Alister is based in rural South Canterbury, New Zealand and has had a long career in Engineering and Education. He has been widely involved in the Civil Engineering Industry from contract and project management, civil structural and geotechnical consultancy and education as a secondary school mathematics teacher.
As a tertiary lecturer and academic programme leader he has worked with Engineering Degrees and Diplomas in New Zealand and more recently had a 2-year contract with the Cook Islands Ministry of Education were he was Head of Faculty in Trades Training.
He is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Engineers (GIPENZ) and is actively involved with the South Canterbury branch of IPENZ.
Alister gained his initial qualifications of NZ Certificate in Engineering by part time study at night classes and distance learning which has given him an empathy with students juggling work, family and study commitments. He gained a Diploma of Teaching and became a secondary school mathematics teacher before continuing his Engineering qualifications at Canterbury University completing his BE (Hons) in 1999.
He is a keen and early adapter for developing new technologies in Engineering Education. As Academic Programme Leader at NZIHT he led initiatives to investigate, explore and develop technologies for online support and learning with the blended distant learning model. As Head of Faculty at Cook Islands Tertiary Training Institute he led initiatives to support education in remote Pacific islands via the internet.
Alister co-authored a paper “Tailoring Academic Programme Delivery to Industry Needs in Engineering” which was presented by the papers principal author A Morkel at the European Academic Conference Rome, Italy in 2012.