Roslyn Kerr

Roslyn Fiona Kerr is a New Zealand sports sociologist and parks manager. She is an adjunct professor at Lincoln University, specialising in sports sociology. In 2023 she joined the Christchurch City Council as a parks manager.

Academic career
Kerr completed a PhD titled Assembling high performance: an actor network theory account of gymnnastics in New Zealand at the University of Canterbury in 2010. She then joined the faculty of Lincoln University, where she was promoted to full professor in 2022. From 2015 to 20018, she was the head of the Department of Tourism, Sport and Society, and following that was appointed dean of the Faculty of Environment, Society and Design. Kerr also convened the university's Living Laboratory, which is a collaboration between academia and land-sector partners such as industry, Māori organisations, government and schools to allow students to have real-world experience to test ideas. The laboratory has worked on revitalising the university's arboretum, testing ideas about science in dairy farming, and land use and policy around restoration at Mt Hutt Forest and Bike Park. Kerr's research focuses on gymnastics and actor–network theory in sport. Her work on gender in sport has gained worldwide attention, and has been featured in the New York Times and Nature Outlook. She has written or edited three books.

Parks leadership
In 2023, Kerr joined the New Zealand Parks Leaders Forum, and took a role as parks, programmes and partnerships manager in the Parks Unit of Christchurch City Council. At this point she became an adjunct professor at Lincoln University.

Awards and honours
In 2013, Kerr won a teaching excellence award for teaching innovation, and in 2018 she was awarded a Principal award for excellence in teaching by Lincoln University.