Association for Women in the Sciences * NZ

Conference Speakers
	Fiona Carswell’s PhD subject was the forests of the Amazon, in Brazil, and later she worked on a project to help quantify the role of the Amazon basin in the global carbon cycle. She is currently a scientist at Landcare Research, working on the Emissions-Biodiversity Exchange (EBEX 21) project and on restoration of indigenous forests. Her studies examine the effects of climate change on tree physiology and she is extending this to estimate carbon storage in privately owned regenerating forests. One of her roles is to work with businesses to reduce their CO2 footprint and mitigate against unavoidable emissions through native forest restoration.
	Julia Charity obtained a Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology from the Australian National University, Canberra and currently works at Forest Research, Rotorua. Julia specialises in developing genetic engineering technologies, specifically for plantation forestry species, such as radiata pine. Although still involved in the 'hands-on' science, Julia has also been involved in various communication activities to better inform the community about the risks and benefits of genetic engineering. Julia was awarded the Zonta Science Award in 2002 to investigate and quantify some of the risks involved in genetic engineering forest trees.
	Associate Professor Marie Dziadek, from Auckland University's School of Biological Sciences has spent the last 25 years investigating how gene expression and function are regulated during mammalian development. Her particular interests include the role of nutrition in pregnancy in the chemical modification of DNA. Such 'epigenetic' changes can permanently influence the expression of genes and affect adult health and disease. Marie is also interested in the impact of new technologies on society, and in public perceptions relating to genetically modified organisms. To this end, she has participated in several community dialogues, and she currently chairs ERMA’s GMO Standing Committee.
	While studying for her BS and MS in Animal Science (with an emphasis on reproductive physiology), Bette Flagler took writing courses to keep her GPA [Grade Point Average] high. The light bulb didn’t quite go on until she had already spent twelve years working as a scientist in human in-vitro fertilization – maybe, in fact, her raw talent was in the telling of stories rather than in the making of them. She passionately believes that in order to demystify science, the scientific community needs to communicate clearly and in words the general population can understand. She is a freelance writer based in Auckland and the editor of Biotech Unlimited magazine.
	Dr Sue Galloway is a senior scientist in the AgResearch Molecular Biology Unit, University of Otago. Sue gained a PhD in biochemistry at Otago University and then worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the USA studying bacterial toxins that affect humans. She is currently involved in comparative gene mapping and new gene discovery, identifying genes responsible for reproduction and for muscling in sheep variants. Sue has a strong interest in communicating science to the community, and thinks it is important for people to have access to knowledge about scientific discoveries.
	Bernie Hobbs joined the ABC Science Unit in 1997 and since then has been raving about science to anyone who’ll put a microphone in front of her. She also churns out huge piles of hilarious stuff for ABC Science websites, Big Fat Science and Chickscience, and recently won a couple of awards for her irreverent environmental website, planetslayer.com . She began her career as a science teacher in Queensland, and then went on to try her hand as a biomedical researcher working on a vaccine against dengue fever. However, she soon moved out of the lab and on to writing and talking about science with the ABC. When she’s not skiving off at the canteen, Bernie can be found doing weekly science talkback around Australia, quizzing experts at Café-Scientific, or shooting episodes of the experiMENTALS or The New Inventors for ABC TV. Mostly the canteen’s a safe bet though.
	Dr Elizabeth Hopkins is CEO of EnCoate, an Auckland based AgResearch spin-out company. Elizabeth’s career within the biotech industry includes seven years in the Drug Discovery Department at Pfizer in the UK. After moving to NZ, Elizabeth took up a position as Chief Development Officer at NeuronZ, a start-up biotech company, and took part in the Biotech Taskforce. Two years ago she took up the challenge to lead her own business, within the Ag-Bio industry, as CEO of Encoate.
	Dr Bryony James is currently the Director of the Research Centre for Surface and Materials Science (RCSMS) based at the University of Auckland. Bryony’s research expertise lies in materials characterisation, in terms of structure and composition, at both the surface and bulk level. Her diverse research activities include the application of materials science to the study of fruit structure and looking into thermal spray coatings for extending wear life of industrial components.
	Veronika Meduna is the producer and presenter of Eureka, National Radio’s weekly half-hour science programme. She has fronted Eureka since 2002, after establishing and presenting Environment Matters, a programme about environmental issues and conservation. Veronika trained and worked as a scientist, working in the field of soil microbiology, but she’s been writing about scientific topics since her first year as a biology student.
	Ursula Cochran is a geologist with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in Lower Hutt. Ursula combined her fascination with large scale natural hazard events and looking at tiny things under the microscope to produce a PhD thesis on detecting past large earthquake events in Wellington using diatom microfossils. Her current research involves the use of diatoms for several applications including past climate change, sea level change, landscape evolution and detection of past large earthquakes and tsunami. In 2004 she won the Zonta Science Award and travelled to western USA to learn more about identifying evidence for plate boundary earthquakes and tsunami in the geologic record. A tragic reminder of the destructive ability of such events was brought to the world's attention with the Sumatran earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami of Boxing Day 2004.
	Barbara Hobden grew up in an extinct volcano and then moved on to the real thing in her career as a volcanologist. She gained her PhD from the University of Canterbury with a thesis on the eruptive and magmatic history of Tongariro Volcano. She has worked on three research fellowships in the Department of Earth Sciences at Waikato University: computer image analysis of pumice vesicles (gas bubbles) to investigate what controls styles of eruptions from Taupo and Mayor Island volcanoes; a FRST NZ Science & Technology Post-Doctoral Fellowship to investigate Ngauruhoe volcano; and using uranium-series isotopes to constrain magmatic processes at Ruapehu volcano. These projects have involved collaboration with colleagues at Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, University of Oregon, University of California, Los Angeles, and Bristol University, UK. Barbara is currently enjoying staying at home with her son Benjamin.

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