Peter Davis (sociologist)
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Early life
Davis was born in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, England, on 25 April 1947,<ref name="Naturalisation">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and spent his childhood in Tanzania, where his father worked for a mining company.<ref name=press20060923 >Template:Cite journal</ref> His father was born in China and his mother in India, but a great-great-grandfather had grown up in New Zealand.<ref name=dominion19981221 /> He was educated at Bradfield College. Davis gained a master's degree in sociology and statistics at the London School of Economics.<ref name=dominion19981221 /> He moved to New Zealand in 1970 to work at the University of Canterbury<ref name=dominion19981221 /> and completed a PhD at the University of Auckland.<ref name=press20060923 /> He became a naturalised New Zealander in 1972.<ref name="Naturalisation"/> He was part of a team investigating oral health in New Zealand and was joint editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology. In 1976 he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Auckland school of medicine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1980 he stood unsuccessfully for the Auckland City Council on a Labour Party ticket.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1988 he was elected to the Auckland Regional Authority for the Mount Albert ward.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal life
Davis met Clark, then a political-science lecturer at Auckland, in 1977<ref name=dominion19981221 >Template:Cite journal</ref> and they married in 1981.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In May 2025, Davis attracted controversy after responding to the discovery of antisemitic graffiti in Wellington with a social media post stating "you reap what you sow." His remarks were widely interpreted as downplaying or rationalising the hate crime, leading to condemnation from community leaders and human rights advocates. The Israel Institute of New Zealand called for Davis's resignation from The Helen Clark Foundation, arguing that his comments were incompatible with its mission of promoting social cohesion and inclusivity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Career
Davis specialises in medical sociology, and from 2004 to 2017 worked as the Director of the COMPASS (Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences) Research Centre he established at the University of Auckland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2014 he was awarded a James Cook Research Fellowship for a research project titled "New Zealand as a 'social laboratory'".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is now Professor Emeritus in the School of Population Health and Honorary Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Previously he served as Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago's Christchurch School of Medicine.
He has previously served on the Auckland Area Health Board, and was a representative in 1989 when his wife (Health Minister at the time) suspended that body. Davis has achieved international recognition in his field, having worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2019 Davis became a City Vision candidate for the Auckland District Health Board and was subsequently elected.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
He is a trustee and former chair of The Helen Clark Foundation board, an organisation he helped found in 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Notes
References
- University of Auckland- press release
- Wayne Thompson: "PM's spouse eases long-distance stress" in The New Zealand Herald, Friday 6 February 2004
- University of Auckland profile
- Professores Emeriti of the University of Auckland
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- 1947 births
- Alumni of the London School of Economics
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- Helen Clark
- Living people
- Medical sociologists
- Naturalised citizens of New Zealand
- People from Milford on Sea
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- Academic staff of the University of Otago
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