JoAnn Browning
The University of Texas at San Antonio

JoAnn Browning is the Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair and Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).  Previously she served as Interim Vice President for Research (2023-2025) and Dean of UTSA’s Margie & Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (2014-2023) at UTSA and spent 16 years on the faculty at the University of Kansas (1998-2014).  

Dr. Browning has helped lead the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Network Coordination Office since 2015. Dr. Browning is a Professional Engineer in Kansas and Texas and currently chairs American Concrete Institute 318 Building Code Committee. She also Chairs the U.S. National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS) Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC).

Purdue University named Dr. Browning a Distinguished Woman Scholar (2015) and bestowed a Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award (2024). In 2018 she received the San Antonio Business Journal Women’s Leadership Award, in 2024 she was elected to the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2024 was named a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Masayoshi Nakashima
Kyoto University, Japan

Masayoshi Nakashima is a Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University, Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University and earned a Ph.D. from Lehigh University, USA (1981). He worked for Kyoto University since 1992. During his tenure, he also served as Director of E-Defense, a research institution that houses one of the world’s largest shaking tables. He retired from Kyoto University in 2017. Since then, he has worked as President of Kobori Research Complex (KRC) Inc., an engineering consulting firm in Tokyo.

His primary research areas are: (1) the analysis and design of steel building structures, and (2) the development of experimental techniques to simulate the earthquake response of structures. He, together with his students, has published over 200 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals. In recognition of these accomplishments, he has received multiple awards and honors from academic and professional organizations worldwide.

He served as Director of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University, President of the Architectural Institute of Japan, President of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering, and Chief Editor of the Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.

Brendon Bradley 
University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Brendon is a Professor of Earthquake Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His areas of interest include engineering seismology, strong ground motion prediction, seismic response analysis of structural and geotechnical systems, and seismic performance and loss estimation methods.  He obtained his Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in 2007 and PhD in 2009.

Prior to joining the University of Canterbury in 2010, Brendon worked at GNS Science in Wellington, New Zealand, and as a post-doctoral fellow at Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan.  Brendon was a co-developer of QuakeCoRE: The NZ Centre for Earthquake Resilience, serving as its Deputy Director (2016-2018), and subsequently as Director (2019-2024). Brendon is editor for EERI’s Earthquake Spectra and an editorial board member for the Bulletin of the New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering.  Brendon has also acted as director of Bradley Seismic Limited since 2010, providing consulting services in several areas of earthquake engineering nationally and internationally. He is an author of the influential book “Seismic Hazard and Risk Analysis” published by Cambridge University Press (2021). Brendon has received several notable awards or acknowledgements for work with collaborators, including, the 2012 Ivan Skinner EQC award for the advancement of earthquake engineering in NZ; 2013 Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship; 2014 Shamsher Prakash Foundation Research Award; 2014 NZ Engineering Excellence Awards Young Engineer of the Year; 2015 University of Canterbury Teaching Award; 2015 TC203 Young Researcher Award; 2015 EERI Shah Innovation Prize; 2016 ASCE Norman Medal; 2016 NZ Prime Minister’s Emerging Scientist Prize, 2019 NZ Geotechnical Society Geomechanics Award; 2021 ISSMGE Bright Spark Lecture Award, 2023 University of Canterbury Research Medal, and 2025 Royal Society of NZ RJ Scott Medal. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Engineering New Zealand, and the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering.

Annemarie Christophersen
Earth Sciences New Zealand, New Zealand

Annemarie Christophersen works as a senior hazard and risk scientist at Earth Sciences New Zealand. She comes originally from Germany where she did the equivalent of a master’s degree in physics. She completed her PhD on “the probability of a damaging earthquake following a damaging earthquake” at Victoria University of Wellington in 2000.

Annemarie joined GNS Science in 2009 after 3.5 years as statistical seismologist at the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH-Zurich. Annemarie is on the board of the Bayesian Network Modelling Association and was the president in 2019. Annemarie is highly skilled in statistical modelling and working with experts when data are not available for modelling. She has worked with the European network of “Experts in uncertainty” since 2014. Annemarie has applied her skills to earthquake forecasting, volcanic eruption forecasting and climate-change related questions. Annemarie has been part of all major New Zealand earthquake responses since the 2010 Darfield earthquake and leads the calculation of earthquake forecasts. 

Matt Gerstenberger
Earth Science New Zealand, New Zealand

Matthew Gerstenberger is a Principal Scientist and Seismologist at Earth Science New Zealand. He holds a BSc and MSc in Geophysics and a PhD in Seismology from ETH-Zurich, Switzerland (2003). He initially joined GNS Science in 1996 and later undertook a Mendenhall Postdoc at the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California.

He is a member of the Seismic Risk Working Group and has been on the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America since 2012 and a member of the Global Earthquake Model governing board since 2024.

His research interests are in seismology and scientific decision making. He has led the National Seismic Hazard Model since 2013. This included leading the development of the 2022 NSHM. He has also been involved in responses to numerous earthquakes in the last 20 years and has led the earthquake forecast response. This includes the development of the Canterbury and Kaikoura Seismic Hazard Models. His research has centred around probabilistic models for various hazard and risk related topics. A particular focus has been how to understand and model the uncertainty in scientific knowledge in a useful and meaningful way, including the uncertainty that people and process bring to scientific results and their use. His work has included regular collaborations with Japan, the USA, Europe.

Ilona Haghshenas
Warren and Mahoney, New Zealand

Ilona Haghshenas is Warren and Mahoney’s Auckland Studio Principal and a member of the firm’s Executive team. A New Zealand Registered Architect with over twenty five years’ local and international experience, Ilona has delivered a diverse portfolio spanning civic, commercial, education, aviation and residential sectors.

Most recently, Ilona co-led the delivery of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), one of the country’s most complex building projects. Ilona brings a strong interest in integrated design and the role of collaborative problem-solving in achieving resilient, buildable and high-performing architecture - particularly on large-scale civic projects that demand technical excellence alongside architectural ambition.

Kiran Makan
Holmes Group, New Zealand

Kiran Makan is a Technical Director at Holmes, with experience in structural engineering across New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He specialises in low-damage design, mass timber, base isolation, and supplementary damping for complex commercial and civic buildings and currently leads structural design and construction delivery for New Zealand Parliament's Future Accommodation Strategy redevelopment, which uses a hybrid base isolation and supplemental damping system to control displacements and accelerations.

He has been a leading proponent of supplementary damped isolation in New Zealand practice, developing a practical design and detailing pathway that enables fit-for-purpose use of the technology as seismic hazard levels rise.

Dion Marriott
Beca, New Zealand

Dion is a Technical Director for Beca, Christchurch and has 20 years of experience in research and practice. Dion’s experience covers seismic assessment and new design, primarily in the commercial sector, with a focus on performance-based engineering including low-damage seismic design (isolation, dissipation, rocking). He has led projects in New Zealand and California, and is a Chartered Professional Engineer in New Zealand, and a Licensed Structural Engineer in California. Dion is currently on the NZSEE Management Committee and is actively involved in several sub-committees in ASCE7-22 and ASCE41-23 in the US.

Marti Michèle
Swiss Seismological Service, Switzerland

Michèle Marti leads the communication and risk communication research group at the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich. Together with her team of communication specialists, IT experts, social scientists and designers, she oversees the internal and external communication at the SED and the communication activities of various national and international research projects.

Michèle Marti is both a practitioner and a researcher in the field of hazard and risk communication, who is constantly exploring new approaches to present complex issues in a clear and engaging way for diverse audiences.

She holds a masters degree from the University of Zurich, where she studied mass communication and media research together with political science and new German literature. While continuing to work as a communications professional, she completed her doctorate at ETH Zurich, where she focused on understanding earthquake communication to improve preparedness and resilience.

Michèle Marti represents the SED in several federal bodies dealing with communication on natural hazards.

Caroline Orchiston
University of Otago, New Zealand

Caroline Orchiston is Director of the Centre for Sustainability Research, University of Otago, an Associate Director for QuakeCoRE, and Co-Lead of Ngā Ngaru Wakapuke: Building resilience to earthquake sequences in central NZ (MBIE Endeavour). She has an interdisciplinary background, with research interests in disaster risk reduction, earthquake response planning, community resilience, risk communication and participatory action research.

She co-developed the AF8 programme in collaboration with Civil Defence and Emergency Management and the science community in 2015-6, which has made a significant contribution to building emergency management capability and community awareness and resilience for a future South Island earthquake.  She is passionate about applied research that makes a difference.

Pennung Warnitchai
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

Pennung Warnitchai received his doctoral degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1990 and is currently Professor of Structural Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).  He has been actively involved in research and practice in the fields of structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, wind effects on structures, bridge engineering and disaster management.

Since 2002, he has been leading a long-term research program on "Mitigation of Earthquake Risk in Thailand" funded by the Thai Research Fund and later by the National Research Council of Thailand. More than 30 researchers from ten universities and three government agencies in Thailand have participated in this program. In the professional organizations, he was the chairman of the chapter on the effects of earthquakes and wind loads at the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) from 2002 to 2016.  He led a team of experts and professional engineers to develop the first official seismic design standard for buildings and structures in Thailand in 2009.  Several of his research team's findings, such as new design spectra for long-period ground motions in the Bangkok basin and a new method for analyzing the seismic response of tall buildings, were translated into code of practice in this seismic standard.  He is also currently Thailand's national delegate to the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) and founding director of the Earthquake Research Center of Thailand (EARTH).

Marc Woodbury
Studio of Pacific Architecture, New Zealand

Marc Woodbury is Senior Principal and Executive Director at Studio of Pacific Architecture, based in Wellington. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Building Science from Victoria University of Wellington, where he remains involved as a tutor and mentor to younger architects and graduates.

Marc has over 25 years’ experience leading complex, large-scale projects across commercial, cultural, and community sectors. His portfolio includes the multi-award-winning Deloitte building at 20 Customhouse Quay—one of Wellington’s most seismically advanced office towers—and the Meridian Building, New Zealand’s first 5 Star Green Star office. Other notable projects include Brandon House, incorporating mass timber additions, and Aratoi Museum of Art and History.

A former Board Member of the NZ Registered Architects Board, Marc continues as an assessor for architectural registration. Practicing in Wellington, he brings deep expertise in seismic resilience and sustainable architecture, with a strong interest in timber technology and low-carbon construction.