Chief Science Advisor Forum – Archived

Dr Alison Collins

Departmental Chief Science Advisor – Kaitohutohu Mātanga Pūtaiao Matua | Ministry for the Environment (MfE) – Manatū Mō Te Taiao

Alison, intrigued from an early age about the how the world works, studied soil science (the mysterious universe beneath our feet) and geomorphology (how landscapes evolve). Seeing many different soils and landscapes became a passion and took her on a journey from the UK, around Europe and into Mississippi before landing almost 15 years ago in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Alison spent 12 years working for Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, leading a portfolio of science around ecosystems, soils, land use and informatics. She worked closely with regional councils and central government agencies in understanding and prioritising their science needs, and working with the science community to find ways  to facilitate better uptake and use of science.  In this capacity she established and became director of a centre for integrating data and science-based tools, facilitating clear and engaging communication.

Alison joined the Ministry for the Environment in August 2017 as Departmental Chief Science Advisor. Still passionate about enabling wise use of science, her role is focused on ensuring ‘valued and trusted science for environmental stewardship’. On a day-to-day basis this means translating complex science, navigating the science system so decision-makers can better access and use excellent research, and building capability at the science-policy interface.  Her passion for building confidence, competence and capability at the science-policy interface will be the focus of a collaboration with the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Sciences and School of Environment, and recognised through an honorary academic position.

Read the report ‘Environmental stewardship and well-being’  (February 2021, Manaaki Whenua website)

Read a summary ‘Codifying the relationship between nature and people’ (May 2021)

Read Alison’s report ‘The bridge – reflections on science-policy’ (May 2022)

Dr Chris Daughney

Chief Science Advisor | Te Uru Kahika – Regional and Unitary Councils Aotearoa

Chris joined NIWA as Chief Science Advisor in 2020 and started a half-time secondment as Te Uru Kahika’s Chief Science Advisor in 2022. Originally from Canada, he completed his PhD at McGill University in Montreal and held post-doctoral fellowships at the University of British Columbia and the University of Ottawa before moving to New Zealand in 2002. Prior to joining NIWA, he held roles as Principal Analyst at the Ministry for the Environment, and as Director of the Environment and Materials Division within the Executive Team at GNS Science. Chris has had previous science advisory positions within central government, several regional councils, and the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.  He has research interests in freshwater science, especially in groundwater quality and microbiology.

Listen to Chris talk about his new role on Radio New Zealand (May 2022)

Dr David Galligan

Chief Defence Scientist | Defence Science & Technology, New Zealand Defence Force – Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa

David joined the New Zealand Defence Force’s Defence Science & Technology (DST) as an Operations Analyst in 2002. In 2021, he was appointed as the Director of DST. In addition to leading the DST, this position also encompasses the roles of New Zealand’s Chief Defence Scientist and as New Zealand’s Principal on several international agreements, including for The Technical Cooperation Programme, which is the pre-eminent five-eyes Defence Science & Technology collaborative arrangement.

David has a PhD in Physics from the University of Canterbury. His doctoral research focus was on the analysis of radar-derived meteor data to help determine the structure of the interplanetary meteoroid cloud. He has held a post-doctoral fellowship collaborating with international researchers at the European Space Operations Centre to determine and mitigate the risk posed to near-Earth satellites from meteoroid impacts.

Vince Galvin

Chief Methodologist | Statistics New Zealand – Tatauranga Aotearoa

Vince is Chief Methodologist at Stats NZ. He has extensive experience in official statistics, with stints in Australia and the United Kingdom in addition to a wide range of international collaboration. This is on top of more than 30 years working in the New Zealand system.

His work has encompassed environmental, social and economic measurement. 

He chairs the Pacific Methods board, a new group looking to ensure that the nations of the Pacific benefit from developments in statistical methodology.

Vince is an organiser of the Wellington Data Analytics Forum and has served as both a board member of the Market Research Industry Association and a member of the organising committee of the New Zealand Statistics Association.

Jim Graham

Chief Science Advisor | Taumata Arowai, New Zealand’s national drinking water regulator

Jim has worked in the water industry for more than thirty years, working in a range of roles including Health Protection Officer in Public Health Service, contributing to the preparation of the Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand (2005 and 2008), part of the team that prepared New Zealand’s first drinking water legislation, as an amendment to the Health Act (the Health (Drinking Water Amendment Act 2007), Principal Environmental Scientist at Opus International Consultants, Principal Advisor Water Quality at Water New Zealand.

Jim has a Masters of Environmental Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. His thesis considered how Pākehā views of Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi had changed in relation to water and how they might change in the future.

In 2020, Jim was appointed as Principal Technical Advisor to the Establishment Unit for Taumata Arowai and remained with them until Taumata Arowai was set up and he was appointed as Principal Advisor, Drinking Water. During this time Jim was responsible for revising the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards and preparing the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules for water suppliers.
Jim is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environment Managers and a life member of Water New Zealand. Jim has also worked for the World Health Organisation in the Pacific and Asia, particularly in the area of managing risk in drinking water supplies. Jim was appointed as Chief Advisor Water Science in 2023 and leads a range of work programmes for Taumata Arowai.

Erica Gregory

Manahautū | Kaupapa Kura Taiao – Environmental Protection Authority

Erica’s tribal affiliations are to Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto.

Erica joined the EPA in 2016 as a Principal Advisor to lead the development and implementation of the EPA’s mātauranga programme. In 2020 she was appointed to the Manahautū role.

Erica has an extensive background in public sector policy development and implementation through working for the Ministry for Economic Development  and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Her focus in the past 18 years has been around facilitating Māori engagement on a range of economic development and environmental management issues. This has included an abiding interest in how mātauranga Māori can better inform the work of agencies and decision makers.

At the Ministry for Economic Development, Erica supported work to understand the intersect between mātauranga and intellectual property rights. At MPI, she was actively involved in increasing awareness within MPI of the need to consider mātauranga alongside science in responding to biosecurity challenges. More recently, her focus has been on enabling environmental decision makers to consider mātauranga in decision making processes. The metaphor of a waka hourua, a double hulled canoe, emphasises for Erica the partnership approach that is needed to engage with Māori to ensure mātauranga informs EPA policies, processes and decisions.

Dr Gill Jolly

Chair, Chief Science Advisor Forum

Chief Science Advisor | Hīkina Whakatutuki – Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Gill is a volcanologist from the UK and after researching magma physics for her PhD, she started work at the British Geological Survey. After a few years exploring for gold and base metals in the UK, she was involved in the eruption of Soufriere Hills volcano, Montserrat from 1995 to 2005. In 2006 she moved to NZ where she led the Volcanology team at GNS Science through New Zealand and SW Pacific eruptions. Between 2014 and 2018, she was the Director of the Natural Hazards Division and led the division through the response to the 2016 M7.8 Kaikōura Earthquake. She then became the Leader of the Natural Hazards and Risks Science Theme, and as such was responsible for developing GNS’ strategic direction for research on volcanoes, tsunami, landslides and earthquakes. From July 2023, she was seconded to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment as their Chief Science Advisor. Gill currently chairs the CSA Forum

Read George, Gary and Gill’s discussion paper ‘How the NZ government funds research to support policy and government operations’ (July 2023)

Professor Ian Lambie ONZM

Chief Science Advisor | Justice Sector

Ian is Professor in Clinical Psychology at at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland, where he teaches clinical, forensic, child and adolescent psychology. His specialist clinical and research interests are in child and adolescent mental health, childhood trauma and youth justice, building on more than 30 years’ experience working with children and adolescents and their families. Initially as a general and psychiatric nurse, then as a specialist clinical psychologist, he has worked with children and adolescents with severe conduct problems and trauma, in both family and criminal-justice settings, and was involved for 15 years in programmes for adolescents with harmful sexual behaviour and children who deliberately light fires. His academic position is an opportunity to build robust, applicable knowledge in these areas, including in training new forensic and clinical psychologists, and advising Fire & Emergency on child firelighters and Oranga Tamariki on child offenders. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the New Zealand Psychological Society for his services to Psychology in New Zealand in 2018. As Science Advisor for the Justice Sector two days a week, Ian works across the Ministry of Justice, Department of Corrections and Police, as well as maintaining links with the broader social sector including Oranga Tamariki and Ministry of Health. In 2020, Ian was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to clinical psychology and youth justice.

Read Ian’s criminal justice report series here

Ian co-authored the ‘Toward an understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s adult gang environment’ report. Read the report here (June 2023)

Professor Tracey McIntosh MNZM

Chief Science Advisor | Ministry of Social Development – Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora

Tracey is of Ngāi Tūhoe descent and is Professor of Indigenous Studies and co-head of Te Wānanga o Waipapa (School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies) at the University of Auckland. She was the former co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga – New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. She previously taught in the sociology and criminology programme at the University of Auckland. She was a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and lectured at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. She has sat on a number of assessment panels including PBRF panels (Māori Knowledge and Development and Social Sciences), the Marsden Social Science panel, Rutherford Discovery, James Cook Fellowship and Health Research Council panels. In 2012 she served as the co-chair of the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty.​ In 2018–2019 she was a member of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and Te Uepū Hapai i te Ora- The Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group. She sits on a range of advisory groups and boards for government and community organisations. She currently delivers education and creative writing programmes in prisons.​

Her recent research focused on incarceration (particularly of Māori and Indigenous peoples), gang whānau issues and issues pertaining to poverty, inequality and social justice.

Tracey co-chaired the expert panel on cannabis. Read more about the cannabis project here (July 2020)

Tracey co-authored the ‘Toward an understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s adult gang environment’ report. Read the report here (June 2023)

Tracey co-authored a report titled ‘Te Pūtahitanga: A Tiriti-led science policy approach for Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland: Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga’, published by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and Rauika Māngai. Read the report here (2021)

Dr Tim Ng

Strategic Economic Advisor | The Treasury – Te Tai Ōhanga

Tim provides strategic vision and leadership to the Treasury on economic and fiscal policy.

Tim is a macroeconomist with extensive experience in monetary, fiscal and financial system policy. His work is published in a range of professional and academic journals. Prior to joining the Treasury, Tim worked at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, at the Bank for International Settlements and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Tim was born and raised in Auckland. He studied economics and  biochemistry at the University of Auckland and economics at Victoria University of Wellington.

Dr John Roche

Chief Science Advisor | Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) – Manatū Ahu Matua

John is the Chief Science Advisor for New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries. He is also the managing director and principal consultant for Down to Earth Advice Ltd, and an honorary academic in the School of Biological Sciences at University of Auckland. Until recently, he was principal scientist for Animal Science at DairyNZ. He has also held science appointments with the National Centre for Dairy Production Research at Moorepark in Ireland, the Department of Primary Industries in Australia, and the University of Tasmania.

John has published more than 150 peer-reviewed science journal articles and book chapters. He is a regular contributor at international science and farming conferences and has been a section editor for Journal of Dairy Science since 2012.

During the last two decades, his animal science programme has focused primarily on dairy cow peripartum nutrition and the role of body condition score and energy balance on milk production, health, and reproduction. He has also been involved in numerous genotype x diet comparison studies and grazing management.

Read Stuart and John’s report “dealing with misinformation in the digital age” (March 2021)

Dr Kay Saville-Smith MNZM

Chief Science Advisor | Ministry of Housing and Urban Development

Kay is the inaugural chief science advisor to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). She is the director of Centre for Research, Evaluations and Social Assessment (CRESA) and has built up more than 20 years expertise in community and social policy research with a focus on housing. In 2018, Kay was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to older people’s housing research. She was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Housing and Urban Development, the Office for Senior Citizens’ Independent Advisory Group Reviewing the Positive Ageing Strategy; and Commission for Financial Capability’s review of retirement incomes. She led the Life When Renting research in the Ageing Well National Science Challenge, as well as a number of programmes in the Building Better Homes Towns and Cities National Science Challenge including the current programme Affordable Housing for Generations.

Professor Ian Town FRACP

Chief Science Advisor | Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora

Ian has worked across both the health and education sectors during his 30-year career. A physician by training, he has published extensively in respiratory medicine. Much of this research has been implemented through evidence-based guidelines for the management of common conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia. Following an eight-year period at the University of Canterbury as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, he has taken on a wide range of roles including Chair of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) Sector Reference Group and Chair of the Tertiary Education Commission PBRF Governance Group overseeing the 2018 quality evaluation. Returning to the health sector in recent years, Ian has worked extensively on the development and implementation of the New Zealand Health Research Strategy and has contributed to a range of projects locally and nationally across rural health, community pharmacy, infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship and occupational safety and health.

Ian played a central role in New Zealand’s COVID-19 pandemic response working with the PMCSA and the Director-General of Health to bring the latest evidence and research to decision makers. More recently he has led the COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group providing regular advice to the Director-General about vaccine strategy, efficacy and safety.

Now in his second term Ian is part of the Evidence, Research and Innovation Directorate at the Ministry and is focused on the New Zealand Health Research Strategy.

Ian co-chaired the expert panel on AI in healthcare. Read the report here (January 2023)

Professor Tom Wilson

Chief Science Advisor | National Emergency Management Agency | Te Rākau Whakamarumaru

Tom is the Chief Science Advisor for the National Emergency Management Agency | Te Rākau Whakamarumaru.  He is also Professor of Disaster Risk & Resilience at University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha.

Tom’s research expertise is focused on disaster risk assessment and rural disaster resilience.  He has led and been a senior researcher in various large interdisciplinary applied research programmes studying the physical, social and economic impacts of natural hazards, and developing strategies which can increase our disaster resilience in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tom is seconded two and half days a week to NEMA, with his role 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 agencies and other government agencies, and helping to better connect research with policy.

Resilience to Nature’s Challenges National Science Challenge Information Sheet: Ethical Guidelines for Post-Disaster Research – Beavan, S. (2023). February 2023.