The Dunedin Study - Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Research Unit

Tēnā koutou/Hello to you all,

We write with very sad news. Richie Poulton, our much loved, recently retired Director, passed away on Friday 29th of September.

Everyone had hoped for a longer retirement for Richie, but that was not to be. He started this year with a bucket list journey to Antarctica, which he described as magnificent. He just recently returned from Africa to be part of the nature there that he so loved. This trip included a hot air balloon ride, which is incredible considering that he was ill at the time. But that was Richie’s character - to seek out experiences and connections with the world until the last.

We know that he will be missed by, the Study members, and the team here that has worked with him – in some cases for decades. And missed as well as by those he has worked with in government, charity organisations, and in the community.

But most of all, of course, he will be missed by wife Sandhya, who is also our Research Manager, his daughter Priyanka, and his wider family. Together they have been working so hard to ensure that Richie was able to live his very best life as he endured this disease.

Richie was dedicated to the Dunedin Study and to using the gift that the Study members gave for the betterment of all New Zealanders.

Kua hinga te tōtara i Te Waonui-a-Tāne - A mighty totara has fallen in the great forest of Tāne.

The Dunedin Study Team

Happy 50th birthday from Richie and the Dunedin Study team

It’s been 50 incredible years and we wanted to thank all our Study Members and their whanau for your support over these many years and wish you a very happy birthday.

The Dunedin Study hits 50 yearsTVNZ Dunedin Study turns 50Otago Daily Times Dunedin Study celebrates 50 years of global research impactOtago Bulletin Board The Dunedin study at 50: landmark experiment tracked 1,000 people from birthThe Guardian 50 years old: the Dunedin Study's amazing life-spanRadio New Zealand

"Happy 50th birthday to each and every Study member over the next year! Thank you for the precious gift of your life stories – a taonga (treasure) helping generations’ live better lives. "

Dr Sandhya Ramrakha, Dunedin Study Research Manager

"Dear Dunedin Study, Greetings from Ireland! You have been so important to me for many years. I am so grateful for all you have given to me and I hope that my work has been worthy of your wonderful study. Enjoy your Fab Fifties!!! Onwards and Upwards. "

Professor Mary Cannon - Dublin, Ireland

"Happy 50th birthday Study members as you enter the next stage of your lives, of which I was honoured to be a small part of from your 18th to 44th birthdays. Your continued participation throughout your life has enabled the gathering of the most comprehensive longitudinal data set of a group of people ever undertaken throughout the world and for which you should be so proud and highly acclaimed. Thank you for allowing me and all the office staff over the years who coordinated arrangements for your visits, into your lives, and may you celebrate this milestone birthday in style. With warm regards and happy memories."

Camp Mother aka Michelle McCann.

"Great to see the project has reached 50 years.
So pleased to be part of the team and congratulations to all of participants that make this wonderful study. Best wishes Rob
"

Professor Rob Walker, Dunedin NZ

"Dear Richie and your Dunedin Study team, past and present. Congratulations on making it to your 50th anniversary! What a world-class achievement, in the true sense of the word. But it’s not about just quantity or length of time but quality. And here you are masters of the known universe. Well done, and so enjoy to the hilt all the fun that goes with the much-deserved celebrations. "

Professor Cliff Abraham, Dunedin, NZ

"Happiest 50th birthday to the Dunedin Study! To the study members, a big heartfelt thank you for giving us your time, your commitment, and your life. You have been, and continue to be, a gift to science. To the research team who have persevered with this amazing project through thick and thin, huge congratulations to you on reaching this milestone. Here’s to another 50 years!"

Dr Joan Leung - Auckland, NZ

"Dunedin Study - Hari huritau! Congratulations on 50 years! An incredibly special study that has been made possible by 50 years of participation and contributions from the Study members and their families. Also, a wonderful achievement for the Dunedin and University community, researchers and staff - past and present, and everyone that has contributed to making the Study such a success. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou."

Associate Professor Moana Theodore, Dunedin NZ

"I have always felt it was an absolute privilege to be part of the team over so many years. I felt very fortunate working amongst so many clever, enthusiastic and dedicated people from such a diverse range of interesting and specialised backgrounds, many of whom have become my lifelong friends.
The Study's empathetic and totally confidential approach has rightly engendered the trust and candour of the Study Members in sharing so many aspects of their lives from the highs and lows to the humdrum patterns of everyday living. This would never have been achieved otherwise. Huge kudos to Richie and Phil for their bravery and persistence in bringing it to where it is today. Congratulations on 50 years!
"

Ros Sydney, Oturehua, NZ

"Fantastic! Well done and happy birthday! "

Associate Professor Barry Milne - Auckland, NZ

"Feliz aniversario – Happy birthday Dunedin Study! Thanks to all Study members for their kind dedication and enormous contribution throughout these five decades!"

Begoña Ruiz, Dunedin Study PhD Student from Santiago, Chile

"Happy birthday to you all – what a milestone to reach 50! And you don’t look it, of course! Such a privilege to have worked with you all."

Professor Murray Thomson, Dunedin NZ

"Kia ora Richie, On behalf of the Oxidative Stress team, I wanted to congratulate you, your team and all of the Study members on the 50th birthday of the study. I would also like to say a massive thank you for the thousands of hours of “blood, sweat and tears” (especially the blood ) that have gone into this amazing study! We feel very privileged to have recently joined the study. It has been a very stimulating time, and we are looking forward to the exciting results that come from the next stages."

Professor Mark Hampton, Christchurch, NZ

"Dear Dunedin Study Members, I have been a part of the Study for nearly 30 years. Thank you for sharing your lives. It has been a privilege. Happy 50th birthday!!"

HonaLee Harrington, Data Manager, North Carolina, USA

"It has been a great privilege to work with the study teams over the years. "

Emeritus Professor Malcom Sears - Toronto, Canada

"The warmest of wishes on a milestone birthday for this wonderful Study. Moreover, to the participants who have given themselves to science for 50 years!
Feel a bit Kiwi myself now after 5 years in Dunners (but the accent is definitely Northern UK).
"

Tony Ambler, Dunedin Study Data Manager, London/Leeds, UK

"I too would like to echo the congratulations. When I arrived in Dunedin in 1987 as a young consultant, I was woven into some of the work of the Study, and did so for 10 years. The multidisciplinary dimensions to the study always meant that there was always enthusiasm about new endeavours and I certainly benefited from that. Thank you to Malcolm and Richie in particular. "

Professor Robin Taylor - Edinburgh, Scotland

"It has been an honour to be part of the Dunedin Study Story for the last 19 years. The gift you Study Members give is both humbling and priceless."

Hairy Sean, Dunedin Study Cohort and Assessment Manager

"The Dunedin Study has set the standards for 50 years for other longitudinal cohorts. A guiding light for investigators from so many disciplines. Countless researchers started, established and consolidated their career with data from the Dunedin Study! I am grateful to be one of them. Thank you to everybody involved in this one of a kind study. "

Professor Louise Arseneault, London, UK

"Happy birthday to the most wonderful bunch of people. Thank you for your tenacious generosity and kindness. "

Dr Ramakrishna Mani, Dunedin NZ

"Not many people can claim as much productivity and insight across their first 50 years—or even beyond—as can The Dunedin Study. One might regard it as the Apple of health and behaviour research. Congratulations. And may The Study have many more productive decades. "

Professor Jay Belsky, California, USA

"Fifty years! What a remarkable achievement! Having also turned 50 recently, I feel a special connection with the Dunedin Study. Congratulations to the Study team for so many years of hard work and innovation and my warmest wishes to the study members on this milestone birthday!
"

Professor Sara Jaffee - Pennsylvania, USA

"Happy 50th birthday to the Study members! Thanks for sharing your lives with us - your generosity has helped countless others. I feel very privileged to be part of the amazing story of the Dunedin Study. Here's to many more years ahead! "

Dr. Ashleight Barrett-Young, Dunedin Study Research Fellow

"Happy 50th to the members of the Dunedin Study! Your contribution to the study, and all we have learned from it, is invaluable."

Dr Hayley Guiney, Dunedin Study Research Fellow

"Special 50th birthday wishes to Dunedin study participants and to the many researchers, funders and others who have supported their participation in this remarkable, world-leading study – I hope you all take time to celebrate 50 years of contributing to the health and wellbeing of others! ‘He aha te mea nui o te ao? Māku e kī atu, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata' [What is the most important thing in this world? It is people, it is people, it is people.]"

Professor Suzanne Purdy, Auckland, NZ

"Dear Richie, Sandhya, Phil and all the wonderful team and participants in this very special study. A very Happy 50th Birthday; what a milestone! You have all made such an incredible contribution to our understanding of human development, health and wellbeing. An extraordinary achievement and I look forward to celebrating in person when we can get together. "

Professor Peter Thorne, Auckland, NZ

"Congratulations on 50 years from the dental team! We greatly appreciate being able to work with you and examine your teeth, and that’s the tooth!"

Professor Jonathan Broadbent, Dunedin NZ

Message from the Director

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit website. Here you will find information about the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study (the Dunedin Study for short) which has now been ongoing for half a century. At our last phase (age) 45 data collection, 94% of living Study members participated - an unmitigated success.

We tell you how the Study began, details of the assessments we have conducted and the publications that have been generated. We describe the sub-studies of the Dunedin Study: the Parenting Study, the Next Generation Study and the Family Health History Study. Whether you are a Study member, researcher, or a member of the public, I hope you will find this information interesting and useful.

The wider Dunedin community has been critical in helping build the Dunedin study. We thank all those who have contributed, in many different ways, over the past 50 years.

Finally, we extend a special thanks to the 1037 Study members, their families and friends who have willingly given so much, for so long, in the hope of helping others. On behalf of all the researchers involved, we salute you.

Professor Richie Poulton, CNZM FRSNZ
Director

**Photo credit: Sharron Bennett NZ Listener

News and Events

Dunedin Study receives £1.4m award to explore how aging works during midlifets Governor-General of New Zealand acknowledges Dunedin Study’s 50-year milestone Award winning series "Why am I ? The Science of Us" now available to view free in NZ NZ Herald/The conversation: Covid-19 anti vaccine roots revealed by Dunedin Study Dunedin Study cited in Science News' "100 years of psychology studies have tried to make sense of the mind " "The Origins of You" has pride of place on PM's bookshelf One News Richie Poulton Interview "Unified approach needed to turn around 'pandemic of psychological distress' among NZ youth " Breaking bones in childhood more than doubles the odds of it happening again as an adult, study finds

Featured publications

Deep-seated psychological histories of COVID-19 vaccine hesitance and resistance The Dunedin study after half a century: reflections on the past, and course for the future Construct Validity of Triarchic Model Traits in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study Using the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire Disordered gambling in a longitudinal birth cohort: From childhood precursors to adult life outcomes Oral Health-Related Quality of Life from Young Adulthood to Mid-Life Life-Course Persistent Antisocial Behavior and Accelerated Biological Aging in a Longitudinal Birth Cohort Kidney-Function Trajectories From Young Adulthood to Midlife: Identifying Risk Strata and Opportunities for Intervention