It is hoped Tak's thesis, "Sports on the gambling table: An institutional approach to match-fixing", will catch the attention of the International Olympic Committee.
It certainly has not been missed by examiners who awarded it exceptional status, a rare feat about only 10% of theses attain.
Tak presented the thesis in Dunedin yesterday before his peers and representatives from Sports New Zealand and the TAB.
Tak's extensively researched the social and institutional elements that affect match fixing in a sporting world in which gambling is entrenched.
Many of those issues arise from the reliance by the world's sporting competitions and authorities on financing from gambling firms.
Tak included case studies on match-fixing cases and the climate in which they happened in his native South Korea.
The research included interviewing football players who had received life bans for match fixing.
Professor Steve Jackson, of the university's School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, is hoping Tak's research can capture international attention.
"We hope the International Olympic Committee will take an interest in the research and support a fully global study, and we're also looking to try to work with some of the international monitoring corporations that are trying to track illegal sports betting and match fixing."
Yesterday's gathering heard that although New Zealand is considered relatively safe from the dangers of match fixing, the clock is ticking.
"We are certainly very aware that New Zealand is not immune," Sport New Zealand policy manager Alice Hume said.
Sport New Zealand is now reviewing its integrity policies and the environmental issues that can affect match fixing are part of that, Hume said.
