Our champions hold the mauri or life essence of IICCRS ensuring the summit and relationships are well navigated and that the goals of IICCRS are successfully achieved.
Mike Smith
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu
Senior Climate Campaigner for Greenpeace Aotearoa, Mike has led Māori engagement of the national and global campaign to halt fossil fuel expansion. This has resulted in widespread opposition to deep sea oil drilling and increasing support for the development of alternative energy. Mike’s commitment to combating climate change began in 1992 when he represented Māori at the inaugural World Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Amongst many other actions, Mike produced and directed the celebrated documentary “He Ao Wera: Climate Change in Aotearoa”, and has produced digital sea level rise modelling to assist Māori communities in assessing risk. He is currently a member of the Iwi Chairs Forum Climate Working Group responsible for Climate Change policy.
Prof Linda Waimarie Nikora
Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Tūhoe, Rongowhakaata
Linda Waimarie Nikora is co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and a Professor of Indigenous Studies at Te Wānanga o Waipapa, the University of Auckland. She was previously Professor of Psychology and Director of the Maori & Psychology Research Unit at the University of Waikato. Her specialities are in in community psychology, applied social psychology, ethnopsychology and Maori development.
Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem
Cook Island, Niue, Pākeha
I am a Pacific feminist development geographer of Cook Island, Niuean and Pakeha descent. My current research concerns climate (im)mobilities in the Pacific. More…
Professor Kyle Powys Whyte
Citizen Potawatomi Nation
My research addresses environmental justice, focusing on moral and political issues concerning climate policy and Indigenous peoples, the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science organizations, and problems of Indigenous justice in public and academic discussions of food sovereignty, environmental justice, and the anthropocene. More…
Dr Shaun Awatere (Chair)
Ngāti Porou
My work involves improving the incorporation of Māori values into economic decision-making for collective assets that will enable Māori organisations to make more kaupapa Māori attuned decisions. More…