Unlocking Curious Minds contestable fund 2024 Call for Proposals

Dr Anderson currently works at Otago Museum as a Royal Society Rutherford Discovery Fellow, working with Otago Museum to model ecological trends based on the museum’s significant insect collection. Dr Anderson leads Ahi Pepe MothNet, a project with a focus on weaving pūtaiao (science), taiao (environment), toi (arts) and te reo Māori together through engagement with moths. Along with connecting teachers, students and wider whānau with nature and science through the study of moths, there are workshops and resources developed to encourage this interaction, such as regional moth guides and instructions for experiments based on moth ecology.

Bianca Woyak is Head of Science at Burnside Primary School. She teaches science to all year levels, 1 to 6, specialising in ecology. Ms Woyak was awarded the Te Puiaki Kaiwhaaho Putaiao Science Teachers Prize at the 2021 Prime Minister's Science Prizes for her work engaging students in environmental science activities outside the classroom. She started the Burnside Brings Back Boulder Butterfly project, which engaged students and local experts to recreate boulder copper butterfly habitats and restore butterfly populations. Bianca also does professional development for other schools where she helps schools create their own localised science-based curriculum.

Dean is graduate of Michigan State University (Ph.D. Physical Chemistry), he spent 10 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working in the field of Atmospheric Research before being appointed to NASA Headquarters as Co-Program Manager for the Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP).

Since then, he has worked for Antarctica New Zealand and National Technology Networks, and managed the Marsden Fund (the fundamental research fund for the New Zealand government), the James Cook Fellowships, and the Rutherford Discovery Fellowships, before joining Te Papa in 2016.

Dean and his team look after Te Papa’s collections, and share them with the public, ensuring as many people as possible can appreciate and learn from these national treasures. This covers natural sciences, art, and New Zealand and Pacific cultures. Activities in the group include curatorial research, collection management and development, and exhibition development.

Ms Mogoşanu is the Executive Director of the New Zealand Astrobiology Network Charitable Trust, an organisation that leads astrobiology communication and public events. She is also an Affiliated Research Scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, a non-profit institution in the United States. Ms Mogosanu has previously interned at NASA working in planetary protection. She has also worked at the Ministry for Primary Industries as a biosecurity risk analyst and risk communication SME (subject matter expert), and at Space Place at Carter Observatory as a Senior Science Communicator.

Ms Pollock has been a secondary teacher, a former head of Earth and Space Science at Nelson College for Girls and an NZQA and MoE assessor and resource developer. She has extensive experience in assessment. Her work also saw the national science curriculum expanded to include ocean and atmosphere studies and earth system science at all levels, which broadened science education throughout the country. Ms Pollock was named a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2018 and is currently serving on that organisation's Council as Branch Representative.

Dr Perrott is the Associate Head of School: Māori advancement at AUT’s School of Science (Te Arawa). He has a recognised background in science communication, Vision mātauranga, kaitiakitanga, and Mtauranga Māori. Dr Perrott is a current NZQA Review Board member for Mātauranga Māori in science education and has a passion for indigenous species, people, and history of Aotearoa. Dr Perrott completed his MSc and PhD in Conservation Biology of hihi (stitchbird) on Mokoia Island (Lake Rotorua) with Massey University. Current research involves investigating disease ecology in hihi, kiwi and kākāpō.

Ms Housiaux is currently researching occurrences of whale stranding in New Zealand at Massey University and is a Mātanga Taiao for Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai. She has experience at government and research organisations including the Ministry of Health, NIWA and AgResearch. Ms Housiaux previously worked in science communication as a Marine Educator at the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre.

Dr Adusei-Fosu is Science Team Leader, Plant & Endophyte Technologies, Senior Scientist and Plant Pathologist at AgResearch. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Lincoln University’s Department of Pest Management and Conservation. He previously worked at Scion where he led the Pathogen Ecology and Control Team with his research focused on forest pathogens and other emerging diseases.

His research is now focused on diseases/pathogens and endophytes research for pasture, forage crops, cereals, clover, and other relevant biosecurity studies. He has worked in England, Canada, and New Zealand on soil-borne and foliar pathogens especially for oomycetes, fungi, and beneficial microbes over the years. His research international experiences with the government, industry, and academia have all contributed to his versatility and better integration into different research programmes with relevance to his skill set and background. He is also co-founder of a social enterprise Beyond3Generations based in Canada and New Zealand. Dr Adusei-Fosu was awarded Unlocking Curious Minds funding in 2019.

Ms Evile is a Samoan woman from South Auckland who is currently working as a Toloa Advisor for the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. She works towards increasing Pacific Peoples participation in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) pathways through a whole of life approach to fulfil MPP’s Lalanga Fou Goal 2: Prosperous Pacific Communities. Ms Evile works with different groups of people from secondary scholarship recipients to elderly learners, local community groups to well-known organizational brands; to build relationships, skills, funding, and tools to guide Pacific People and their villages along their STEAM journeys.

Professor Longnecker earned a BSc (Hons) in biology from University of the South and MSc and PhD in plant nutrition from Cornell University. Professor Longnecker has curated exhibitions and displays seen by over 100,000 people, authored a popular science communication book, Passion for Pulses, produced podcast series, and created social media communities of practice. She develops science communication resources for children, adolescents and adults. Professor Longnecker has experience as an agricultural research scientist, professional science communicator and communication academic. Her current research involves evaluation of science communication.

Associate Professor Pauline Harris is from the tribes Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Rakaipaka and Ngāti Kahungunu. She is a Lecturer at Te Pūtahi a Toi, School of Māori knowledge at Massey University. Dr Harris is an astrophysicist who has specialized in high energy neutrino production and inflationary cosmology. Dr Harris’s research currently focuses on mātauranga Māori associated with Māori astronomy; Māori calendars called maramataka as well as climate change. Currently, Dr Harris is the Chairperson of the Society for Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART). She is also Deputy Director Māori for the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and the Vision Matauranga theme leader for the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge. As part of Dr Harris’s role in Matariki she was part of the Matariki Advisory Committee that established the Matariki public holiday.

Dr Fuller’s passion is exploring the interface between Mātauranga Maori and science. Dr Fuller previously worked at Lincoln Agritech Ltd. Dr Fuller’s research involved the Maori use of fungi and her PhD was in ethnobotany at the University of Hawaii looking into the Polynesian use of fungi. She has since worked as a researcher in fungal genetics, resistance to fungal diseases by traditional cultivars of kumara and the health benefits of māra kai (food gardens) on marae.

Dr Salmon is an Associate Professor in the School of Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington and co-leads the Engagement Community of Inquiry for Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre of Research Excellence. Dr Salmon’s research explores the context within which science communication and engagement operates both in New Zealand and internationally. Dr Salmon received her PhD in atmospheric chemistry at York University, Toronto, Canada, and her BSc (EUR, hons.) from Leeds University, UK. She also has over fifteen years working in the field of science communication as a practitioner and researcher. Dr Salmon has expertise in catalysing conversations between scientists and different publics and has worked with a range of audiences on science festivals, public debates, global community events and expeditions.

Associate Professor MacDiarmid is a Science Group Co-Leader at Plant and Food Research and is also an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. She completed a BSc and MSc degrees in Biochemistry at the University of Otago then completed a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Auckland. Robin’s research is into viruses in native plants, as well as looking at how viruses could combat plant pathogens, like fungi or Phytophthora, which cause plant diseases like grey mould and kauri dieback.

Sarah Johns is the teacher in charge of STEM at Nelson Intermediate School. She empowers her students by encouraging them to share her own philosophy of life—to be curious, open to possibilities and willing to ask that question! Sarah was awarded Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize Winner in 2017.  She has been a recipient of the Endeavour Teacher Fellowship and a Woolf Fisher Fellowship. She has served as a panellist for Science Teaching Leadership Programme as well as The Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prizes. She currently is an active member of the Cawthron Science & Technology Fair Committee.

Dr Morgan is a teacher at Ōhope Beach School, where she teaches Year 5 and 6 students in an Innovative Learning Environment. She has extensive experience in science community engagement, having worked as a science writer and then project manager for the Universities of Otago and Auckland, and then COMET Te Hononga Akoranga. While at COMET, Dr Morgan set up and ran the South Auckland region of the Participatory Science Platform for 6 years.

Dr Morgan’s PhD was focused on a genome investigation of lifespan extension in Drosophila. She is passionate about education, human and animal rights, and environmental protection.

Mrs Washbrooke is bringing her expertise in the Technology Curriculum to the forefront as a teaching fellow in Technology Education at University of Waikato and Product development lead in Digital Technologies at ByteEd. She has taught STEM & technology for the past 26 years, 20 of those being in New Zealand. Mrs Washbrooke volunteers on the TENZ Council and supports a variety of STEM initiatives. Mrs Washbrooke was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize in 2020, and in 2019 received the Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ) ‘Outstanding Technology Teacher Award’ for continued excellence in Technology teaching.

Dr Meade is the Principal Advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor (OPMCSA). Susie’s role also supports the Forum of Chief Science Advisors. She has a rural background, having been brought up on a sheep and beef farm in rural Nelson. Susie completed her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Canterbury. She has over 20 years’ experience in the Aotearoa New Zealand science system as a researcher and in science management. Immediately prior to joining OPMCSA, Susie was the manager of a Centre of Research Excellence, QuakeCoRE. Susie spends time in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.

Kahu is Pou Tiaki - Te Apārangi at the Royal Society based in Wellington. She trained as a primary school teacher at North Shore Teachers College, Auckland and taught at a variety of schools over the next 27 years, only taking short breaks when her 3 children were born. She was in the first cohort of teachers to be trained in delivering Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, Pūtaiao, Pāngarau and Te Reo at Waikato University. Kahu also worked at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa delivering managing Home-Based Learning programmes and loves the Arts.

Emily completed her undergraduate degree in organic chemistry at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and her PhD in bio-organic chemistry at the University of Cambridge with Chris Abell. Following a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, she returned to New Zealand to Massey University initially, and moved to the University of Canterbury in 2006. In 2017 she moved to Victoria University of Wellington to take up a position as Professor of Chemical Biology within the Ferrier Research Institute.

In 2005 she was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Easterfield medal.  In 2006 She was awarded the Applied Biosystems Award by the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2008, and in 2010 Emily received a National Teaching Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching. In 2018 Emily was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand – Te Apārangi. She is a Deputy Director of the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery. In 2023 Emily took up a part-time secondment to the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment as Departmental Science Advisor.

Emily’s research area spans the areas of chemistry and biology and involves a range of research techniques including refactoring natural product biosynthesis, protein evolution and engineering, and molecular and structural biology. More recently her research group has focused on exploring molecular communication processes within proteins and using synthetic biology approaches to biosynthesise and manufacture and bioactive compounds.

Michael grew up in Ōtautahi and studied genetics at Lincoln University, followed by a PhD in virology in Australia. He then took his DNA skills and decided to apply them within the field of ancient and environmental DNA, where he then spent the next 20 years (at Universities in Oxford, Canada, and Australia) extracting DNA from a wide variety of biological material - from fossils to sea water. Michael has published over 200 papers. In 2019, he left academia to take up the position of Chief Scientist at the EPA but in 2020 was seconded into Aotearoa’s COVID-19 response, where he wrote science advice and policy on the pandemic for the PMCSA, MoH and ESR. In November 2022 Michael was appointed as Chief Science Advisor at DOC.

Ms Cleary is the Lead Science Writer for the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh at the Ministry of Education. Ms Cleary has previously worked as a Cytogeneticist at Starship Hospital then as a Product Manager for Biolab Scientific before teaching Science, Biotechnology, and Chemistry at Villa Maria College where she was also the Specialist Classroom Teacher.

Ms Cleary worked as a curriculum and learning facilitator at UC Education Plus from 2011 to 2016, and with Kaha Education from 2017-early 2021. She then joined the Ministry of Education as the Science Learning Area Lead. Ms Cleary previously assessed UCM 2022 as the Ministry of Education representative.

Mrs Talakai-Alatini is a proud Tongan who hails from the mighty Vava’u Island with ancestral lineages to Uvea (Wallis and Futuna). Her personal mission is to ensure that women in the public sector have access to resources to navigate challenging issues but flourish and contribute to creating a diverse and inclusive public service. She has a background in community development, education and programme management, and has expertise in Pacific Transnationalism and International Tourism Management. Mrs Talakai-Alatini has worked in the tertiary field for over 5 years and is currently working at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples as the Scholarship and Funding Toloa Manager. Her role supports Pacific Peoples in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) pathways over a whole of life approach from early childhood education right through to Tertiary, career pathways and to business opportunities to ensure transformational impact in the communities she serves. Her experiences in the private and public sector have been life changing: they have not only helped shape her views and perceptions in life but have also provided a platform to serving her community whole heartedly.