Stay tuned - we will update this page as more of our presenters are confirmed!

Plenary Speaker 

Bryan Brooks
Bryan W. Brooks is Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science and Public Health, and Director of Environmental Health Science at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, USA. His research interests include eco-, environmental and comparative toxicology, environmental and green chemistry, chemical assessment and management, harmful algal blooms, and environmental public health practice. Bryan serves as Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science & Technology Letters (ACS Publications; https://pubs.acs.org/journal/estlcu), and previously served as Editor in Chief of Environmental Management (Springer Nature), and Associate Editor of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (SETAC), and Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier). He is currently a Catalyst Leaders International Fellow, which is supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand, with Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. Bryan is a Fellow of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Workshop Presenter 

Belinda Cridge
Dr Belinda Cridge serves as the Technical Lead for Drinking Water Quality and Education at Water New Zealand. In this role, she oversees drinking water initiatives and educational programmes, including managing training programmes, supporting competency frameworks, and maintaining the digital badge programme that certifies skills in water management. Dr Cridge has a background in toxicology, having previously worked as a toxicologist with the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), focusing on ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water through scientific research and public health initiatives.

Workshop Presenter 

Rhian Cope
While Dr Cope is a veterinarian by training (1989, University of Queensland) she has spent most of her professional career as a toxicologist. Following obtaining her veterinary qualification Dr Cope pursued further training as a radiation toxicologist/photobiologist (PhD, University of Sydney 1996). She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology, a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology, and a Fellow of the Australasian College of Toxicology and Risk Assessment. Dr Cope has held academic positions at the University of Illinois and Oregon State University. Dr Cope is a former Principal Toxicologist for the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority and a monographer for the WHO Joint Pesticides Meeting on Pesticides Residues in Food. Dr Cope is currently a Technical Director at SLR Consulting. In total Dr Cope has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and expert reports in various areas of toxicology. 

Plenary Speaker 

Peter Dawson
Dr Peter Dawson is employed by New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority, the Government’s chemicals regulator, as Principal Scientist of hazardous substances. He has a PhD in chemistry and has wide-ranging experience in the risk assessment and development of policy and legislation relating to the management of chemicals. 

Dr Dawson is currently the Chair of the Stockholm Convention POPs Review Committee (POPRC) and was previously a member of the Rotterdam Convention Chemical Review Committee (CRC). He has represented New Zealand for many years on the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and is a member of the HEPA (Heads of EPAs of Australia and New Zealand) National Chemicals Working Group.

Plenary Speaker 

Erica Gregory
Erica Gregory (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto), Manahautū, General Manager, Kaupapa Kura Taiao, Māori Engagement and Operations, and Regulatory Policy, Te Mana Rauhī Taiao, Environmental Protection Authority. 

Erica has an extensive background in public sector policy development and implementation. This includes nearly 20 years of experience in facilitating Māori engagement in intellectual property policy development, New Zealand’s biosecurity system, regional economic development and environmental decision-making.  As Principal Advisor, she led the EPA’s mātauranga programme from its inception in 2017. As Manahautū, her focus is on implementation of the framework, facilitating a partnership approach to the EPA’s engagement with Māori and delivering on a regulatory policy function for the EPA that is informed by diverse voices.

Workshop Presenter 

Āwhina Herekiuha
Āwhina Herekiuha (Ngāti Tara-Tokanui, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Hako) works as a Senior Advisor in the Māori Engagement and Operations team with the EPA.

Āwhina first joined the public sector with the Māori Land Court, where she researched landowners’ whakapapa (genealogy) and provided regional support to whānau (families) to strengthen relationships with their whenua (lands). She has since developed a policy career centred around indigenous rights, te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) and Māori environmental management practises. As a Senior Advisor with the EPA, she focusses on developing strategies and advice that is founded in Māori values and informed by the Māori communities that the EPA serves.

Workshop Presenter 

Maryam Moslehi
Toxicology and Risk Assessment Consultant – SLR Consulting Australia
PhD Molecular Biochemistry (The University of Melbourne); Registered Member of Australasian College of Toxicology & Risk Assessment (RACTRA)
Dr. Maryam Moslehi is an Associate Consultant – Toxicology and Risk Assessment specialising in qualitative and quantitative risk assessments. With over 10 years of health-related research experience and a PhD in Molecular Biochemistry, Maryam has contributed to numerous projects, providing comprehensive health advice, including:

• Conducting human health and ecological risk assessments to evaluate chemicals exposures across various environmental media.
• Designing and visualising dashboards for health and environmental data to support decision-making.

Maryam is a registered ACTRA (RACTRA) member and chairs the education committee, organising the ACTRA webinar series. Get in Touch with Maryam on LinkedIn

Workshop Presenter 

Jeane Nicholas
Jeane Nicholas is the Senior Toxicologist at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in New Zealand. In this role, she provides impartial advice to the Director-General on the operation of MPI’s regulatory systems. Her responsibilities include reviewing compliance investigations and ensuring that MPI's regulatory frameworks operate effectively and consistently. Jeane is also a Risk Assessor in Human Toxicology, focusing on food safety and responses to emergency incidents in New Zealand. She has extensive experience in human health risk assessment of food, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. Currently, she is a PhD Research Candidate at the University of Canterbury, where she is researching the impact of microplastics on human health in the New Zealand diet.

Workshop Presenter 

Andrew Pearson
Dr Andrew Pearson is a Technical Director at Tonkin+Taylor, where he provides scientific leadership for client projects involving contaminants and health risk across all environmental media. As a Certified Environmental Practitioner, he specialises in the toxicology and exposure from chemical contaminants in the environment, including environmental chemistry, fate, uptake into food chains, and human health risk assessment. Dr Pearson previously served as a Senior Adviser in Toxicology at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in New Zealand, leading research on contaminants and residues in the food supply. He has authored several technical reports, including studies on per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in New Zealand foods and dietary exposure to mycotoxins. Additionally, he has contributed to the New Zealand Food Safety Science Research Centre (NZFSSRC) as an independent board member, providing expertise in food safety science. With 16 years of experience in regulatory food safety, Dr Pearson holds specialist expertise in contaminant entry into the food chain and the resulting risk assessment of dietary exposure through commercial and wild foods. He is skilled in planning and undertaking environmental investigations and providing rapid advice for response activities. His research background includes laboratory radiochemistry and ionising radiation safety.

Workshop Presenter 

Katie Richardson
Katie Richardson leads Senversa’s risk assessment practice, bringing over two decades of expertise in human health and ecological risk assessments. Her recent work includes projects for industry, government, water authorities and defence; often in remote locations where complex exposure pathways (including into foodstuffs and ecosystems) demand efficient and pragmatic solutions. Katie is recognised by the Australasian College of Toxicology and Risk Assessment (ACTRA) on their Professional Register and currently serves as ACTRA’s Vice President.

Plenary Speaker 

John Roche
John was appointed Chief Departmental Science Adviser to New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in June 2018 to provide independent and strategic science advice to the Director-General and to provide leadership in the wider ministry science areas. In August 2022, John took on the additional role of Director, On Farm Support, to establish an on-the-ground service for farmers and growers.

He is a member of MPI’s Senior Leadership Team and the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser’s Forum, and is an Honorary Academic in University of Auckland's School of Biological Sciences. John was previously DairyNZ's Principal Scientist for Animal Science and has held science appointments in Australia and Ireland. He is also Managing Director of Down to Earth Advice Ltd. 

John has an Honours degree in Agricultural Science, a Masters in Farm Systems and Pasture Management, and a PhD in Animal Nutrition. John also has extensive experience in drystock farming and dairy. Widely published, with over 400 publications and an H-Index of 64, research.com ranks John in the top five scientists in New Zealand and among the top 250 scientists globally in Animal and Veterinary Sciences. He is also a regular contributor to international science and farming conferences around the world. 

Plenary Speaker

Kevin Thomas
Kevin is an environmental health scientist and Professor and Director at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) at The University of Queensland (UQ). His research focuses on understanding environmental exposures to contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) with the goal of protecting both environmental and human health. In addition to his role at QAEHS, Kevin leads the Minderoo Centre– Plastics and Human Health at UQ and serves as the Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Hyphenated Analytical Separation Technologies (HyTech). His current research endeavours include investigating human exposure to plastic pollution, developing advanced mass spectrometric analytical methods for characterising plastics and other CECs, and assessing community-wide health status through wastewater-based surveillance. Kevin has authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers and is an Associate Editor for the journal Science of the Total Environment. A strong advocate for collaborative research, he founded the international SCORE network, which focuses on sewer biomarker analysis for community health assessment (www.score-network.eu).

Plenary Speaker

Simon Upton
Simon Upton was sworn in as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment for a five-year term on 16 October 2017. Mr Upton is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Rhodes Scholar, with degrees in English literature, music and law from the University of Auckland, and an MLitt in political philosophy from Oxford University. He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in 1999. 

A Member of Parliament between 1981 and 2000, Mr Upton held a variety of ministerial portfolios including environment, research, biosecurity, health and state services between 1990 and 1999. 

After leaving Parliament, Mr Upton moved to Paris to chair the Round Table on Sustainable Development at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2005, he returned to New Zealand to pursue a number of private sector roles while continuing to chair the Round Table. 

In April 2010 he returned to the OECD full time as Environment Director, a post he held for seven years until returning to take up the role of Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.