awis2017

CONTACT

13th - 14th July 2017
Heritage Hotel,
Auckland

Speakers - Day 2

Barbara Bollard-Breen, Senior Lecturer, School of Applied Sciences, AUT
Barbara has over 20 years’ experience working in government and NGO's in both Australia and New Zealand. Her research focus has recently been the identification and selection of Marine Protected Areas, using remote sensing technology to map habitats and landscapes for conservation planning and integrating social data with environmental and biological information using decision support systems, multivariate statistics and GIS.

Marie Bradley, AgResearch
Marie Bradley is Government Sector Leader for AgResearch, based in Wellington, and leads AgResearch's newly formed Government Sector team. Marie has been chair and now deputy chair of Science NZ's Strategy Managers group. She has previously worked at Plant & Food Research, managing relationships with MBIE and MPI. Marie held various operational and strategy roles at the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology (FRST) and managed the Hazardous Substances Application Team at the Environmental Protection Authority for a time. In a past life Marie was a molecular biologist in Crop and Food Research.

Alys Clark, Senior Research Fellow, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
Alys Clark’s research focusses on creating virtual models of the lung and placenta. These models combine mathematical and physiological principles to help clinicians to better interpret how disease impacts on organ health. Alys is a current awardee of a RSNZ Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, and the JH Michell Medal for Applied Mathematics.

Katie Foote, Teaching Fellow, Department of Physics, University of Auckland
Katie recieved her PhD in Physics Education Research from North Carolina State University under the advising of Dr. Robert Beichner, who developed one of the first studio models. She came to Auckland to reform their introductory courses into the Studio format.

Kate Hannah, Te Punaha Matatini
Kate Hannah is a cultural historian of science and is executive manager of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for complex systems and networks. Her current research programme develops a novel mixed methods approach applied to the historiography of science history in New Zealand, with a particular focus on better mitigating the camouflaging of women’s and other under-represented minorities’ contributions to science, in both historical and contemporary discourses.

Natasha Lewis, Ministry for Women
Natasha is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Ministry for Women promoting women’s economic independence. She has worked in the Science, Innovation and International branch of MBIE, at MFAT and the UN. She has a Master of Laws (Dist) from the LSE, and is on the boards of ChildFund NZ and UN Women NZ.

Jennie McCormick, Farm Cove Observatory
Jennie conducts astronomical research from her observatory in Farm Cove. She has helped discover more than 20 extra-solar planets, including a new solar system. She also measures the positions of comets & asteroids and in September 2009, discovered her first asteroid. This year, the new world was officially named….New Zealand!

Catherine McGovern, Senior Forensic Scientist, ESR Auckland
Both her MSc(Hons) in Forensic Science (1999) and her BSc in Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology (1995) were awarded from the University of Auckland. Her career in forensic biology spans 20 years, focussed on advanced DNA profiling techniques and evidence interpretation methods. Her current role involves scientific support and development of the cutting edge software STRmix™, which has seen rapid uptake in forensic laboratories internationally.

Danielle Newton, UNESCO NZ
Danielle Newton is a University of Auckland scholar and current Chair of the Youth Reference Group for the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. She has represented the Commission at the Asia Pacific Youth Dialogue (China) and on the Advancing Environmental Education for Sustainability Steering Group. She is also a past recipient of the Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs Award.

Joe O'Callaghan, Coastal Physicist, NIWA
Joe O’Callaghan is an oceanographer at NIWA. Her research focuses on physical processes that transport material in NZ’s shelf seas. Joe initiated and leads the newly established ocean glider facility at NIWA; this technology is emerging at the forefront of ocean science. Joe is passionate about equity in the workplace and the issues facing women (particularly ECRs) in science.

Lara Romsdal, student, University of Auckland
Lara Romsdal is a UoA student who undertakes adventures in Science for Arts. Being involved within the university community has given Lara a sense of the impact that Science has as an artform, whilst maintaining its rigorous methodology. Lara enjoys researching into Dendrochronology, to give an understanding to archaeological contexts as well as to inform the state of the environment in differing historical periods. Her research interests include heritage, historical culture and history, as well as time-travelling.

Nada Signal, Senior Research Fellow, Health and Rehabilitation Research Institute, AUT
Dr Nada Signal trained as a physiotherapist and has extensive clinical and managerial experience in the rehabilitation sector. Her research focuses on novel and theoretically-sound rehabilitation interventions. She is interested in understanding the underlying mechanisms associated with impairments, activity limitations and participatory restrictions, to help inform the development and implementation of rehabilitation technologies.

Chlöe Swarbrick, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
As a journalist finishing a law degree and juggling a number of small businesses in late 2015, Chlöe Swarbrick never saw herself becoming a politician. That was until she began interviewing Auckland mayoral candidates and became completely disillusioned with their lack of answers to her city’s biggest problems. Horrendously low voter turnout convinced her to enter the race in order to engage the disengaged and disenfranchised. With a tiny budget and a lot of help from like-minded volunteers, she came in third, with just under 30,000 votes. After the mayoral campaign, Chlöe joined the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand - a party that shares her values of compassion, pragmatism, equality and hope - and is standing as a Green candidate in the 2017 general election. 

Emma Timewell, Communications Manager, Plant & Food Research
Emma Timewell has a BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics, but has spent close to 20 years talking about science rather than practising it! Her role at Plant & Food Research involves translating "science speak" to "people speak" and helping scientists in the organisation to embrace communicating their science to non-technical audiences.

Rebekah White, New Zealand Geographic
Rebekah White is an award-winning journalist and magazine editor based in Auckland. She is currently the editor of New Zealand Geographic magazine, where she writes about science, culture and the environment. Her story on the grounding of the MV Rena was reprinted in 'Tell You What: Great New Zealand Nonfiction 2017'. Previously Rebekah was the editor of Pro Photographer magazine, and she has also written for Good, Mana and Idealog magazines.

Siouxsie Wiles, University of Auckland
Dr Siouxsie Wiles has made a career of combining her twin passions of bioluminescence and infectious diseases. In a nutshell, Siouxsie and her team make nasty bacteria glow in the dark to better understand how superbugs cause disease and to find new medicines. Siouxsie is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland.