Rate My Professor Helen Viggers

Helen Viggers is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, within the Faculty of Medicine. Trained originally in engineering, she holds a B.E. (Hons), Diploma in Public Health (DPH), Graduate Diploma in Applied Statistics (GradDipApplStat), and completed her PhD at the University of Otago in 2023 with the thesis titled 'Feeling the chill: New Zealanders and our cold homes.' Her research applies quantitative skills to public health, focusing on the links between housing conditions, particularly inadequate home warmth, and health outcomes. She investigates interventions such as insulation, sustainable heating, and fuel vouchers that could be scaled through policy, measuring impacts on objective health indicators like hospital admissions and doctors' visits, as well as subjective wellbeing.

Viggers has contributed to major studies including the Housing, Insulation and Health study, the Housing, Heating and Health study, and the Warm Homes for Elder New Zealanders study. Her work also addresses household fuel use, temperature variations, fuel poverty, and factors influencing household transience and homelessness. Key publications include 'Impact of a heating voucher on health outcomes in COPD patients: A randomised controlled trial' (International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, 2025, with T.R. Ingham, R. Chapman et al.); 'The role of smart community microgrids in Aotearoa’s energy future' (Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2025, with M. Apperley, M. Walmsley et al.); 'NZDep2023 Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation: Research Report' (2024, with J. Atkinson, C. Salmond et al.); 'Towards dwelling energy certification for New Zealand homes' (New Zealand Journal of Engineering, Technology and Research, 2022); and co-authorship on 'Effect of insulating existing houses on health inequality' (BMJ, 2007, with P. Howden-Chapman et al.) and 'Effects of improved home heating on asthma in community dwelling children' (BMJ, 2008, with P. Howden-Chapman et al.). Through her role in the He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, her findings on severe housing deprivation and building standards have supported public health policy in New Zealand.