The Star: January 20, 2022

The Star Thursday January 20 2022
14
OUR PEOPLE – EKANT VEER
Stargazing professor and his
Ekant Veer arrived in
New Zealand from
the United Kingdom
midway through the
fifth form and, inspired
by his late grandfather’s
ground-breaking
education, he has built
a formidable reputation
among lecturers at
Canterbury University.
The professor, keen
astrophotographer and
hiker documents his
sometimes controversial
career to Chris Barclay
Your family are from the
north of India near the border
with Nepal, but your first
sporting passion is football, not
cricket. Please explain . . .
I was born in Liverpool and
left reasonably quickly so I
don’t retain the Scouse accent. I
mainly grew up in the south of
the United Kingdom but I still
staunchly support Liverpool.
When did your parents
emigrate to Merseyside from
Uttar Pradesh?
Satvir (dad) and Archana
moved to the UK in the mid to
late 70s. When I was about 15 we
moved to New Zealand.
How did the family end up in
New Zealand?
Dad worked for the NHS
(National Health Service) and
he saw this opportunity to head
up Waikato Hospital’s mental
health unit. He said to me
and my brothers (Vikrant and
Nishant): ‘How about moving
to New Zealand?’ We thought:
‘It’s an amazing island paradise’.
We landed and ended up in
Hamilton. We thought: ‘This
is not what we thought New
Zealand was’.
We’ll be charitable and
offer you a chance to placate
residents of the Waikato’s
much-maligned centrepiece . . .
I have a lot of love for
Hamilton, I met my wife
(Unicia) there, I fell in love
with rugby there. I work with
STAR TEACHER: Ekant Veer combines an interest in astrophotography with his awardwinning
lecturing at Canterbury University.
PHOTO: CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY
(Crusaders chief executive) Colin
(Mansbridge) and the team
regularly on their marketing,
and I still let them know I’m a
Chiefs fan.
Before the Covid-19
pandemic did you ever visit
your ancestral home?
Many times. Most of my
family are still in India. My dad
is number 11 from 12 kids.
You took your daughters to
India in 2019, it was quite a
poignant journey to the village
named Alam . . .
My grandfather (Pita-ji) was
the first person in my family to
learn how to read and write. He
used the sacrifice the family put
into paying for his education to
become a teacher. His family
were subsistence farmers and
his older brothers didn’t want
him to have the same life and
committed to paying for his
education. One day he wanted to
be like his brothers, so he picked
potatoes in the field rather than
do his homework. They kicked
INSPIRATION: Ekant Veer’s
grandfather Pita-ji, the
first member of his family
to learn how to read and
write, eventually became a
teacher.
the s**t out of him and said:
‘Our job is to pick potatoes, your
job is to study’. He went on to
university and when he had a
family he set up a school for girls
(and his daughters). It was good
for my girls to go back and see
where they could have ended up
… a very different world.
Your grandfather died in his
80s when you were 14, but in a
way his legacy lives on in your
teaching at UC doesn’t it . . .
I’m trying to give back. I can’t
see any greater way to give than
see other people be elevated by
their experience at university.
I’m not so arrogant to say that
I’m transforming these people’s
lives but it’s a cool way to give
back rather than make money
off people, make an extra 10
per cent shareholder value for a
millionaire.
That represents a change
of mindset from when you
graduated from Waikato
University with a Bachelor
of Management Studies in
marketing and information
studies doesn’t it?
I spent a couple of years
in corporate marketing for a
direct mail, effectively junk
mail, company in Auckland. I
was in the consumer insights
area … understanding which
suburbs consumers would be
more receptive (to a product)
and where the biggest return
on investment would be. A lot
of that is consumer psychology,
what drives these people? What
makes people tick? That was
fascinating to me but doing
it for profit wasn’t. At 24 I
couldn’t see myself doing it for
40 years, or even climbing the
ladder.
So you returned to campus in
Auckland to study for a PhD in
marketing?
The focus was can we use
marketing and advertising to
encourage young people living in
poverty to make healthy eating
and exercise choices? I spent a
lot of time in low decile schools
in Manurewa to see whether
advertising can make a change
in diet and exercise behaviours.
Long story short, no, not really.
You can’t just advertise healthy
living.
Was it difficult to transition
to teaching?
Auckland (university) was
good for me because it wanted
to create great academics. You
have to be good at your research,
but you also have to teach
while you’re doing it. I was an
assistant lecturer when doing
my PhD. I always enjoyed that
engagement and the teaching
side. My first lecturing job was
at the University of Bath (UK)
from 2006-2009. I joined UC’s
Department of Management in
2010.
Do you have a goal when
lecturing in this sphere of
influence?
All of this is hopefully for
societal and human betterment
as opposed to a financial gain,
exploitation. Marketing is
usually given a bad rap: ‘You’re
just there to make money off
people’. Most of my research
throughout my career has been:
‘How do we benefit society in
some way?’
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..but it was more than that. The value of what we could get here
- three bedrooms, a double garage, so I could have my workshop,
and a small garden to keep Diane, my wife, happy...well, we just knew
it was the one.”
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BRUCE WALLACE - RETIRED BUSINESSMAN
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