My Story
I am passionate about helping communities get better informed in making good decisions and actions for living their best possible lives in a healthy, thriving environment.
I especially love seeing communities weave science together with their own local knowledge and values to create unique and effective local solutions to global “wicked problems”, such as food security in a changing climate.
I have over 20 years’ experience as a science communications practitioner, split between Aotearoa New Zealand – during which I was President of the Science Communicators Association of New Zealand – and the UK.
I currently freelance in the UK as an ethical marketing and science communications consultant. I live in northwest England with my daughter and husband (Ngāti Kahungunu), with whom I co-own a NZ based Indigenous consulting business.
If you’re also passionate about making your science communications more accessible, inclusive and equitable, I’d love for us to connect.
Background
From 2018 to 2022, I served as President of the Science Communicators Association of New Zealand (SCANZ).
Simultaneously, I spent five years as the national communications coordinator for Curious Minds, a New Zealand Government initiative supporting STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) engagement for all New Zealanders (not just school students), until the website was decommissioned in mid-2021.
Prior to this, I worked at the Science Media Centre, where I translated complex research papers into concise plain English news story summaries for busy jounalists and helped scientists communicate their work clearly to the media.
I also founded Mātau Taiao (with explicit consent from Māori knowledge holders), to share inspiring stories from people bringing together Indigenous knowledge and science. It was the first blog of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand.
A fan of continuous learning, I have achieved A grades in Indigenous Knowledge and Science (2022), Marketing for Social Good (2019) and Māori Science (2016) at Victoria University of Wellington. I also hold a Diploma in Te Reo Māori and Tikanga (Mātauranga) Māori (2016-2022), along with a Certificate in Small Business and Project Management (2018) from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
Before arriving in Aotearoa in 2014, I spent 10 years communicating science in the UK, Canada and Australia.
Highlights include: working at Think-Lab as a communications consultant for Defra, IPEM and others; co-founding Science London (the central city branch of the British Science Association); and leading tours through London’s Science Museum.
In 2007 I was awarded the runner up prize in the Daily Telegraph Science Writer Awards, the UK’s most prestigious science writing competition.
I hold an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London and a Bachelor of Science (International Honours) in Human Genetics from the University of Leeds. The latter included spending a year at the University of California Irvine, where I completed papers towards a minor in Native American Studies and was a member of the UCI American Indian Students Association.