PEOPLE

Mira O’Connor (she/her) is a Master’s student contributing to the MaaraTech Project’s Community Technology Adoption Team. She grew up in Wellington but moved to Dunedin when she was 18 for university, and whakapapas to Ngāti Kuri from Te Hāpua. Her undergraduate studies were in sociology and geography. For her MA, Mira is conducting interviews with trainers and workers in the winegrape industry. Her research will focus on MaaraTech’s Virtual Reality (VR) training headset, with the goal of better understanding and anticipating the ways this particular technology might support and transform work on vineyards. Mira’s MA is currently titled, “Understanding the possible effects of new agricultural technologies on agricultural workers in Aotearoa.”

Angella Ndaka (she/her) is a PhD student contributing to the MaaraTech Project’s Community Technology Adoption Team. Originally from Kenya, she began her PhD studies in sociology at the University of Otago in 2020. Her undergraduate and Master’s studies (taking place in Kenya and Australia, respectively) were in education and public policy. Co-supervised by Dr Karly Burch and Professor Hugh Campbell, Angella is exploring how environmental sustainability can be imagined and materialized in the design of new AI robotic technologies. She has conducted interviews with policy makers, industry representatives, project team members, and growers to better understand the environmental dimensions of new robotic technologies. Her research will weave together a diverse vision for what sustainable technology design might look like in practice, and to better understand how incorporating sustainability in design practices might affect community technology adoption. Angella’s PhD is currently titled, “Artificial intelligence and robotics in agriculture under the lens of environmental sustainability.”

Angus Sinclair-Thompson (he/him) is a University of Otago graduate with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Ecology and Sociology. Angus has been in Ōtepoti/Dunedin since 2017 after moving from Thailand. He is currently working as a research assistant on the MaaraTech Project. His contributions include writing summary reports for the papers written by the Community Technology Adoption Team as of April 2022. Additionally, he is producing a literature review of the application of Science and Technology Studies in AgTech and FoodTech, with particular interest in theorising the social, the material, and the aspects of power that are influenced by the introduction of novel technologies in addressing future visions. Angus will continue to investigate this research theme through a Master of Arts focused on future vision making in Aotearoa New Zealand in relation to prospective synthetic protein technologies. 

Sandhiya Gounder (she/her) is a PhD student contributing to the MaaraTech Project’s Community Technology Adoption Team. Sandhiya is from Fiji, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Governance and Public Policy from the University of Fiji where she has also been a Lecturer in Social Science since 2009. As an RA with MaaraTech, Sandhiya is producing a literature review on the Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) Scheme (Aotearoa New Zealand’s migrant labor scheme employing Pacific Islanders for work in the viticulture and horticulture industry), as well as the possible impacts new agricultural technologies might have on migrant workers from the Pacific. Her research interests are public policy, governance, ethics, national development, ethnic studies, culture and identity. Sandhiya’s PhD dissertation is currently titled, “Fijian Government Reforms and their Implications for National Unity.”

Sonja Mueller (she/her) is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Sustainability at the University of Otago. Sonja has a passion for GIS and the power of maps to tell a story. Her research explores community resilience to natural hazards, using participatory mapping and a community-based approach to consider present and future resilience to a major earthquake on the West Coast of New Zealand. As an RA, Sonja is working with Karly and Sophie to collaboratively map the material politics of nuclear, from mining to waste storage. Sonja enjoys cooking, Nordic and alpine skiing, as well as her new hobbies of trail running and mountain biking.

Sophie Bagot Jewitt (she/her) is currently finishing her undergraduate degree in anthropology and geography at the University of Otago. Sophie is originally from England but moved to Aotearoa in February 2020. In 2021, she joined the team at the Centre for Sustainability as a summer intern. Supervised by Dr Karly Burch, Sophie is exploring and visualising the material politics of nuclear power. The summer project involves researching the nuclear industry on a global scale and using ArcGIS to map the locations of all things nuclear (from mining to waste storage). Sophie’s undergraduate degree and research internship have heightened her interest in social and environmental sustainability, which she plans to continue focusing on in her future studies.

Marianne Hyslop (she/her) is a fifth-year student at Otago University completing her LLB(Hons) and BA in Geography in 2022. Marianne has joined the Centre for Sustainability as a Summer Intern and is researching the role of social scientists in responsible innovation, with a focus on agricultural technologies. Marianne has interests in environmental policy, environmental and social sustainability, and community development. 

Kate Higham (she/her) is a 4th year undergraduate student. She grew up in Dunedin and started at the University of Otago in 2019. She is studying a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Science majoring in Geography. Her interests include climate litigation and environmental management. Kate is a summer intern working with Dr Karly Burch on an exciting project that looks at the hype surrounding agricultural technologies, artificial intelligence and responsible innovation. 

Toby Black (he/him) is a University of Otago graduate with a Masters in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics who contributed to the MaaraTech Project’s Community Technology Adoption Team as a summer intern and RA during his final year of study. Toby’s work on MaaraTech focused on questions of ethics related to the use of artificial intelligence in vineyards and orchards, and involved support in interview coding. Toby studied at Otago University for four years, completing a double-major Bachelor of Arts in PhPE and Anthropology before commencing his postgraduate studies. His Masters focused on Artificial Intelligence in society, with his dissertation exploring the current regulation and management of AI present in New Zealand’s public sector. After completing his Masters, Toby relocated to Wellington to work at Allen + Clarke Consultancy, a public policy consultancy firm. Toby has a keen interest in policy analysis and technological development, and his role on the MaaraTech project enabled this interest to grow and flourish. 

Indie Venkatraman (she/her) is a University of Otago graduate researcher, currently reading for her Master of Commerce in Accounting. Her thesis explores adopting performance indicators for climate action plans, to align them better to UN SDGs. Her case site is at Waiheke Island, where she remotely interns as a Sustainability and Carbon Neutral intern for local agencies. In 2020-2021, Indie was a summer scholar on the project Overcoming Barriers to a Sustainable Digital Technology Industry, supervised by Dr. Karly Burch and Dr. Dawn Nafus.  

Indie is also a summer intern for 2021-2022 with the Sustainability Office at the university, working on an actionable recycling audit for the Dunedin campus. She is one of the postgraduate representatives on He Kaupapa Hononga, Otago’s Climate Change Network, for 2022. She is also the 2022 impact analyst for the Social Impact Studio at the university. She tutors in accounting and information systems topics for the Disability Information Services and Pacific Island Centre at the University. She is also a tutor for the Department of Accountancy and Finance. Indie is the founding director of Intelligent Capital NZ a boutique firm that specializes in climate analytics and health data management, with clients in district health boards and investment firms. 

Sinéad Lynch (she/her) is a University of Otago graduate with a Masters in Planning. During the summer of 2019/2020 she worked with Karly as a scholarship student, focusing on the development of artificial intelligence in vineyards and orchards. Sinéad studied at Otago University for five years, first completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Ecology before moving into a Masters of Planning. Her final year thesis looked at how local government plans and policies provide for the implementation of sustainable home technologies and whether there is an existing framework which could provide a basis for developments going forward. Sinéad has since relocated to Wellington, after securing a planning position at Boffa Miskell.