Kim is a Senior Research Fellow with He Kāinga Oranga - Housing and Health Research Programme, where she has undertaken energy poverty and health research since 2008.
Kim’s research explores the relationships between energy poverty (fuel poverty), energy use behaviours, energy efficiency of housing and buildings, and the important interactions of these with health and wellbeing. She is currently leading research exploring the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on home energy use in New Zealand and health outcomes of the government’s Winter Energy Payment, and is a collaborator on an international project exploring energy poverty in Canada. She holds a Marsden Fast Start research grant: Heating Up, Cooling Off: Household management of summer heat flows. She has experience in energy poverty and health research, consumer experiences and impacts of prepay electricity, involving young people in the research process, and exploring energy use among people who work from home. Kim has expertise in the design and use of qualitative methods, surveys, mixed methods, and participatory research methods; linking and integrating diverse datasets to produce robust evidence on the extent and health impacts of energy poverty, and pioneering digital research methods for public health and energy research.