ECR Forum Committee Members

About

Committee members of the ECR Forum generally commit to serving a three-year term. Committee members will be selected with concern for the ECR Forum’s representativeness regarding gender, ethnicity, geographic location, occupational sector, and disciplinary affiliation. Co-chairs will generally serve a two year term, followed by a single year as a committee member.

Kristie Cameron - Co-chair (Unitec)

Kristie is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental and Animal Sciences at Unitec in Animal Behaviour Science and an emerging researcher in the field of experimental and applied animal behaviour. Kristie’ research focus is using behavioural economics and applied behaviour analysis to study captive, companion and laboratory animal behaviour and husbandry to improve and inform animal welfare science and educate owners and animal handlers.

Gergely Toldi - Co-chair (University of Auckland)

Gergely is a senior lecturer in neonatology at the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland. His research primarily focuses on early life development of the immune response and understanding the immunological background of complications affecting preterm and term neonates as well as pregnant women. He also has significant results on the pathomechanism of various autoimmune disorders. He contributed to developing novel flow cytometry based diagnostic and experimental methods. In his clinical role, he works as a consultant neonatologist at Starship Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. He is an alumnus of the Global Young Academy.

Joya Kemper - Committee Member (University of Canterbury)

Joya is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canterbury. She is passionate about transforming our economic and market system towards sustainable, ethical, and healthy consumption and production with a focus on behaviour, organisational and institutional change. Joya's research centres on four key themes: Business transformation (circular economy, waste reduction, sociopolitical activism), Sustainable and Healthy Eating (such as meat reduction, future foods/alternative proteins), Social Change (behaviour change, social and institutional change) and Education for Sustainable Development. She is an advocate for transdisciplinary research, believing that wicked problems will only be solved with multi-sector collaboration.

Olivia Truax - Committee Member (University of Canterbury)

Dr. Olivia Truax is a lecturer in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Canterbury. Olivia’s research focuses on the history of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and their response to a warming climate. Her current projects examine the past, present, and future of ice sheet meltwater and its impacts on climate in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Ery Hughes - Committee Member (Te Pū Ao GNS Science)

Ery is a Volcanic Fluid Geochemist at Te Pū Ao GNS Science and part of the Technical Team for Volcanica, the Diamond open-access journal for all things volcano-related. She uses experiments, modelling, and natural samples to understand the influence of gas on volcanic eruption dynamics, how to interpret gas emission data for volcano monitoring, and model planetary-scale volatile cycling. She is also a GeoNet Volcano Duty officer and helps to collect, analyse, and interpret gas and fluid samples collected from volcanoes and geothermal systems for monitoring Aotearoa’s volcanoes.

Lauren Vinnell - Committee Member (Massey University)

Lauren is a Senior Lecturer in Emergency Management at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, Massey University, Wellington. Her background is in applied social psychology and behaviour change. She primarily uses quantitative and experimental survey methods to study topics including risk perception and communication, predictors of natural hazard preparation, and improving human behaviour during earthquake shaking through drills and warnings. 

Samantha Heath - Committee Member (University of Waikato)

Samantha is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Waikato. Samantha's research interests are focussed on education for healthcare professionals. A former Florence Nightingale Scholar, Samantha came to New Zealand in the late 1990's as part of her study tour investigating how teaching and learning about cultural safety impacted care delivery. Most recently, she was a Whitinga Fellowship recipient and continues to investigate how the nursing curriculum might need to be adapted to accommodate New Zealand's changing demographics. 

Akbar Hossain - Committee member (Eastern Institute of Technology )

Dr. Md Akbar Hossain serves as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) and is also an Adjunct Researcher in the School of Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). He leads innovative projects focused on neuromorphic road-accident prediction and darknet analytics for ransomware profiling, designs and teaches postgraduate curricula in Data Analytics and Cybersecurity, and supervises Master’s theses. Dr. Hossain obtained his PhD from AUT, where he was honoured with the Dean’s Outstanding Doctoral Award, and he holds an M.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Trento, Italy. Following the completion of his master’s degree, he received a Marie Curie Early-Stage Research Fellowship, which enabled him to contribute to EU-funded projects in Germany and Greece. His research interests encompass wireless and sensor networks, cognitive radio, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. An active participant in the academic community, he acts as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Computers and Applications (Taylor & Francis) and serves as a reviewer for JNCA, Ad-Hoc Networks, and IEEE Transactions on Communications. Before entering academia, Akbar worked as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte New Zealand, providing guidance on R&D claims. He has also held lecturing and program leadership positions at the Manukau Institute of Technology, AWI International Education Group, and Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology. A Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, he has published over sixty peer-reviewed papers and possesses multiple professional certifications.