He Kaupapa Hononga is a network of staff and postgraduate students at the University of Otago who do climate-change related research. The network is run by our Steering Group, and guided by our Advisory Group.
Many of our researchers teach into the interdisciplinary paper ENVI 312: Interdisciplinary Aspects of Climate Change, a paper created by OCCNet, the predecessor to He Kaupapa Hononga.
Visit our Study with us page
We also support the Otago Postgraduate Climate Change Network.
He Kaupapa Hononga Steering Group
Associate Professor Inga Smith, Co-director
Associate Professor, Department of Physics
Inga Smith specialises in sea ice and energy research. Inga's climate-related research interests include climate modelling of ice-ocean interactions, and international transport emissions. Inga is a member of the Scientific Steering Group for CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean: Variability, Predictability and Change), which is the core project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) that aims to understand the dynamics, the interaction, and the predictability of the climate system with emphasis on ocean-atmosphere interactions. She is Principal Investigator on sea ice and climate-related projects funded by the Marsden Fund, Deep South National Science Challenge, and the Antarctic Science Platform.
Tel +64 3 479 7755
Email inga.smith@otago.ac.nz
Professor Sara Walton, Co-director
Department of Management
Sara Walton teaches and researches in the area of sustainability and business with a focus on eco and social entrepreneurship, eco-innovation, sustainable transitions, environmental conflicts and understanding work in changing futures. Her projects have included Energy Cultures and Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge, Lighting Vanuatu, social enterprise in Samoa, and land use / biodiversity surrounding Macraes Gold Mine.
Tel +64 3 479 5108
Email sara.walton@otago.ac.nz
Andrea Foley
Assistant Research Fellow
Andrea provides research support to He Kaupapa Hononga with the aim to develop and maintain its network. She is also the Lab Manager for the Physics Antarctic Ice Lab. Andrea has also recently worked on research projects focused on climate change and carbon emissions. With a background in computer science, geology, and environmental science, Andrea brings diverse experience to the group.
Professor Nicolas Cullen
School of Geography
Nicolas Cullen's research interests are in all aspects of meteorology and climatology, with a focus on understanding the response of mountain glaciers and ice sheets to changes in the climate system. He is also interested in the impacts of atmospheric processes on human behaviour, in particular air pollution meteorology, renewable energy and issues related to climate change on local to global scales.
Tel +64 3 479 3069
Email nicolas.cullen@otago.ac.nz
Professor Lisa Ellis
Professor of Philosophy and Politics, Director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics Programmme
Lisa Ellis is a political theorist interested in the collective impacts of discrete decisions in environmental policy. Her projects include the distribution of risks of sea-level rise, the collective ethics of flying, conservation and invasive pest management, and measuring biodiversity value.
Email lisa.ellis@otago.ac.nz
Associate Professor Linn Hoffmann
Botany Department
Linn Hoffmann is a biological oceanographer with a focus on marine phytoplankton eco-physiology. Her work mainly focusses on the response of phytoplankton communities to multiple environmental and climate change stressors such as light, macronutrient concentration, microplastics, temperature, ocean acidification, and trace metal bioavailability. She also works on research projects looking at phytoplankton – bacteria interactions, the impact of microplastics on marine phytoplankton and macroalgae.
Tel +64 3 479 7583
Email linn.hoffmann@otago.ac.nz
Dr Nathan Kenny
Department of Biochemistry
Nathan Kenny is a Senior Lecturer in the Biochemistry Department and a Rutherford Discovery Fellow. His work focusses on the molecular evolution of invertebrates to changing conditions, and particularly on the resilience of kuku or kūtai (green lipped mussels) to warming seas and rising levels of ocean acidification.
Dr Daniel Kingston
Senior Lecturer, School of Geography
Daniel Kingston's research focuses on the intersection of the climate system with the hydrological cycle. His areas of particular expertise include the effects of climate change on river flow and the changing characteristics of drought frequency and magnitude.
Tel +64 3 479 8971
Email daniel.kingston@otago.ac.nz
Associate Professor Janice Lord
Botany Department
Janice Lord is a botanist with research interests in climate change impacts on alpine vegetation, native reforestation, wetland restoration, carbon capture by plants and soils, and nature-based solutions for the agricultural sector. She leads an MPI/Te Uru Rakau 1 Billion Trees programme and collaborates on several climate change related multi-disciplinary projects.
Tel +64 3 479 5131
Email janice.lord@otago.ac.nz
Ray O'Brien
Head of Sustainability | Tumuaki o Toitū te Taiao
Ray O'Brien is a sustainability professional with focus on the integration of sustainable practice into programmes and practice across many disciplines and operational areas. His research interests are generally practice based and centre around the potential for education to have a transformational impact. His current research is exploring how fields such as complexity theory, futures studies and decolonised design integrate to place learning designers as leaders in maximising that transformational impact.
Mob +64 21 766 937
Email ray.obrien@otago.ac.nz
Dr Jen Purdie
Centre for Sustainability
Jen Purdie is a climatologist, based at the Centre for Sustainability. Past work includes measuring micro-climates as part of the Topoclimate South project, and seasonal forecasting of rainfall and river flows. She is currently on a Deep South Science Challenge funded project, looking at climate change impacts on the New Zealand energy system. This project looks at projected changes to wind and water in coming decades, and models how this fits into our energy system as it transitions to 100% renewable. Other work is looking at electric vehicle uptake and charging patterns, demand response in energy systems, energy efficient buildings and decarbonising transport.
Eva Templeton, Postgraduate Representative
Politics
Eva Templeton has just started her Masters of Politics. Her dissertation is focused on legal rights to nature, looking into New Zealand examples of Te Awa Tupua in order to assess whether similar legal entities can be used in other parts of the world to address severe climate degradation and redress Indigenous rights. Her interests are in Politics, environmental management and Indigenous rights.
Ifeoma Ukonze, Postgraduate Representative
School of Surveying
Ifeoma Ukonze is currently doing her PhD research at Faculty of Surveying. Her research is to assess the integration of Green Infrastructure as an adaptive tool for Climate Change in Sustainable Land transport Development using two case studies. Ify's research is an empirical inquiry and uses a mixed methods approach to explore the research issues. Email ifeoma.ukonze@postgrad.otago.ac.nz
He Kaupapa Hononga Advisory Group
Our Advisory Group members are Otago researchers actively involved in research related to climate change. This group is open to any Otago researcher working on climate change related research.
Email hekaupapa.hononga@otago.ac.nz for more information.
Associate Professor Sophie Bond
School of Geography
- Climate justice and grassroots responses to climate change
- Climate change activism
- Community engagement in climate change adaptation from both governance and community perspectives
- Governance shifts for a just transition
Dr Cathy Cole
Department of Science Communication, Centre for Alternative Technology (UK)
- Ocean climate change and societal engagement with data
- Connecting climate science with public interest, policy and collective action
- Personal narratives as tools for engagement on climate issues
- Risks to cultural heritage from climate change
Professor Jim Cotter
School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences
- Heat stress tolerance and adaptation
- Cross adaptation between climate stressors
- Value of naturalistic physical activity for health
Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey
Department of Accountancy and Finance
- Climate finance
- Energy finance
- Carbon markets
- Energy and environmental policy
- Induced diffusion of eco-innovations
Professor Crid Fraser
Department of Marine Science
- How warming may change distributions of plants and animals (mainly marine)
- How warming could affect the vulnerability of Antarctic ecosystems to invasion
- DNA insights on the effect of past warming on plant and animal distributions
Dr Sebastian Gehricke
Department of Accountancy and Finance
- Greenwashing in Financial Markets Carbon Market Policy
- Impacts and Mechanisms Impact Investing
- Climate finance and sustainable investing
- Option traders concerns about climate risks
- The impact of climate policy and climate risk on US oil and gas
- Ownership of ASEAN's potentially stranded assets
Hannah Heynderickx (Postgraduate core group)
Department of Botany
- PhD candidate with interests in marine botany and ecology
- Impact of ocean acidification on phytoplankton and bacteria communities
- Biofilm communities in Kelp forest
Professor James Higham
Department of Tourism
- Tourism and climate change
- Tourism, climate and environmental change
- Aviation emissions
Associate Professor Douglas Hill
School of Geography
- The geography of development
- Capacity building
- Climate change in the Himalaya and impacts on transboundary water-sharing
- Low carbon transitions in Australia and New Zealand
- Climate migration
Dr Greg Leonard
School of Surveying
- How Antarctic sea ice is influenced by climate change, and the role it will play in a changing climate
- Use of geospatial engineering infrastructure models to examine the effects on urban drainage infrastructure due to climate change
- How intense rainfall events and sea level rise will affect existing drainage systems
Associate Professor Alexandra MacMillan
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine
- Integrates health, climate change and climate justice
- Identifies policies to address climate change with health, equity environmental sustainability co-benefits
- Policy areas including transport, urban planning, housing and food systems, e.g leads Te Ara Mua Future Streets
- Co-convenes OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council
Jekope Maiono (Postgraduate core group)
- PhD candidate in Indigenous Development
- Investigating: Fifty years of independence - indigenous perceptions on sustainable land development in Fiji
Dr Fabien Montiel
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
- Applied mathematics in modelling wave propagation phenomena
- Understanding sea ice vulnerability to ocean waves under the projected intensification of wind and wave activity at high latitudes
Dr Christian Ohneiser
Department of Geology
- Paleomagnetic and geochemical techniques on sedimentary records to reconstruct past environmental changes
- Understanding natural climate and ocean variability
Dr Christina Riesselman
Department of Geology
- Paleoceanography and paleoclimatology of marine and coastal sediments reconstructing responses to past intervals of warmer-than-present climate
- Currently co-Principal Investigator on the MBIE SSIF Antarctic Science Platform project Antarctic ocean mechanics: past, present and future
Dr Peter Russell
Department of Marine Science
- Former Research Fellow on the Marsden Fund supported project- Supercooling measurements under ice shelves (PI Inga Smith)
- Connecting Antarctic research with Māori communities
- How Antarctic research is relevant to multigenerational Iwi planning
- Haumatakataka - Research on marine primary productivity in the wake of tropical cyclones
Alexia Saint-Macary (Postgraduate core group)
Department of Marine Science/NIWA
- PhD candidate based at NIWA, Wellington
- Biogeochemical oceanography
- Dynamics of DMS (dimethyl sulfide) and DMSP (dimethylsulfoniopropionate) in the surface water column
Dr Annika Seppälä
Department of Physics
- Chemical-dynamical coupling in the atmosphere and how this influences regional climate variability, particularly via changes in solar forcing
- Satellite observations and modelling to investigate feedback mechanisms and connections between various parts of the atmosphere-climate system
Dr Caroline Shaw
Department of Public Health
- Health co-benefits and equity impacts of climate change mitigation policy
Associate Professor Janet Stephenson
Centre for Sustainability
- Social and interdisciplinary research
- Transition to low carbon economy systems
- Community and council adaptation to climate change (especially sea-level rise, flooding, storms)
- Behaviour change to low-carbon living
Ben Tombs (Postgraduate core group)
- PhD candidate co-supervised between Faculty of Law, Centre for Sustainability, and Philosophy
- Challenges and implications of 'property purgatory' resulting from climate change
Professor Sarah Wakes
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
- Using Computational Fluid Dynamics software to predict flows over sand dunes and the interaction of technology and industrial design
- Air and wind interaction with complex geometries as well as sedimentation effects
Professor Ceri Warnock
Faculty of Law
- Legal regulatory frameworks
- Resource management
- Land use rights based constitutional and common law
Dr Christine Winter
Politics
- Intergenerational justice
- Climate change politics
- Decolonial climate justice
- Climate change and multispecies justice
Otago Climate Change Postgraduate Network
He Kaupapa Hononga supports the growing Otago Climate Change Postgraduate Network (OCCPN). If you are a postgraduate student studying in a climate change-related field, feel free to join the group's mailing list:
Join OCPPN's mailing list
Current students come from disciplines as diverse as Botany, Tourism, Indigenous Studies, Education, Law, Public Health and Chemistry.