Adapting Aotearoa webinar series

Heather Craig

University of Canterbury

Heather is a lecturer at the University of Canterbury – Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha in the Disaster Risk & Resilience programme. She completed a PhD in Hazard and Disaster Management in 2015 which focussed on quantifying agricultural vulnerability to volcanic ashfall. Heather has worked as a Hazard and Risk Analyst at NIWA and as a Senior Hazard Advisor role at the Waikato Regional Council. Heather’s research interests include: risk reduction through policy and planning; the application of risk assessment tools for improved emergency management; agricultural and environmental vulnerability function development; and the development of adaptation strategies with an emphasis on user engagement and participation in the rural space.

Pierre Beukes

DairyNZ

I've been with DairyNZ for 21 years in the Farm Systems Modelling team based in Hamilton. I'm a Senior Scientist and Modelling team leader. My passion is using models to answer farmer questions that are hard and expensive to answer with traditional methods.

Kathryn McRae

AgResearch

Kathryn McRae is a Senior Scientist in the Animal Genomics team at AgResearch. Her farming background, coupled with her interest in genetics, led her to complete a Master of Science in genetics with the University of Otago in collaboration with AgResearch. Subsequently, she graduated with a PhD from Dublin City University as a Teagasc Walsh Fellow, before returning to work at AgResearch. Her primary research interest is understanding the genetic basis of disease and welfare traits in livestock, including gastrointestinal nematode infection and respiratory disease. The goal of this research is to breed healthy, productive animals that are more resilient to external stressors.

Richard Fitzgerald

Enviro Collective Ltd

Richard's career has focused on enabling farmer-to-farmer learning to bring about positive change. This has extended from establishing youth capability development programmes within NZ Young Farmers as the Chief Executive, to designing the Red Meat Profit Partnership Programme Action Network and Farm Plus Programmes, as the Extension Design Manager. While studying innovation adoption while on his Nuffield Scholarship, he saw firsthand the importance of working within farm systems to build confidence and knowledge amongst farmers to enable them to initiate change where they see the need and opportunity. Richard firmly believes that this approach is well suited to supporting climate change adaption and achieving good environmental practices on farm. He is currently the General Manager of Enviro Collective Ltd, supporting the adoption of advanced mitigation practices on-farm.

Christina Griffin

University of Melbourne

Christina Griffin is a research fellow with the University of Melbourne. She is a qualitative human geographer whose research interests lie in agrarian change, rural livelihoods, climate change adaptation and natural hazards. She has conducted collaborative research on livelihoods and volcanic disasters in Central Java (Indonesia), climate change and rural development in Sulawesi (Indonesia), and the adaptation of dairy farms in the lower South Island and Waikato region of Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Nick Cradock-Henry

GNS Science

Nick is a Principal Social Scientist in the GNS Science Environmental Social Science team. His research focuses on social-ecological system dynamics, with a particular emphasis on rural landscapes at multiple scales and across several research themes. This includes work on risk and resilience, and the impacts of earthquakes and other hazards on rural communities, agribusinesses and rural value chains (wine, kiwifruit, and dairying); climate change vulnerability and adaptation; and governance for sustainability outcomes. He is Regional Coordinator for the Earth System Governance project, and holds funding from the RSNZ Marsden Fund, Ministry for Primary Industries, and Deep South and Resilience to Nature's Challenges National Science Challenges.