Rate My Professor Jude Sligo

Dr. Jude Sligo, also known as Judith Sligo, serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Health (Dunedin) at the University of Otago, within the Faculty of Medicine and the Division of Health Sciences. She holds the qualifications BA, DipTchg, PGDip, MA, and PhD. Her academic and research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary, focusing on the wellbeing of children, young people, and families; equity issues; qualitative and mixed methods research and evaluation; ethics of research particularly with children and young people; young people’s participation; generational change; the role of hope in activism; health systems; evaluating transformational change programmes; and participatory research exploring healthcare experiences of young people with chronic health conditions. Sligo employs participatory methods in her work to foster positive change, including collaborations with young activists and those with chronic illnesses.

Sligo has a distinguished career history spanning over twenty years with the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. She managed the Parenting Study from 1996 until its culmination and oversaw the Next Generation Study for ten years, now contributing in a research-only capacity as Co-Investigator. She has also participated in interviews for the Family Health Study and earlier phases of the main Dunedin Study. In addition to her research commitments, she lectures for the University of Otago’s Bachelor of Health Sciences course and supervises postgraduate students such as PhD candidate Magdalen Harris. She chairs the Department of Public Health (Dunedin) Ethics Committee, ensuring scientific and ethical review for research proposals. Her influence extends to projects investigating youth citizenship, activism, and family dynamics. Key publications include: Nairn et al. (2025), 'Scaffolding collective hope and agency in youth activist groups: “I get hope through action”', Sociological Review; Showden et al. (2025), 'The connective is communal: Hybrid activism in online and offline spaces', Social Movement Studies; Sligo et al. (2024), 'Midwifery experiences in rural Southern Aotearoa New Zealand: Insights into pre-eclampsia management', New Zealand Medical Journal; Nairn et al. (2026), 'Being there: Relationships and reciprocity in research with activist groups', in The Routledge Handbook of Field Research; and Corfe-Tan et al. (2025), 'Midwifery experiences in rural Southern Aotearoa New Zealand: Insights into pre-eclampsia management', Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health. Her work contributes to understanding intergenerational health, equity, and youth wellbeing in health systems.