A brief introduction to our confirmed 2019 NZAS Conference speakers - more to come

Nayantara Appleton | Siouxsie WilesCraig Stevens | Tara McAllister | Sereana Naepi | Shaun Hendy | Tammy Steeves



Nayantara Appleton

Nayantara Sheoran Appleton is an interdisciplinary scholar with training in Feminist Medical Anthropology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Media Studies. She moved to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2015, and was a lecturer in the Cultural Anthropology programme, before moving to the Centre for Science in Society in 2019 as a senior lecturer. Her current work explores the politics of contraceptives, sex hormones, and stem cell research and therapies. In examining the politics of contraceptives in places like India, she critically unpacks the ‘over-population’ discourse underpinning some of the climate change movements. In her research project on sex hormones, which she is still developing, she is starting to examine the relationship between immigrant and indigenous communities under settler colonialism by working with cis, intersex, and trans women.

She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from George Mason University, a MSc in Communication Studies and a BA in Communication and Journalism from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, USA. Before moving to Aotearoa, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Anthropology and Sociology department at The Graduate Institute in Geneva for three years.

She is mother, partner, friend, community gardener, vegetarian, and a yoga practicing academic that dreams of better world through social and political action. top

Siouxsie Wiles

Siouxsie is an award-winning scientist who has made a career of manipulating microbes. She and her team make bacteria glow in the dark to understand how infectious microbes make us sick and to find new medicines. Siouxsie is also an enthusiastic tweeter, blogger, artist, curator and media science commentator and has won numerous prizes for her efforts, including the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize.


Craig Stevens | Past-President NZAS

Background: Craig Stevens is the out-going Co-President of the NZAS and holds a joint CRI/University position (NIWA/UoAkl). His science focus is extreme ocean environments. top


Tara McAllister 

Tara is a Research Fellow with Te Pūnaha Matatini and recently completed her PhD in Freshwater Ecology at the University of Canterbury where she investigated the environmental drives of toxic algal blooms. Tara’s research interests include co-developing research with Māori communities, freshwater ecology, mātauranga Māori and the experiences of Māori academics in crown Universities. Her recent work, "Why isn't my professor Māori?" and its Pasifika companion study, has attracted considerable interest.


Sereana Naepi 

Dr. Sereana Naepi is Indigenous Fijian (Natasiri)/Palagi  and the Associate Director of All My Relations at Thompson Rivers University. Sereana’s work explores the ways in which structures within university’s prevent the success of all learners and staff. Sereana has over a decade of experience running and managing programs that are aimed at increasing Indigenous learner success in Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada. Her recent work, "Why isn't my professor Pasifika?" and its Māori companion study, has attracted considerable interestMore information on her work can be found at sereananaepi.co and you can follow her on twitter and instagram @sereananaepi


Shaun Hendy 

Shaun Hendy is the founding Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini and Professor of Physics at the University of Auckland. His interest in the science of complexity stems from a conversation at a lunchtime journal club at Industrial Research Ltd about Geoffrey West’s work on the increase in the number of patents per capita with city size in the US. Hendy then downloaded an international patent database and found that the difference in patents per capita between Australia and New Zealand could be explained by the difference in population distributions.


Tammy Steeves

Tammy is an Associate Professor of Conservation Genomics at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha/University of Canterbury where she co-leads the Conservation, Systematics and Evolution Research Team (ConSERT). Tammy’s research interests focus on the ecological and evolutionary processes that contribute to the formation and maintenance of species boundaries, and the application of this knowledge to enhance the recovery of species at risk. She's become known as a leader in New Zealand's kindness in science movement.


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