Rate My Professor Manon Knapen

Dr. Manon Knapen is the Scientific Officer for Research and Development in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago. She earned her PhD in Science Communication from the University of Otago in 2019. Her thesis, titled How do homeopathy users perceive homeopathy?, examined the importance of evidence in people's health decision-making. Knapen came to Otago specifically to pursue this doctorate at the Centre for Science Communication. Following her PhD, she served as a researcher for the Science for Technological Innovation (SfTI) National Challenge and later as a Research Adviser in the University's Research and Enterprise office before assuming her current role.

In this capacity, Knapen assists the Associate Dean (Research) with strategy development, responses to government initiatives, management of the Summer Research Scholarship Programme, administration of the PhD Travel Fund, and organization of the annual Health Sciences research forum. She serves as the primary contact for summer research scholarship queries within Health Sciences. Knapen founded and leads the Green Your Scene team approximately three years prior to 2022, promoting sustainability through information sharing, colleague engagement, integrity in sustainable living, and visible actions such as posters and notes encouraging light turn-offs and other energy-saving measures. Her efforts enhanced office community awareness of sustainability issues. For these contributions, colleagues nominated her, and she won the 2022 University of Otago Staff Award for Sustainable Practice by Staff (Individual) from the Health Sciences Division. Additionally, as a postgraduate, she received the 2018 Otago Institute Postgraduate Student Travel Award and the best poster for a lay audience at the 2017 University of Otago Research Poster Competition for her work on homeopathy use in New Zealand.

Her research outputs include co-authoring What is the ocean: A sea-change in our perceptions and values?, published in 2020 in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.