Associate Professor Dan Hikuroa
earth systems scientist & Advocate, Indigenous knowledge and river justice

Associate Professor Dan Hikuroa is a leading Māori earth systems scientist and a powerful advocate for Indigenous knowledge and river justice. His work bridges mātauranga Māori and Western science to reimagine how we relate to land and water - seeing rivers not just as resources, but as living entities with rights, memory, and voice. An Associate Professor at the University of Auckland and UNESCO NZ Commissioner for Culture, Hikuroa has helped shape frameworks that embed Māori values into environmental decision-making.

Being a Good Ancestor is a deeply rooted concept in te ao Māori that emphasises intergenerational responsibility, environmental guardianship, and spiritual connection to the natural world and underpins the approach to his work.

Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitu te whenua
People pass on, but the land is permanent

Further Reading:

Tiaki Moana - Pacific wisdom and community action for ocean protection
Connecting Science to Indigenous Knowledge: kaitiakitanga, conservation, and resource management
Let the Rivers Speak - thinking about waterways in Aotearoa New Zealand
Mātauranga Māori—the ūkaipō of knowledge in New Zealand, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 47:1, 5-10
Indigenous knowledge offers solutions, but its use must be based on meaningful collaboration with Indigenous communities
Weaving Indigenous knowledge into the scientific method, Nature

DR joy mccann
environmental and public historian

Dr Joy McCann is an Australian environmental and public historian who explores the interwoven histories of people, places, ideas and the nonhuman world. She is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Tasmania and the author of Wild Sea: A History of the Southern Ocean and Ice Bound: The Australian Story of Antarctica.

Joy's most recent publication, Heart of Ice is a powerful exploration of Antarctica as a living, shaping force in our planet’s story. Blending science, history, and imagination, McCann reveals the continent’s shifting ice as both witness and agent of change, urging readers to see Antarctica as dynamic, vital, and deeply interconnected.

tim jarvis am
environmental scientist and advocate &
2024 sa australian of the year

Environmental scientist and adventurer Dr Tim Jarvis AM is committed to finding pragmatic solutions to major environmental issues related to climate change and biodiversity loss and uses his expeditions, films, books and public speaking engagements to promote thinking in these areas. Having worked in sustainability for over 30 years, he currently provides strategic and practical sustainability advice to government and a range of corporate organisations and advocacy groups.

Known for his historically authentic recreations of the Antarctic survival journeys of Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Ernest Shackleton, Tim is founder of The Forktree Project, a native revegetation project on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, Global Ambassador and Governor of environmental NGO WWF, Southern Ocean Ambassador to Save Our Marine Life and a Vice President of Flora and Fauna International. He received the Order of Australia in 2010 for services to the environment, community and exploration, is Professor of Leadership Practice at Edith Cowan University, and was named South Australia’s Australian of the Year 2024.

This includes South Australia’s Forktree Project, which involves restoring degraded farmland back to nature and growing rare native plants to safeguard them from extinction.

Tim is also vice-president at Fauna & Flora, a global ambassador and governor of WWF, ambassador to Koala Life and a board director of the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.

As an adventurer, Tim re-enacted Douglas Mawson and Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic explorations and advocates for the protection of Antarctica. And this year, he helped secure 475,000 square kilometres of marine sanctuary off World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island.

In 2017, Tim was made a Bragg Fellow by the Royal Institution of Australia and has won multiple awards, including the Australian Geographic Society’s 2016 Conservationist of the Year for his 25Zero project about melting equatorial glaciers.

Website: Tim Jarvis