Kaikōrero | Plenary Speakers

Tara McAllister

Dr Tara McAllister (Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Ngāti Porou) is a Research Fellow at Te Pūnaha Matatini and the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland.

Tara completed her PhD in Water Resource Management from the University of Canterbury in 2018.

Tara’s most recent research has focused on highlighting the inequities that Māori face in higher education. Her impactful research has provided quantitative evidence that Māori are underrepresented, underpromoted and underpaid in academia.

Sereana Naepi

Dr Sereana Naepi’s (Naitasiri, Palagi) work uses multiple approaches to explore how universities and wider research sectors can become places that embrace all learners, esteem all knowledges and serve all communities.

She draws on both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to challenge the very basis of how we construct knowledge and how this shapes universities and our research sectors.

Her research branches out into multiple disciplines in order to maximize impact across the academy. The values of relationship and service are foundational to her research approach.

Kaitāpaetanga | Panellists

Panel: COVID-19 COMMUNITY-LED COMMUNICATIONS

Awerangi Tamihere

Chief Operating Officer for Te Whānau o Waipareira and for Whānau Ora Commisioning Agency. Awerangi’s career spans the public sector - working in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in Social Reform and other government agencies through to the private sector - establishing and leading the KPMG Māori Consulting Team. Her initial career was as a speech language therapist before moving into management roles and focusing on broader social reform. Working with her own iwi has taken many roles including implementing on the ground for Māori by Māori mechanisms for delivery - a catalyst for her continued focus on supporting aspirational change amongst our people.

Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen

GP and Clinical Director at the National Hauora Coalition. Rawiri's specialty areas include cultural competence, communication, and services for underserved and vulnerable populations. He's part of Māori-led work to discuss Covid-19 and vaccination in communities, including a Q&A session with gang members.

Dr Michelle Dickinson

Nanotechnologist and co-founder of Nanogirl Labs, an education company working to increase STEM literacy and engagement. Michelle and her team work with communities to create people-centred science communication solutions, including webinars with teachers about the Covid vaccine.

DR PHILLIP WILCOX

Associate Professor Wilcox works in human genetics, and also statistics, at the University of Otago. Phil has 20 years' experience of talking with Māori communities about gene technologies. He has worked on various Māori-led Covid communication strategies, including with his iwi.

Panel: DRAWING SCIENCE

Margaret Stanley

Associate Professor Margaret Stanley is an ecologist at the University of Auckland working primarily on urban ecology and invasive species. She works with community partners and other stakeholders to improve biodiversity outcomes and connect people and nature.

Ciléin Kearns

Ciléin is a doctor and medical illustrator who is passionate about opening up medicine with art. He creates under the moniker ‘artibiotics’ exploring the worlds of health, disease, and care. In his current role he is applying these skills to investigate potential clinical roles for comics in healthcare.

Hemakumar Devan

Dr Devan is a Research Fellow at the School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago and a Pain Management Physiotherapist at the Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB), Wellington Hospital. He currently holds a Health Delivery Career Development Award from Health Research Council (HRC) of New Zealand. His primary research interest is to foster self-management support to empower people with chronic pain and their whānau. He is a passionate science communicator and often presents his work in pain conferences, blogs and in social media (@HemDevan).

Pepper Raccoon

Pepper Raccoon is a digital and ink illustrator based in Wellington, New Zealand. She creates original artwork, as well as merch and commission designs for commercial and private clients. Her work is very focused on the natural world, processes of death and rebirth, and she has done many live graphic facilitations and graphic communication designs for science organisations like Manaaki Whenua and Massey University.