Karyn is a lecturer in Te Tumu – School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the University of Otago, where she obtained her BA (Hons), MA and PhD degrees.

Dr Lynne Russell works as a Senior Research Fellow - Maori Health with the Health Services Research Centre (HSRC) at Victoria University of Wellington. Much of her professional and academic work has centred around the Indigenous knowledge and healing practices used in recovery from trauma associated with mental distress, suicide loss and self-harm. She describes herself as an writer, activist and public speaker stirred by cultural resilience, social justice, Indigenous and LGBTI rights, and the amplification of voices more readily silenced in society.

Ko Hikurangi te Maunga, Ko Waiapu te Awa, Ko Ngāti Porou te Iwi, Ko te Whānau a Pōkai te Hapū, Ko Te Kapa o Hinekōpeka te Tūrangawaewae, Ko Pōkai te Marae, Ko Pōhatu te Wharekai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā rā tātou katoa.

My main accomplishments to-date are my five children and (so far) eight mokopuna.

I am a senior lecturer/researcher in education with a main focus on mathematics education in relation to kaupapa and mātauranga Māori in kura. 

The overarching theme of my research is understanding the composition, distribution and evolutionary history of New Zealand’s unique ecosystems. My primary focus is the rich, and largely endemic, marine mollusc fauna. However, I apply my broadly ranging expertise in genomics, ecology and evolutionary biology, to a diverse range of research topics involving New Zealand’s biodiversity, both native and exotic.

Melanie is an Indigenous environmental sociologist, and the Māori Research Manager – Kaiārahi for the Bio-Protection Research Centre (a Centre of Research Excellence) based at Lincoln University.

Ocean’s teaching and research interests are varied, but her key focus is how mātauranga Māori and science connect and relate, particularly in educational contexts and using novel digital technologies. She co-leads a National Science Challenge project investigating the perceptions of novel biotechnological controls of pest wasps in Aotearoa. Her research also involves kaupapa Māori reading of films. She is the presenter of Māori Television's Project Mātauranga and presents for TVNZ’s Coast.

Karyn's research interests are in a number of areas that intersect at various points. These are: sociological issues surrounding Māori urbanisation and Māori identity development and maintenance; Māori performing arts, particularly poi, the analysis of haka and waiata compositions and the role kapa haka plays in identity; grammatical aspects of the Māori language and second language acquisition; Māori language and Māori performing arts teaching methodologies.