Rate My Professor Navé Wald

Dr Navé Wald is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Graduate Research School at the University of Otago, where he serves as Graduate Research Development Coach. In this role, he provides one-to-one and small group coaching for graduate research candidates, supporting the development of key research knowledge and skills, as well as addressing challenges such as time management, procrastination, imposter syndrome, supervisory relationships, and expectations of graduate study. He also coordinates HEDU 503 Research Methods in Higher Education at the Centre for Educational Design and Innovation and lectures in HEDU 590 Research Dissertation. Wald holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the Department of Geography at the University of Otago, completed in 2013, with a thesis titled examining grassroots responses to economic, political, and social challenges of peasant-led development in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. His early research focused on development geography, including anarchist participatory development, land tenure tensions in Argentina's agrarian periphery, food sovereignty, and alternative sustainable value chains such as organic foods, geographical indications, and fair trade.

Wald's research has shifted to higher education pedagogy and development, with specializations in research methodology, academic developers' professional identity, doctoral co-supervision, student learning and assessment, and ethical AI use in academia. Key publications include the co-authored book Higher Education Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Research Process (Routledge, 2025) with Ben Kei Daniel and Tony Harland; the edited volume Global Perspectives on Enhancing Doctoral Co-Supervision (Springer Nature, 2024) with Vijay Kumar; 'Reflections on academic austerity in the neoliberal university' (Higher Education Research & Development, 2025); 'A model of academic developers’ formation and growth of professional identity: a focus on the affective factors' (Higher Education Research & Development, 2024); 'The importance of workplace factors and the professional identity of academic developers' (Higher Education Research & Development, 2024); 'Why be a Head of Department? Exploring the Positive Aspects and Benefits' (Studies in Higher Education, 2020); and 'A framework for authenticity in designing a research-based curriculum' (Teaching in Higher Education, 2017). His work appears in leading journals, contributing to discussions on academic leadership, teaching innovation, and professional development in higher education.