Reducing Future Extreme Weather Impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand
Join us for an insightful webinar where researchers from the Extreme Weather Research Platform (EWRP) present their key findings.
In response to the extreme weather events in North Island, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) allocated $10.8 million in February 2023 for urgent scientific research and data collection. The funding was distributed across several different projects.
Featuring presenters from a range of EWRP projects, this webinar provided a detailed overview of key outcomes and data outputs across the EWRP. Topics included landslide mapping, the Emergency Event Data Catalogue, strategies for supporting critical infrastructure recovery, ecological impacts, the effects of extreme weather on rangatahi and whānau wellbeing, LiDAR, remote sensing, flood mapping, and risk modelling.
Webinar Speakers
Jochen Schmidt
Chief Scientist - Environmental Information, NIWA
Jochen has a background in hydrology, geomorphology, soil science, geo-informatics, and hazards and risk assessment. He worked for Landcare Research between 2001 and 2003 and was instrumental in developing the New Zealand Digital Soil Map (‘SMAP’). He joined NIWA in 2003 and coordinates systems for collecting, managing and delivering environmental information – ensuring they are robust and meet best-practice standards.
Kerry Leith
Engineering Geologist, GNS Science | Te Pῡ Ao
Kerry is an engineering geologist with eleven years’ research experience in New Zealand, Switzerland, and Germany. Kerry has also worked as an engineering geologist in both New Zealand, and Scotland. He specialises in soil and rock mechanics, landscape evolution, and natural hazard assessments. Kerry has been co-leading the Cyclone Gabrielle Landslide Response and Recovery project alongside Chris Massey at GNS Science.
Charlotte Brown
Joint Managing Director, Resilient Organisations
Charlotte Brown is joint Managing Director of Resilient Organisations Ltd. As a social scientist with a civil engineering background, Charlotte often works at the interface between physical and social sciences. Charlotte’s areas of specialty include risk management, systems thinking, decision-making and organisational resilience. Charlotte also has particular strengths in the practical application and communication of research.
Nick Horspool
Risk Specialist, GNS Science | Te Pῡ Ao
Nick is a Senior Natural Hazard Risk Scientist with GNS Science, a Crown Research Institute in New Zealand. He researches the impacts of natural hazards on communities and use this knowledge to develop natural hazard risk models for a range of applications, from disaster management planning to the (re)insurance industry, with a particular focus on earthquake and tsunami perils.
Warwick Allen
Researcher, Plant Community Ecology, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research
Warwick Allen (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research) is a community ecologist based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. His research interests are wide-ranging but grounded in a desire to understand and mitigate the impacts of global change on indigenous ecosystems and species.
Leigh Tait
Marine Ecologist, NIWA
Leigh Tait is a marine ecologist specialising in the application of remote sampling techniques that enable a broadscale understanding of marine ecosystems. To overcome bottlenecks in ecological information Leigh has been developing multi-scaled remote-sensing techniques that include underwater remote operated vehicles (ROVs), aerial drones and earth-oriented satellites. He has developed techniques and protocols for detecting key habitat-forming seaweeds using enhanced spectral imaging from aerial drones and satellites. These techniques are currently being used by the Department of Conservation, Ministry for Primary Industries, and multiple regional councils to monitor remote and challenging coastal and estuarine areas.
Murray Ford
Associate Professor - Environment, University of Auckland
Murray is a coastal geomorphologist working in a range of coastal settings. At present, I am primarily working on reef island systems in the Pacific. I employ both field and remote sensing approaches to better understand reef island geomorphology in order to be understand the evolution and dynamics of these landforms.
Sarah-Jane Paine
Associate Professor, Waipapa Taumata Rau - The University of Auckland
Sarah-Jane (Tuhoe) is an Associate Professor in Māori Health at Te Kupenga Hauora Maori and the Research Director for Growing Up in New Zealand - the largest contemporary longitudinal study of child and youth wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sarah-Jane is an experienced Kaupapa Māori epidemiologist with a range of projects investigating ethnic inequities in health and the determinants of health across the life-course.
Tom Wilson
Chief Science Advisor, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)
Tom is the Chief Science Advisor for the New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency/Te Rākau Whakamarumaru (NEMA). He is also a Professor of Disaster Risk and Resilience at the University of Canterbury/Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha. In the Chief Science Advisor role at NEMA, Tom is focused on supporting the effective use of science within emergency management policy and practice. This includes considering how to more effectively reduce disaster risk and support better disaster recoveries in the long term, as well as how to prepare for and respond to future disasters. Tom’s role also includes supporting partnerships with science organisations and helping to better connect research with policy.