Rate My Professor Marie Russell

Dr. Marie Russell serves as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington. She completed her PhD in Public Health from the University of Otago in 2012, focusing her doctoral research on travel time use on public transport through structured observations of passengers on buses and trains. Earlier qualifications include a Diploma of Public Health from the University of Otago Wellington in 2004, an MA in Applied Social Science Research from Victoria University of Wellington, a Diploma from the New Zealand Library School in 1978, and a BA in English from Victoria University of Wellington in 1976. Throughout her career, Russell has worked as a librarian, a social researcher in health services and public health, a mother at home, and an occasional radio documentary maker and filmmaker. Her professional trajectory at the University of Otago includes contributions to the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit (HePPRU), where she has advanced research in health policy and promotion.

Russell's academic interests center on public health policy, sustainable transport, tobacco control, firearms and environmental health risks, child protection, urban governance, and health inequalities. Her research employs qualitative approaches, including focus groups, policy-maker interviews, and surveys. Key publications encompass 'What Do Passengers Do During Travel Time? Structured Observations on Buses and Trains' (2011), 'Daring to Dream: Reactions to Tobacco Endgame Ideas among New Zealand Policy Makers, Voters and Smokers' (2011), 'Attitudes to Physical Punishment of Children are Changing' (2016), 'Process, Pitfalls and Profits: Lessons from Interviewing New Zealand Policy-Makers' (2016), 'Benchmarking Cycling and Walking in Six New Zealand Cities: Pilot Study 2015' (2017), 'Beyond the Bicycle: Seeing the Context of the Gender Gap in Cycling' (2020), 'Pedaling Towards Equity: Cycling, Gender and Ethnicity in Aotearoa/New Zealand' (2021), and 'Firearms and Lead' (2019). With 34 publications and over 500 citations, her work informs policy on smokefree environments, active transport equity—particularly gender and ethnic disparities—lead poisoning from shooting, gun control post-Christchurch, and public consultation in local government. Russell contributes to public discourse through opinion pieces on defence spending, hunter lobbies, and climate action priorities.