Dr Thomas Huggins started his extraordinary and adventurous life in the paradise known as Paraparaumu, located well north of Wellington in New Zealand. Currently working as an Assistant Professor of Applied Psychology in the Division of Science and Technology, his journey took him from this sleepy coastal village and all around the world before arriving at UIC.
Dr Thomas Huggins
His family soon swapped the long beaches and islands of Paraparaumu for the green hills of Tawa, another beautiful town close to Wellington. Growing up in this environment fostered his passion for outdoor activities and sports. He loved sports and training so much that he earned a Diploma in Exercise Science at Massey University. At the time, sports and fitness were receiving strong support and funding from the New Zealand government and other institutions, so there was a high demand for personal trainers, physios, and athletes. Rugby and karate had been his favourite sports to play; however, he played various others depending on the season and what was going on.
After receiving his diploma, Dr Huggins managed his own business in his early 20s. He ran a small gym, a karate dojo and took up freelance work as a personal trainer. There were plenty of opportunities, such as subcontracts to pick up and many people who wanted to be trained in physical fitness, including lead stunt team members from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Dr Huggins found great satisfaction from being involved in the health and fitness industry. He got to participate in various sports and interact with equally keen people on health and fitness.
Dr Huggins conducting fieldwork in Mammoth, California
Later, Dr Huggins decided to adapt to the various social problems that had plagued his adopted city of Porirua. The area had taken a rough turn socially and economically. Instead of being a bystander, Dr Huggins decided to make a difference. He ended up working for the local constabulary, which Dr Huggins described as a great experience with lifelong lessons. Much responsibility was bestowed on Dr Huggins as a result. This included part-time university study to earn a Certificate in Contemporary Policing from Victoria University of Wellington.
“It was fascinating because you get to do a lot of different roles, and I got to try my hand at specialising in different areas,” explained Dr Huggins. Of all the things Dr Huggins was involved in, he loved Youth Justice, saying that this put everything else on the backburner. He was eventually stationed at a base in the middle of a pretty rough ghetto area and tasked with helping young people get out of gangs and away from a life of crime. Applying his knowledge of coaching, law and criminology, Dr Huggins put in the extra effort to help make the lives of these young people better. “It was arduous work, but the results were amazing,” said Dr Huggins. This experience encouraged Dr Huggins to return to education to study a BA in Psychology at Massey University.
Dr Huggins visiting Beijing
Not many people know that Dr Huggins has done a lot of creative writing and has completed enough writing courses to get the better part of an English literature degree. He has also published some fiction under a pseudonym due to the sensitive topics he chose to write about, alongside writing and directing a couple of plays. At the age of 29, while he was concentrating on his writing, Dr Huggins went to rural France on vacation.
During the vacation in France, Dr Huggins chanced upon an opportunity to go to Mexico and help out over there. This resulted in him jumping on a plane and flying to Mexico in 2007. Over in Mexico, Dr Huggins found himself helping to build and start a new school. It was not long before he received a call from back home where he was informed of his top student (Massey Scholar) scholarship. He decided to put this scholarship towards a BA (Honours) in Psychology.
Dr Huggins headed a folk-rock band at a music festival in Mexico
When studying back in New Zealand, Dr Huggins was contacted by a joint research centre between his School of Psychology and New Zealand’s equivalent of a Geological Survey. This was when he got his first look at how people react to major disasters.
It was 22 February 2011 when an earthquake with the highest vertical acceleration ever measured caused severe damage in Christchurch and Lyttelton, killing 185 people and injuring several thousand. Around the time the earthquake happened, Dr Huggins was involved in researching public health. He decided that he was better suited to helping out at the site of the earthquake’s destruction. Dr Huggins presented his CV to the head of the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, and they seemed relieved to have someone like him on board. His experiences in psychology and his understanding of government services proved useful, and he was charged with heading the secretariat for an expert advisory group. Dr Huggins developed processes, facilitating almost daily communication between academics and government departments, and produced a series of advisory documents.
Dr Huggins, as part of a delegation to the UN Global Platform in 2012
After working with the Psychosocial Recovery Advisory Group, Dr Huggins looked into doing a PhD at Massey University. Due to his experience and previous work, he was eligible for several scholarships and successfully applied for two. During this time, the school that Dr Huggins had been working in Mexico was running into some problems, and he needed to be on-site. His university agreed that he could continue his PhD in Mexico. “It was a challenging time,” described Dr Huggins before explaining that it took well over four calendar years from enrolment to obtain his PhD. During those years, he was flying across the world, working on other projects as well. These places included his homeland of New Zealand, China, Colombia, the UK, Switzerland, and the US.
Dr Huggins involved in fieldwork in Mexico
While in Mexico, Dr Huggins also kept true to his original passion and coached local sports. He also tried his hand at building an eco-home, which he designed from scratch while studying for his PhD and managing two academic journals. His eco-home collected rainwater, had natural airflows, many power-saving features and was solar-powered, so he could switch it on and off the grid. Dr Huggins set himself as the Director of Operations for a local research institute that he had developed to meet the lack of research capacities in his remote corner of Mexico. He saw this as an important opportunity, as his first line of work after graduating with a PhD. The research institute was soon receiving international support and funding while obtaining local contracts too.
Dr Huggins presenting disaster resilience research to the local government in Colima, Mexico
Dr Huggins leading a Rockefeller Institute project
Dr Huggins soon returned to New Zealand to report his PhD findings at an international conference. At the conference, a contingent from China approached him and invited him to join their research team in Shenzhen.
In Shenzhen, Dr Huggins was tasked with running the research group, writing up results, and getting their work published. However, after a while, he weighed up his options and looked to Zhuhai, where he had previously enjoyed visiting to present at a conference. Dr Huggins wanted to return to teaching and to re-focus on applied psychology. UIC gave him that opportunity and seemed like a perfect fit for him.
Once at UIC, Dr Huggins also found himself involved in the Academic Advisor programme. His past experiences with youth work in his own country proved very useful as part of this UIC initiative. “We provide guidance to the students,” cheerfully explained Dr Huggins when asked about what Academic Advisors do. “We are there to see if there are any issues and to help make sure that students get the help they need.”
From MPRO
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He
