (School of Education, University of Waikato), Dr Sam Mehr (School of Psychology, University of Auckland), and Professor Maya Gratier (Developmental Psychology, Nanterre University). The research focuses the musical experiences and environments of infants, children and young people in Aotearoa, understanding the importance of these experiences, and understanding the associations between musical engagement and social, mental and physical health and wellbeing outcomes.

October 2021 – present

Project 3: Young People’s Relationships with Peers, Parents and Other Important Adults.

Collaborative, ongoing project with Dr Pat Bullen (Youth Development, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland). This project aims to explore the importance of young people's relationships, including relationships with peers, family, extended whānau, and other adults in the young person's wider social community.

Selected publications

June 2022 - present

Evans, R. J., Redman, K., Miller, S., Wang, Y., Sweetman, L., Fenaughty, J. (2024). Arts, Culture and Recreation Participation in the Growing Up in New Zealand Cohort at 12-Years. [Manatū Taonga Bespoke Report]. Auckland: Growing Up in New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-478-18490-7

Evans, R. J., Bird, A., Bullen, P., Fenaughty, J., Renker-Darby, A., Crosby, K., Grant, M., Miller, S. and Paine, S-J. (2023). Now We Are 12: Young People’s Relationships at Twelve Years of Age. Snapshot 9. [Report]. Auckland: Growing Up in New Zealand.

Evans, R., Dean, B., & Byett, F. (2022). The musical lives of young children in Aotearoa New Zealand. British Journal of Music Education, 39(3), 256-272. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051722000316

Morton, S. M. B., Napier, C., Morar, M., Waldie, K., Peterson, E., Atatoa Carr, P., … Cha, J. (2022). Mind the gap – unequal from the start: evidence from the early years of the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 52(3), 216–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2022.2058026

Gratier, M., Evans, R. J. & Stevanovic, K. (2017). Negotiations: sound and speech in the making of a studio recording. In Clarke, E. & Doffman, M. (Eds.) Creativity, Improvisation and Collaboration: Perspectives on the Performance of Contemporary Music, Oxford University Press.