Penny is the former chairperson of the Garden Design Society NZ, and serves on the Society Accreditation Board. She values both the professional and social activities of the Society, and co-leads the bus tours for the highly successful Auckland GardenDesignFest. After 22 years as an academic staff member at Unitec's Department of Landscape Architecture, Penny teamed up with colleague Ian Henderson to form HIKOI Garden Tours in 2016. They provide inspirational garden tours for design professionals and garden lovers, both internationally and in New Zealand. Covid -19 has put paid to HIKOI's adventures for now, so Penny has rejoined the Unitec teaching team in a part-time capacity.

Past experience:

Penny came from a background in landscape and planting design before she began teaching at Unitec. She became a senior lecturer, with a passion for developing students’ potential to create outstanding living environments for clients. She was a senior judge at Ellerslie International Flower Show for 12 years, and was convenor of judges in 2009. She is a fellow of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture a Board member of The Tree Council and judges the Landscapes of Distinction awards for the Registered Master Landscapers of NZ. Her research interests are in Urban Trees and their values in the Urban Forest of Auckland. Associated with this, she has also researched the Unitec Arboretum and the use of online plant databases as teaching resources for landscape students.

Qualifications:
BHortSc (Amenity & Landscape) – Massey
MAppSc (LandscapeManagement) – Massey
GDHE (Graduate Dip in Higher Education) - Unitec

Teaching expertise:
Landscape Design, Plant Selection and Design

Research:
Urban Forest of Auckland, Online Plant Databases, Unitec Arboretum, International Gardens.

​Professional / Industry memberships:
Chairperson of the Garden Design Society of New Zealand, accredited academic member and on Accreditation Board. FRNZIH – Fellow and Chair of Auckland branch of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture. Secretary of the National Executive. Landscaping NZ – Allied member Tree Council – member International Dendrology Society – member New Zealand Notable Trees Trust – trustee

Publications:

Cliffin, P.F. (2020). The Birds and the Bees. NZ Landscaper Magazine Issue 5. p14-15. Registered Master Landscapers.

​Research Papers:

Cliffin, P.F. (2016). Seeing the Wood for the Trees: The Unitec Arboretum as a Case Study for Campus based Environmental Education. Proceedings of the NZ Association for Environmental Education - Conference and Research Symposium, University of Auckland, Auckland, February 2016.

Cliffin, P. F. (2015). Unitec campus history: Notions of therapy. Presentation conducted at the Scala Seminar Series, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, May 2015.

Cliffin, P.F. (2014). Therapy in Translation: Landscape Ideas from the Whau Lunatic Asylum and Unitec Campus, in Schnoor, C. (Ed.) (2014). Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 31, Translation, (Auckland, New Zealand: SAHANZ and Unitec ePress; and Gold Coast, Queensland: SAHANZ, 2014), 669–680. ISBN 9781927214121.
Cliffin, P.F. (2012). Unitec Arboretum. CITYPLANTastic, 8th International Conference, World in Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen. 27-29 June.

Cliffin, P.F. (2012). Northern European Landscape Projects. SCALA Seminar Series, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. September 27.

Cliffin, P.F. (2011). On-line Plant Selection Databases. Buhmann/Ervin/Mertens/Tomlin/Pietsch (Eds.): Peer Reviewed Proceedings

Digital Landscape Architecture 2011: Teaching & Learning with Digital Methods & Tools, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. Wichmann Verlag, Offenbach and Berlin, May 2011.

Cliffin, PF. (2011). Engaging students in Contextual Technology: Online Plant Databases. Presented at the inaugural International Conference on eLearning Futures 2011 (ICELF), Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland.

Cliffin, PF. (2011). Online Plant Databases for Design. EDULEARN11. 3rd Annual International Conferenceon Education and New Learning Technologies, Barcelona.

Cliffin, P.F. (2010). On-line Plant Selection Databases. Refereed proceedings of a paper presented at the annual conference of ANZAScA, Australian and New Zealand Architectural Science Association, Auckland, NZ.

Cochrane,T., Bateman, R., Cliffin, P.F., Gardner,J., Henderson, I., & Holloway,S. (2009). Mobilized Learning: Mobile Web 2.0 Scenarios in Tertiary Education. Refereed proceedings of a paper presented at EDULEARN09, the International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Barcelona, Spain.

Cliffin, P.F. (2009). Plant Data Revisited: Collaborative Group Assessment. Paper presented at the Unitec Teaching and Learning Symposium, 29 September, Auckland.

Cliffin, P.F. (2008). Heritage Trees at the neighbourhood scale - models of volunteer engagement. Presented at the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture National Symposium - HeritageTrees: Our Future Heritage. 8 May, Wellington.

Cliffin, P.F. (2005). Tree Collections of Auckland: Biodiversity and Management. Proceedings of the National Conference of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture, Christchurch, October 2003.

Cliffin, P., Haines, L.and Simon, K. (2003) Cemetery Biodiversity: Cycles of Abandonment and Disturbance. Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture National Conference – Greening the City: Bringing Biodiversity back to the Urban Environment - poster paper. Christchurch 21-25 October.

Cliffin, P.F. (2003). Urban Tree Research. Landscape New Zealand. Jan/Feb 2003, p22-23.(National Magazine of New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and Landscape Industry Association of New Zealand).

Cliffin, P. (2003). Tree Collections of Auckland: Biodiversity and Management. Presented at the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Conference 'Greening the City', 21-24 October, Christchurch.

Cliffin, P., Haines, L., & Henderson, I. (2001). Submission on Management Plan. (Report to Auckland Regional Botanic Garden).

Cliffin, P. (2001). Tree Collections of Auckland. Presentation to the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture and the NZ Arboricultural Association,10 April, Auckland.

Cliffin, P.F. (2000). Y2K Tree Planting Reveals Pacific Rim Focus. Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture national newsletter article. Dec 2000.

Cliffin, P. (2000). A Regional Study: Collections in the Auckland Area. Presentation to the Management of Plant Collections Symposium, Massey University/Eastwoodhill Arboretum, 10–12 November, Gisborne.

Cliffin, P. (1999). Rediscovering the Urban Forest: Tree Collections in Auckland. Poster presentation to the New Zealand Botanical Society Conference. 'New Zealand Botany at the End of the Millennium: A Celebration of Eric Godley's Contribution', 16-8 June, Christchurch.

Cliffin, P. (1999). Tree Collections of the North. Poster presentation to the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Annual Conference, 3 October, Auckland.