Speakers confirmed for Launch

Bios of persons speaking in support of a National Risk Assessment Project at the launch in Dunedin on 8th March 2013

The launch is at the Otago Museum Reserve at 1.15-3.00pm.

 

Neville Peat

Neville Peat, writer, photographer and environmentalist, lives at Broad Bay. He has written some 40 books, spanning themes of geography, biography, natural history and the environment. His largest project, completed with the assistance of the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship 2007, is The Tasman – Biography of an Ocean. He served three terms as an elected member of the Otago Regional Council, the last as deputy chair. He currently chairs the Otago Natural History Trust (Orokonui Ecosanctuary).  In 1994 he was awarded the inaugural Dunedin Citizen of the Year title for his Dunedin photographic books and leadership of the Dunedin Environmental Business Network.

 

Dr. Tim Hazledine

Tim Hazledine has been a Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland since returning to New Zealand in 1992. Born and brought up in Dunedin  (King’s HS, Dux 1965), Tim was educated at the Universities of Otago and Canterbury before heading overseas to take his Ph D at the University of Warwick. In a twenty year stint of “OE”, he taught at Warwick, Balliol College Oxford, Queen’s Ontario and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, as well as working for the Canadian government and as an independent consultant. He is interested in the “Healthy Economy”.

 

 Hoani Langsbury

Hoani Langsbury is of mixed European and Maori descent, affiliating to Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Waitaha, Rapuwai Iwi. He has a BSc from Victoria and is currently completing a PGDip in Wildlife Management at Otago University.

He is a Councillor for Te Maruata, the Maori Advisory Council to Local Government New Zealand, working alongside other Iwi leaders. He is the current Chair of the Otago Peninsula Trust, on the Board of the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust and the Director of Operations for Blue Penguins Pukekura. These charitable trusts are leaders in conservation and the protection of our unique Coastal Otago habitats.

Hoani brings a holistic perspective to environmental management and is active in the areas of marine protection, species recovery and the reintroduction of the Buff Weka to the East Coast of the South Island on behalf of Ngai Tahu.

 

Dr. Jean S Fleming

Jean Fleming is a Professor of Science Communication and Associate Dean of Outreach at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.  Her earlier career was in reproductive biology, in the Department of Anatomy at Otago. In 2000-2001 Jean was a Commissioner with the New Zealand Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, an experience that led to her interest in effective science communication.  She is interested in using dialogue and public engagement for communication of controversial scientific issues. Jean is known nationally for her radio interviews about Body Parts, on Radio NZ National Nights. She is a Life Member of the NZ International Science Festival and a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ). Her commitment to science communication led to the award of a Suffrage Medal in 1993, an RSNZ Silver Science & Technology Medal in 1998 and an ONZM for services to science in 2002.

 

Dr. Peter Barrett 

Peter is Emeritus Professor of Geology at Victoria University of Wellington. He was studying geology at Auckland University when a chance trip to Antarctica led him to a life-long interest in its climate history. Initially he studied the Late Paleozoic Gondwana strata in the Transantarctic Mountains. However since 1975 he has led a series of offshore drilling projects for a history of Antarctic climate and ice sheet behaviour since its inception around 34 million years ago.

In recent years he has become interested in the perspective that climate change on geological time scales provides for future human-induced climate change. After gaining a PhD from Ohio State University in 1968, he returned to New Zealand to become Founding Director, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington (1972-2007). From 1998-2004 he was New Zealand’s representative on the Antarctic Treaty System’s Committee on Environmental Protection. In 2006 he was chosen as “Wellingtonian of the Year) and also awarded the President’s Medal for Outstanding

Achievement in Antarctic Science from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

 

Dr. Susan Krumdieck

Susan is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Canterbury University.

She studied Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC Boulder, and worked on wind turbine control systems and solar system testing and certification.  Susan joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Canterbury in 2000.  She has published more than 100 journal papers and supervised 36 post graduate students with 12 PhD and 14 Masters completions.

Her strategic research is aimed at delivering sustainability through Transition Engineering, creating the fundamentals of the low-fossil energy system, and conceiving bridging technologies and control systems to manage the transition to sustainable systems.  Other interests include energy constrained transportation systems, remote hybrid renewable energy power systems, power demand response, demand management, geothermal power plant modelling and adaptive design.

 

Louis Chambers

Louis Chambers graduated from the University of Otago in 2012 with an LLB (First Class Hons) and a BA (Economics, Environmental Management). He has been awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management at Oxford University. Louis has had extensive experience as an advocate for young people. He attended the Copenhagen climate negotiations as part of the first New Zealand Youth Delegation. Since then, he has focused his efforts on climate policy and education in New Zealand as the Co-coordinator of the youth climate change group Generation Zero.

Generation Zero has over 2,000 members and has become New Zealand’s staunchest advocate on youth climate issues. This year they are focusing on the numerous solutions to climate change through their campaign, 100% Possible. Louis is also an accomplished debater and mooter. He recently co-founded Law For Change, a group which seeks to educate and inspire young lawyers about legal opportunities which serve the public interest.

 

Dr. Russell Tregonning

MBChB, FRACS, FNZOA. Russell is a Wellington orthopaedic surgeon and Senior Lecturer in the Dept of Surgery, Otago University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wellington. He was born and educated in Dunedin; then post-graduate experience in Auckland, London (UK) and Toronto.

A past president of the NZ Orthopaedic Association, he is currently an executive member of OraTaiao: The New Zealand Climate and Health Council, a group of about 150 health professionals concerned about global warming.  He wishes to use his medical training to influence politicians and a population in denial to reverse climate change: the greatest global threat to human health this century.

 

Dr. Mike Joy

BSc, MSc (1st class hons), PhD in Ecology is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at the Ecology group-Institute of Natural Resources Massey University Palmerston North.  He researches and teaches freshwater ecology, especially freshwater fish ecology and distribution, ecological modelling bioassessment and environmental science.  He has and continues to supervise Masters and PhD students doing research into freshwater ecology, with topics from native fish ecology to farmers’ attitudes to sustainability.

He is a director of the Massey University Centre for Freshwater Ecosystem Modelling and Management.  Mike has published papers in scientific journals and newspapers and written many reports for Regional Councils and has developed a number of bioassessment tools used by many North Island Regional Councils.  Mike is an outspoken advocate for environmental protection in New Zealand and has been voted environmental New Zealander of the year from North and South magazine and person of the year by the Manawatu Evening Standard.