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Janet Hoek    

Professor of Marketing at the University of Otago; Anti-Smoking Activist Fighting for a Smoke Free New Zealand by 2025

Janet Hoek is a New Zealand academic, and a full professor at the University of Otago. She joined the Department in 2009; her first degrees were in English Literature and she also studied Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, and French. Hoek subsequently completed a post-graduate diploma in marketing and a PhD examining question wording effects in surveys.

Today, Hoek's main research interests are in the public health-marketing-policy nexus. She is co-Director of ASPIRE 2025, a University of Otago Research Theme whose members undertake research supporting the Government’s smokefree 2025 goal. Since 2017, she has held a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health.

Hoek has led several projects funded by the Health Research Council. The first of these examined plain (or standardized) packaging and tobacco branding, and informed policy in New Zealand and internationally; a subsequent HRC-funded project examined novel on-pack tobacco warnings. Janet led an HRC-funded feasibility study assessing ‘smart’ e-cigarettes and she is currently leading an HRC-funded project examining information that could promote uptake of e-cigarettes among smokers while deterring uptake among non-smokers. Hoek has been an AI on HRC-funded obesity studies, including a novel project – Kids’ Cam – that examines food marketing in children’s environments.

Hoek has also received funding from the Royal Society Marsden Fund for leading a project that critically evaluated tobacco industry arguments framing smoking as an “informed choice” and a study probing identity shifts as smokers adopt vaping and potentially become both smoke- and vape-free.

As a member of several NGO and government advisory groups, Hoek has provided evidence to government and Select Committees, and was a member of an Australian government expert advisory group overseeing the introduction of plain packaging. She has sat on several research grant and selection committees, as well as strategy development and policy groups. She is currently Deputy Chair of the 2018 PBRF Business and Economics panel.

Hoek was a member of the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC) executive from 2003-2008, including two years as Secretary, three years as chair of the Awards Committee, and two years as Vice President. In 2009 she was made a Distinguished Member of ANZMAC. She has received several awards for research excellence and service as a reviewer; in 2017 she received the inaugural Division of Commerce Awards for Best Contribution to the Research Environment; Best Research Collaboration (ASPIRE2025), and Research Impact.

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