Member Spotlight - Antonia Verstappen.

Tell us a bit about your work and what you love about it?
I am a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland's School of Medicine. My area is focused on health systems, workforce and policy research, and I run two large longitudinal health workforce studies.

With these studies, I gather data on our clinical students' future workforce intentions, and my colleagues and I use these data to model the future areas of need in New Zealand's medical and health workforces. My research group and I report this information back to the government and medical colleges, to help inform their policy and planning processes.

Supervising student research is an increasingly big part of my job, and doing interdisciplinary health workforce research means that I get to collaborate with co-supervisors and research students from schools and departments right across the faculty – nursing, pharmacy, optometry, medicine, public health – it really keeps things interesting!

I love my work because I get the privilege of working with incredible, kind, fascinating colleagues and students every day, and get paid to be a huge policy nerd! Something I really enjoy about the work that I do is how different most days are – one day I'm helping guide a student through their masters research project, another I'm neck deep in data and spreadsheets, and then I'm off meeting with policy makers and helping to find solutions to New Zealand's health workforce challenges. I recently finished my (part-time) PhD, and at my ceremony I got to see some of my former students graduate, which is just so rewarding.

What are the challenges?
The current economic climate at our institutions is a challenge for everyone, I think. Decreasing government funding over many years and the diminishing science funding landscape are making things really tough on the ground for those of us working in the sector. We're seeing this show up in lots of ways – colleagues unable to secure funding for important research, increasing workloads, and in some cases, courses and programmes being cut.

I have recently been reflecting on what it used to be like when I first entered the sector about 15 years ago as a junior researcher and teaching assistant – some of those nice things like the school-wide once-a-month Friday get together, or the Christmas faculty BBQ, where we could meet colleagues, pick the brains of more senior academics, and spark ideas and collaboration, have long gone to budget cuts and now seem like such a distant memory.

It would be remiss of me not to mention precarious work here, too. As someone on a fixed term contract (and who has been for many years), I know first hand how difficult experiencing precarious work makes life feel. I've recently been talking to similarly precarious colleagues about the shared challenges of extended precarity in our employment and the impact it has on their lives – not being able to get a loan to buy a house, delaying starting a family, and the constant stress and uncertainty. This is the dark side of our sector, and I'm really proud of the many steps that our union is taking to stand up to precarious employment practices.

Why is it important to you to belong to your union?
Joining our union was never a question for me - in my family, it's just what you do! I grew up watching my mum go out on strike for fair pay and conditions for teachers, and so as soon as I got my job at the university, I joined the TEU.

For me, it's about values – solidarity, equity, and fairness. I truly believe that we are stronger and more able to take on those tough challenges that face us in our working lives when we work together in solidarity.

Our union is also just such a wonderful bunch of people, and I've been so lucky to meet such great colleagues and friends through my time in the TEU – the best people are union! While it can sometimes be frustrating work, there's something really satisfying in serving and contributing to the wider cause through union activism. It's taught me a lot, given me some incredible opportunities, and allowed me to meet some truly excellent people – I'd really encourage anyone thinking about getting more involved in our union to give it a go.