About the team

Partners

NIWA has joined with the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury, and the Cawthron Institute to form Marine Futures.

Approach

The Marine Futures research programme has been designed as a collaborative project which takes a social-ecological systems approach and draws together researchers from different disciplines. One of the strengths of a social-ecological systems approach is that it provides a framework that crosses social theory and ecological sciences. Environmental science can inform us about important ecological processes and thresholds while social science offers a range of insights into how to communicate effectively across different belief systems and societal priorities. Combining these disciplines enables an inclusive and transparent approach to marine stewardship.

Simon Thrush
BSc (Hons), University of Otago
PhD, University of East Anglia, England

 [email protected]
+64 9 422 6111

Simon Thrush, BSc (Hons), University of Otago, PhD, University of East Anglia, England

 Simon has recently been appointed as the director for the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Auckland. Prior to this, Simon spent over 20 years at NIWA working as principal scientist and science leader in coastal ecosystems. Simon has also sat on a number of international advisory panels addressing issues of sustainability and ecosystem management. He has published over 150 scientific papers and is a managing editor for the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. The publicity of his work and ideas, such as in the international journal Frontiers in Ecology, has bought considerable attention to New Zealand’s environmental science. Simon’s interests in marine ecosystems are broad and have encompassed fundamental research into ecological, bio-physical and biogeochemical processes, and applied research on a range of complex environmental issues.

Carolyn Lundquist
BSc University of California, Los Angeles
PhD University of California, Davis

 [email protected]
+64 7 859 1866

Carolyn Lundquist
BSc University of California, Los Angeles
 PhD University of California, Davis

 Carolyn works as a senior lecturer at the Institute for Marine Science and as a marine ecologist at NIWA. Carolyn’s research reflects a generic interest in marine ecology and the mechanisms underlying healthy ecosystems.  Her research interests include: larval dispersal and connectivity processes; marine spatial planning and marine protected area network design principles; disturbance and recovery dynamics in marine benthic communities; monitoring and predicting climate change impacts on marine systems and estuarine restoration. Carolyn combines empirical research and modelling and researches a range of habitats. She is interested in applied science, and increasing communication between science and policy makers, such that best available science is incorporated into resource management and policy at local, regional, national and international levels.

Richard Le Heron
MA, Massey University
PhD, Clark University

 [email protected]
+64 9 373 7599 ext 88453

Richard Le Heron, MA, Massey University, PhD, Clark University

 Richard is a Professor of Geography at the University of Auckland School of Environment. Richard is a human geographer with wide research interests in economic geography, agri-food issues and nature-society relations. He is particularly known for his work on globalising and neo-liberalising processes, their regulation and governance, and at-a-distance governmental technologies. This research emphasis has been increasingly broadened into combining social theory and post-structural insights into a knowledge production approach, Post-Structural Political Economy, developed to help geographers engage enactively in knowing and making economy and the mediation of investment processes.

David Schiel
BSc, University of Notre Dame
MSc, University of Auckland
PhD, University of Auckland

[email protected]
+64 3 364 2031 ext. 6031

David Schiel, BSc, University of Notre Dame, MSc, University of Auckland, PhD, University of Auckland

 David is the head of the Marine Ecology Research Group at the University of Canterbury.  His research interests include marine intertidal and subtidal ecology and aquaculture. His current fields of research include: aquaculture; larval fish ecology; marine intertidal and subtidal ecology and earthquake research.  David is also involved with the Centre of Excellence in Aquaculture and Marine Ecology.

Nick Lewis,
BA/BCom
MA (Hons)
PhD, University of Auckland

 [email protected]
+64 9 373 7599 ext 88214

Nick Lewis, BA/BCom, MA (Hons), PhD, University of Auckland

 Nick is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland School of Environment. His research interests include: geographies of neo-liberalism and the state; the post foundational geographies of Brand New Zealand; governance and the making of industries; geographies of education (particularly the internationalisation of education and emerging knowledge spaces); the New Zealand wine industry and the political economy of the small island Pacific. These various themes are integrated by a central interest in the production of subjects, the spaces of governance and the geographies of the core problems of the state associated with translating influence or control in micro settings.

Katie Cartner
BSc, University of Waikato

 [email protected]
+64 7 859 1810

Katie Cartner, BSc, University of Waikato

Katie is a technician with the marine ecology group at NIWA in Hamilton. Prior to her appointment at NIWA, Katie was involved in terrestrial flora and fauna assessments throughout Australia and Europe. Katie’s current role includes marine benthic habitat surveys, nutrient flux experiments, analysis of sediment chlorophyll and the taxonomic identification of marine macro-invertebrates. Katie’s role in the Marine Futures project includes background literature reviews and workshop facilitation.

Joanne Ellis
BSc, University of Auckland
BSc (Hons), University of Victoria
PhD, Memorial University of Newfoundland

 [email protected]
+64 3 548 2319 ext 317

Joanne Ellis, BSc, University of Auckland, BSc (Hons), University of VictoriaPhD, Memorial University of Newfoundland

 Joanne is a senior marine scientist at the Cawthron Institute. Her primary area of expertise is the study of benthic communities in marine soft-sediment habitats. She is involved in a range of coastal management projects including her current research that investigates the effects of sedimentation and nutrient inputs on estuarine benthic communities. Her research interests include: biodiveristy and conservation of estuarine and coastal habitats; spatial and temporal variation in benthic soft-sediment ecology; ecological impact assessment of sedimentation, nutrients and oil and gas on marine habitats; organism-hydrodynamic interactions and biodiversity in mangrove and seagrass habitats.

Karen Fisher
BA, MSocSc, University of Waikato
PhD, Australia National University

 [email protected]
+64 9 373 7599 ext 88410

Karen Fisher, BA, MSocSc, University of Waikato, PhD, Australia National University

 Karen is a qualitative social scientist with training in Human Geogrpahy. She is currently a lecturer at the University of Auckland School of Environment. Karen’s research interests fall broadly under the areas of development and the environment, water governance, environmental management and participatory development. Underpinning these research interests is a broader interest in the politics of knowledge production in the context of research and in relation to policy and governance. Her research has investigated the socio-political dimensions of environmental governance and human-environment interactions in post-colonial contexts such as in Bohol, the Philippines. An emerging research agenda focuses on Māori co-governance and co-management arrangements in New Zealand.

Judi Hewitt
BA
MSc (Hons)
PhD, Abo Akademi, Finland

 [email protected]
+64 7 856 1751

Judi Hewitt, BA, MSc (Hons), PhD, Abo Akademi, Finland

 Judi is a principal scientist in marine ecology at NIWA. She is also the programme leader for Mangaging Marine Stressors. Her areas of expertise include: coastal and estuarine marine ecology; statistical ecology; scale dependent processes in heterogenous environments; biological and ecological mapping; ecological valuing; spatial and temporal variation in populations and communities; ecological impact assessment; design and implementation of ecological monitoring programmes and functional community habitat diversity.

Graeme Inglis
BSc, University of Canterbury
PhD, University of Sydney

 [email protected]
+64 3 343 8036

Graeme Inglis, BSc, University of Canterbury, PhD, University of Sydney

 Graeme currently leads NIWA’s Marine Biosecurity research programme, a partnership involving NIWA, the Cawthron Institute and the Ministry for Primary Industries. He is a member of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group, a Tecchnical Advisor to the GEF/UNDP//IMO Global Ballast Water Management Programme and sits on advisory panels for the implementation of New Zealand’s Biosecurity Surveillence Committee. Graeme’s research is primarily on the design and implementation of marine pest surveillence, including early detection and baseline and delimiting surveys for unwanted marine organisms.