Katherine Julie Saville-Smith MNZM (known as Kay) is a New Zealand sociologist, specialising in issues related to housing.

[1][2] Her doctoral research was inspired by family connections in Cumbria, but also by the loss of archival sources on her first study choice, the decline of the region's iron industry.

[3] In 2018 Boydell Press published a book Provincial Society and Empire: The Cumbrian Counties and the East Indies, 1680-1829 based on Saville-Smith's doctoral research.

[7] Saville-Smith has led research in both the Ageing Well and the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenges.

[7] In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Saville-Smith was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to seniors and housing.