Post Graduate Students' Association - PGSA
The PGSA exists to represent all postgraduate interests at the University of Waikato. We work towards improving conditions at the university so that your postgraduate experience is positive and rewarding. We encourage you to make contact with us if you have any questions or concerns relating to your studies. Our goal is to cultivate a strong postgraduate culture on campus.
Benefits of becoming a Waikato PGSA member:
- Make contact with other postgraduate students
- Support of the executive as your voice on campus
- Form multi-disciplinary links in the university
- Keep informed of relevant issues to postgraduate students
- Free membership with the Waikato Student's Union (WSU). (Note: if you do not wish to be enrolled as a WSU member, please let us know in the comments section below)
Executive
Meet the members of our executive
President: Musbaudeen Titilope Oladejo
Waikato Management School
Musbaudeen is a PhD student at the Waikato Management School. He has been privileged to study in four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. He is a Chartered Accountant, Certified Pension Administrator and Professional Tax Practitioner with over 15 years post qualification experience. He is a proud recipient of the military medal: Force Service Star (FSS). His current scholarship emphasizes his ongoing interest in emerging blockchain technology and the implications for the accounting and auditing profession, fraud prevention and detection. His philosophy of life is to live and let others live, do not destroy what you cannot build. He loves cooking, meeting people, running and playing football.
Vice-President: Khusrow Akkas Abbasi
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Khusrow is a PhD student in Political Science. His research topic focuses on China’s nuclear weapons program and its implications for international security. Abbasi like traveling, meeting new people and is keen to discuss issues related to students at the University of Waikato.
Treasurer: Roya Taherifar
Waikato Management School
Roya is a PhD student in finance. She started her PhD in 2020, and her research topic is about investigating the impact of pay inequality on employees and company performance. Her other research interest areas focus on understanding the determinant of labour share, gender pay inequality, firm governance, and corporate finance. Her hobbies are hiking, exercising, watching movies, and reading.
Secretary: Shima Bazrafshan
Waikato Management School
Shima is a PhD candidate in Tourism Management. In her research, she is trying to understand the experiences of migrant women of being involved in entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector. Prior to commencing doctoral studies, Shima was working as an assistant manager in the Ministry of Tourism in Iran. She also has plenty of experience in teaching and currently she is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Waikato. Other than academia, she is interested in traveling, hiking, and interacting with people.
Public Relations Manager: Sanoon Fathima Fasana
Waikato Management School
Fasana is a PhD candidate at the School of Management and Marketing. She began her PhD studies in 2019 after completing her Masters in Business Administration from Sri Lanka. Her research is about examining the dark side of entrepreneurial passion. Her other areas of research interest include the psychology of entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization, and conflict management. Her research works have been presented at several research conferences and published in many local and international journals. Fasana has many years of teaching experience in Entrepreneurship and Management subjects. She has been working as a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Uva Wellassa University, Sri Lanka, since 2011. She is also working as a teaching assistant in the School of Management and Marketing, University of Waikato. In addition to being an academic and a young researcher, she is interested in socializing with people from different nationalities, learning about their cultures, cooking, and travelling.
Liaison/Cordinator Tauranga Campus: Ma. Roxanne L. Fernandez
Faculty of Health, Sport and Human Performance
Roxanne is a Ph.D. student in Health, Sport, and Human Performance. In addition, she is a Registered Physiotherapist and college lecturer at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines. Her research project involves testing the validity and reliability of the Calf Raise smartphone application, which tracks and quantifies calf muscle performance across a different range of individuals, from youth to elderly and sedentary to high-level athletes. To balance life and studies, she loves to read books, do yoga, and meditate. She is a proud introvert, has a competitive spirit, and enjoys autonomy.
Executive Members
Mauricio Kimura
Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Mauricio is a trained Brazilian lawyer, spent the last 20 years in law firms and corporate legal departments, like IBM and CBS. Currently enrolled as 3rd year Ph.D. candidate at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, researching about legal personality for Artificial Intelligent agents. Previously earned his LL.M degree from The George Washington University Law School, in Washington DC and his LL.B from Sao Bernardo do Campo School of Law, Brazil. Hobbies are running, reading and judo. Married and father of 3 little boys. Lived in US, Europe, and Japan. Fluent speaker of Portuguese and Spanish. Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Muhammad Taimur
Waikato Management School
Muhammad Taimur is a third-year Ph.D. student at the School of Accounting, Finance, and Economics. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan funds his Ph.D. studies. His areas of academic interests are Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, and Business Research Methods. Currently, he is developing a Sustainability Reporting framework for the corporate sector of Pakistan. Before commencing his Ph.D., Muhammad was teaching at a state university in Pakistan. He also was a part of the Global Undergrad Exchange Program sponsored and administered by the US State Department. Other than academia and research, he is passionate about traveling, hiking, bush walks, swimming and social networking.
Muhammad Waqas Sarwar
School of Engineering
Waqas is a Ph.D. student in the School of Engineering. He came to New Zealand in 2018, after finishing his masters in Agricultural Engineering from Pakistan. His research is about the time-frequency analysis of streamflow records and their characterization in relation to the catchment characteristics. His area of research interest includes Hydrology, GIS, numerical modeling, and flood risk assessment. He loves watching movies and playing cricket in his spare time.
Naushad Khan Feroz
Waikato Management School
Noushad is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Waikato. His research interest includes financial markets, financial institutions, investor perceptions, decision-making, social networks, and cross-cultural settings. He has presented research papers at a number of reputable national and international conferences. Furthermore, Noushad has progressive professional work experience in numerous organizations, which have enabled him to develop skills in the areas of tutoring, research, data analysis, and report writing.