Speakers

Andrew King is an Associate Professor in Climate Science at the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century. Andrew is interested in climate change projections under the Paris Agreement and net zero emissions pathways, understanding the effect of the rate of global warming on regional climates, and seasonal prediction of climate extremes. He completed his PhD in Climate Science in 2015 at UNSW and since then has worked at the University of Melbourne. Andrew is a former ARC DECRA Fellow and will start an ARC Future Fellowship in mid-2025.

Of Ngāpuhi, Lebanese, and Pākehā heritage, Dr. Parsons’ is a historical geographer whose research adopts transdisciplinary and decolonising approaches to examine how Indigenous communities understand and respond to intersecting processes of social and environmental changes. The majority of her research and teaching focuses on bringing a decolonial lens to theories, policies, and practices surrounding climate change adaptation and environmental governance and management, and the Indigenous environmental justice. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, the co-editor-in-chief of Climate Risk Management and associate editor of Nature: Humanities and Social Science Communications, and the contributing author to two chapters (Small Islands and Climate Resilience Development Pathways) of the IPCC WGII Sixth Assessment Report. Her current research projects include: 1) examining how different individuals, iwi/hapū (tribes/sub-tribes), communities, and institutions in Aotearoa imagine and/or enact climate justice through the policies and on-the-ground actions; 2) co-designing art activities to raise climate adaptation awareness; 3) exploring the role of Indigenous knowledge systems in responding to climate change and environmental degradation in Aotearoa, Vanuatu, and Fiji; 4) investigating ways that communities can remember and/or restore lost or destroyed landscapes and waterscapes.