Our people

DEVORA has two co-leaders, one from the University of Auckland and one from Earth Sciences New Zealand. This joint leadership model has proven successful: it has enabled the project to draw on expertise from both organisations and to oversee a wide range of aligned projects.

A decision was made at the beginning that a project manager would be essential to facilitate DEVORA running smoothly, and this role has been filled at 0.3 to 0.5 full time equivalent since project inception. At any time, since 2019, DEVORA has had between two and four research assistants/interns who assist the project manager.

Jump to: Manutaki · Management team · Steering group · Current researchers · Post-graduate students and alumni

Manutaki

In 2023, a new position was created within DEVORA, entitled “Manutaki” (after the Māori word for the sentry bird within a flock), to guide the DEVORA team on its journey to become culturally responsive researchers and leaders meaningfully engaging with Māori.

  • Kelvin Tāpuke

    Kelvin Tāpuke

    Kelvin Tapuke is Manutaki of DEVORA. He works widely in the disaster research space, and has whakapapa to Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, an iwi whose domain includes many of the maunga of the Auckland Volcanic Field. He is a Senior Research Officer at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University.

Meet Kelvin

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Management team

Collectively, the two co-leaders, the project manager, the Manutaki, researchers from Earth Sciences New Zealand, and the senior research assistants are referred to as the DEVORA management team.

  • Prof Jan Lindsay

    Prof Jan Lindsay

    Jan Lindsay is a volcanologist and Professor in the School of Environment at Waipapa Taumata Rau the University of Auckland. She has an MSc in Geology from the University of Auckland, and a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Giessen in Germany. She has held positions at GNS Science in Taupō; the GeoResearch Centre (GFZ) in Potsdam, Germany; and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. She is a Past President of the Geoscience Society of New Zealand and a past Vice President of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI). She has worked on projects in the broad area of volcanic geology, hazard and risk in Aotearoa New Zealand, Chile, the Lesser Antilles, Hawai’i and Saudi Arabia and co-leads the long-standing Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland (DEVORA) research programme. She has co-authored over 100 publications and is the immediate past Editor in Chief (and a current Associate Editor) of the Journal of Applied Volcanology. She has also served as the Associate Dean of Science (Research) in the Faculty of Science, University of Auckland.

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  • Dr Graham Leonard

    Dr Graham Leonard

    Graham Leonard is General Manager Geological Hazards at Earth Sciences New Zealand. He has 25 years’ experience in Earth process and hazard research, including the development and leadership of major research programmes. He is passionate about improving community resilience through risk reduction and effective warnings. His research focused on volcanic mapping, geology, stratigraphy and geochronology. He has worked extensively throughout the Asia-Pacific region and in North and South America. His work has contributed to the development of effective responses to warning systems and mitigation of the impacts of disasters.

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  • Dr Elaine Smid

    Dr Elaine Smid

    Elaine Smid recently completed her PhD through DEVORA and manages the programme while actively researching the Auckland Volcanic Field. Elaine was one of the first people to join DEVORA when it launched in 2008.

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  • Kelvin Tāpuke

  • Dr Craig Millar

    Dr Craig Millar

    Craig Millar is a Senior Volcano Geophysicist at Earth Sciences New Zealand, specialising in application of geophysical potential field and electrical methods to model volcanic structure and time-varying processes. His research involves applying novel inversion techniques to image volcanic architecture and the use of data-driven models to interpret volcanic unrest in a probabilistic sense. He currently leads the Beneath the Waves Endeavour programme which aims to quantify hazards from New Zealand's near shore island volcanoes. He has worked on numerous volcanic eruptions and unrest episodes in NZ, Vanuatu and Chile and has been a member of the volcano duty team since 2003.

  • Prof Shane Cronin

    Prof Shane Cronin

    Shane Cronin is a volcanologist and Professor of Earth Sciences at University of Auckland. His current research interests include volcano-tectonic interactions and instability, understanding Auckland's volcanic past and future risk, large-scale explosive volcanism at New Zealand andesite volcanoes, Taranaki, Tongariro and Ruapehu, volcanoes of the South Pacific (Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji), as well as other volcanoes further afield in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Korea.

  • Prof Jonathan Procter

    Prof Jonathan Procter

    Jonathan Procter (Muaupoko, Ngāi Tahu) is a Professor of Natural Hazards at Massey University. He has contributed to developing research that focuses on volcanic hazard simulation and working with communities to increase resilience to natural and environmental hazards. Jonathan manages the Volcanic Risk Solutions (VRS) research group and has contributed nationally to developing new research directions in volcanology. Being one of only a handful of Māori professorial scientists, Jonathan feels he has a duty to contribute to Māori development. His greatest contribution in this respect has been the development of a new area of research on mātauranga Māori, volcanic hazards and building resilience in Māori communities.

  • Annahlise Hall

    Annahlise Hall

    Annahlise Hall is a current PhD student in Geology (Volcanology) at the University of Auckland. Her current project is focused on studying the explosive eruptive history of the Tonga Volcanic Arc using tephrochronology to provide insights into volcanic hazard and risk in Tonga. Previously, her research has involved reconstructing the eruptive processes and dynamics of the 1900-1904 Waimangu Geyser of the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, New Zealand, via microscopic and geochemical deposit analysis.

  • Thomas Stollberger

    Thomas Stollberger

    Thomas Stollberger is a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland studying the Pliocene fossil molluscs and palaeoenvironments of South Auckland. His primary areas of expertise are Paleontology (fossils), Geology, and Mollusca.

  • Meegan Soulsby

    Meegan Soulsby

    Meegan Soulsby is a current PhD student in the Faculty of Science, Physics at the University of Auckland. She is an environmental physicist using new seismic data and AI tools to build a high-resolution 3D model of Auckland’s subsurface to monitor for signs of change.

Meet Graham

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Steering group

The DEVORA Steering Committee guides the project’s direction and decision-making. It is the vehicle through which participants manage their relationship with the DEVORA Programme and oversee the delivery of the programme. The DEVORA Steering Committee meets with the DEVORA management team twice a year.

  • Angela Doherty

  • Delia Tamsen

  • Gill Jolly

  • Natalie Balfour

  • Rebekah McLelland

  • Richard Smith

  • Ross Roberts

Meet Angela

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Current researchers

  • Carol Stewart

    Carol Stewart

    Bio to come.

  • James White

    James White

    Bio to come.

  • Jenni Hopkins

    Jenni Hopkins

    Bio to come.

Meet Annahlise

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Meet Thomas

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Current students

  • Gemechu Teferi, PhD

    Phreatomagmatism and base surge hazard in the Auckland Volcanic Field

    Auckland

  • Sylvia Tapuke, PhD

    The Mātauranga Māori-volcanology interface in the AVF

    Auckland

  • April Foote, PhD

    Interplay between environmental & magmatic conditions in eruption style transitions

    Macquarie

  • Aisling Kerr, PhD

    Fire following lava flows in the Auckland Volcanic Field

    Auckland

  • Meegan Soulsby, PhD

    Auckland

  • Joshua Coker, PhD

    University of Adelaide

Post-graduate students and alumni

This is a list of past and present graduate student researchers supported either fully or in part by the DEVORA Programme.