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Social Sciences and Humanities
New Zealand
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Social Sciences and Humanities

D-Index
73
Citations
15452
World Ranking
648
National Ranking
5

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Social Sciences and Humanities in New Zealand Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Social Sciences and Humanities in New Zealand Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Social Sciences and Humanities in New Zealand Leader Award
  • 2020 - Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Overview

Robin Kearns is affiliated with the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Their primary field of study is Social Sciences, with a focus on subfields such as Sociology and Political Science, Geography, Planning and Development, General Health Professions, Demography, and Urban Studies.

Kearns's research covers several main topics, including:

  • Geographies of human-animal interactions
  • Homelessness and Social Issues
  • Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
  • Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
  • Island Studies and Pacific Affairs
  • Urban Transport and Accessibility
  • Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism

Frequent publication venues for their work include:

  • New Zealand Geographer
  • Wellbeing Space and Society
  • Health & Place
  • Housing Studies
  • Geographical Research

Kearns has collaborated regularly with several co-authors, including:

  • Karen Witten
  • Tara Coleman
  • Neil Lindsay
  • Melody Smith
  • Katherine Hore

Recent papers by Robin Kearns illustrate the diversity of their research contributions. These include:

  • "Coastal Communities, Leisure and Wellbeing: Advancing a Trans-Disciplinary Agenda for Understanding Ocean-Human Relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand," 2021, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • "Mobility barriers and enablers and their implications for the wellbeing of disabled children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand: A cross-sectional qualitative study," 2021, Wellbeing Space and Society
  • "People's Participation in Disaster-Risk Reduction: Recentering Power," 2020, Natural Hazards Review
  • "Covid-19 in New Zealand and the Pacific: implications for children and families," 2021, Children's Geographies
  • "Narrative and metaphors in New Zealand's efforts to eliminate COVID-19," 2021, Geographical Research

In 2020, Robin Kearns was recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Best Publications

  • Place and Health: Towards a Reformed Medical Geography∗

    Robin A. Kearns

  • From medical to health geography: novelty, place and theory after a decade of change

    Robin Kearns;Graham Moon

  • Narrative analysis as a strategy for understanding interview talk in geographic research

    Janine L Wiles;Mark W Rosenberg;Robin A Kearns

  • Putting Health Into Place: Landscape, Identity, and Well-being

    Robin A. Kearns;Wilbert M. Gesler

  • Naming as Norming: ‘Race’, Gender, and the Identity Politics of Naming Places in Aotearoa/New Zealand:

    Lawrence D Berg;Robin A Kearns

  • Space in its place: Developing the link in medical geography

    Robin A. Kearns;Alun E. Joseph

  • Culture/place/health

    Wilbert M. Gesler;Robin A. Kearns

  • The societal costs and benefits of commuter bicycling: simulating the effects of specific policies using system dynamics modeling.

    Alexandra Macmillan;Jennie Connor;Karen Witten;Robin A. Kearns

  • Can virtual streetscape audits reliably replace physical streetscape audits

    Hannah M. Badland;Simon Opit;Karen Witten;Robin A. Kearns

  • Seeking affective health care: Korean immigrants' use of homeland medical services.

    Jane YeonJae Lee;Robin A. Kearns;Wardlow Friesen

  • Proclaiming place: Towards a geography of place name pronunciation

    Robin A. Kearns;Lawrence D. Berg

  • Transforming the relations of research: towards culturally safe geographies of health and healing

    Isabel Dyck;Robin Kearns

  • The safe journeys of an enterprising school: negotiating landscapes of opportunity and risk.

    Damian C.A Collins;Robin A Kearns

  • Nuances of neighbourhood: Children’s perceptions of the space between home and school in Auckland, New Zealand

    Hannah Mitchell;Robin A. Kearns;Damian C.A. Collins

  • The walking school bus: extending children's geographies?

    Robin A Kearns;Damian C A Collins;Patricia M Neuwelt

  • Under curfew and under siege? Legal geographies of young people

    Damian C.A. Collins;Robin A. Kearns

  • Kids in the City: Children's Use and Experiences of Urban Neighbourhoods in Auckland, New Zealand

    Penelope Carroll;Karen Witten;Robin Kearns;Phil Donovan

  • Restructuring health and rural communities in New Zealand

    Robin A. Kearns;Alun E. Joseph

  • The impacts of a school closure on neighbourhood social cohesion: narratives from Invercargill, New Zealand.

    Karen Witten;Tim McCreanor;Robin Kearns;Laxmi Ramasubramanian

  • Narrative and metaphor in health geographies

    Robin A. Kearns

  • Geographies of inequality: child pedestrian injury and walking school buses in Auckland, New Zealand.

    Damian C.A. Collins;Robin A. Kearns

Frequent Co-Authors

Karen Witten
Karen Witten Massey University
Suzanne Mavoa
Suzanne Mavoa University of Melbourne
Hannah Badland
Hannah Badland RMIT University
Graham Moon
Graham Moon University of Southampton
Tim McCreanor
Tim McCreanor Massey University
Janine Wiles
Janine Wiles University of Auckland
Gavin Andrews
Gavin Andrews University of New South Wales
Christine Milligan
Christine Milligan Lancaster University
Max Abbott
Max Abbott Auckland University of Technology
Scott L. Nichol
Scott L. Nichol Geoscience Australia

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