Meet Professor Ajmol Ali

We caught up with Professor Ali to find out more about his role, his childhood and how he came to Massey.

Describe your role and what it involves here at Massey.

I am a Professor of exercise science within the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition. Most of my time is spent supervising postgraduate students and working on various research projects, as well as teaching undergraduate courses. I am also Associate Dean, International within the College of Health.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Helping students achieve their academic goals, becoming independent learners and supporting them through some tough challenges during this important stage of their life.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Apart from helping students, I love the academic freedom to research topics that I am passionate about.

Tell us a bit about your background and how you came to work at Massey.

I finished my PhD and was going to travel the world by spending time at various sport science labs before returning to the UK. However, I started at Massey in New Zealand and never left!

What have you achieved that you are very pleased about?

I have a wonderful group of 20-plus postgraduate research students; it’s taken a while to grow this team, but it is going well and I love seeing the connections within the group that is helping them to flourish.

Tell us about your childhood?

I was born in Bangladesh, grew up in the UK and now live in New Zealand. As far as I know, I’m the only Bangla-Pom-Kiwi around!

Who was your most inspiring teacher?

I have two! My Physical Education teacher at high school helped me build on my love of sport. The second is my PhD supervisor, Professor Clyde Williams. I have built a lot of my academic career from the mentoring I received from him.

What was your first job?

Does a paper round count?! Since completing my PhD I have only been employed at Massey – it’s been a great place to work.

What are you most proud of?

I was born on a mud floor in Bangladesh, had to tackle various challenges along the way, but have managed to succeed through grit and determination. However, I am also very grateful for the education I received and the many people who have helped me on my life journey.

What are your current passions?

I have three key research areas – all of these relate to helping to empower people to lead better, healthier lives: supplementation for health, wellness and performance (‘Beverage Lab’); exercise for children (e.g. Healthy Active Learning, a nationwide project looking to enhance quality physical activity and better nutrition environment for Kiwi children), and wellness at work.

What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you?

My parents didn’t want me to go to school but did want me to get full-time work as soon as possible. So, I rebelled by going to school, I rebelled by going to college and I rebelled by going to university!