Dr Melissa Derby is a Senior Lecturer teaching early literacy and human development at the University of Waikato's Tauranga campus and online. Melissa completed her PhD at the University of Canterbury, and her study was part of A Better Start National Science Challenge. Her primary area of research is early literacy, and in particular, in exploring the role of whānau in fostering foundational preliteracy skills. More generally, she has an interest in Māori education and success. Melissa's scholarship has been recognised through a range of awards, including a Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award, a SAGE Young Writer's Award, a University of Waikato Early Career Research Award, and two research awards from the Royal Society of New Zealand. She is the Director of the Early Years Research Centre at the University of Waikato, and co-Editor of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education's blog, Ipu Kererū. Melissa is on the Editorial Board for the journal of the International Literacy Association, The Reading Teacher. In New Zealand, she sits on a number of advisory groups for education and literacy, including the cabinet-appointed Ministerial Advisory Group advising the Minister of Education. Melissa is on the Board of Trustees at Matua School in Tauranga, New Zealand and the Board of Directors for Inspired Kindergartens in Tauranga, New Zealand. https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/melissa.derby
