Claudia Fry is a PhD student at the Department of Geography at University of Exeter focusing on just and fair governance of voluntary immobility in coastal communities in Fiji. Malakai Waqa-Kaitani is a teaching assistant at the University of South Pacific completing his MA in Sociology focusing on climate immobilities in seafaring communities in Fiji. Watesoni Robin-Toko is a postgraduate student in social policy and public administration at University of South Pacific focusing on climate displacement in Fiji.

A researcher with a strong foundation in urban planning and architecture, specialising in the intersection of climate change and human adaptive behaviour. Her expertise includes climate change projections, hazard modelling, and coastal management, with a focus on bridging the gap between climate research and actionable planning for vulnerable communities.

With over 30 years’ experience of coastal management and adaptation in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific, Sian is Haskoning’s Resident Director for Aotearoa New Zealand. Sian is an environmental and safeguards specialist with robust experience in coastal and marine development, adaptation and community resilience initiatives.

Shane Orchard is a researcher in water resource management and spatial ecology specialising in the nexus between conservation, climate change and natural hazards. He is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury and Oceania Regional Chair for the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM). He is also a member of IUCN’s Protected Areas and Climate Change Specialist Group in the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) who have collaborated with other organisations to produce this guidance.

James leads the Transdisciplinary Science Group at the Cawthron Institute, developing and testing participatory action research methods with multiple stakeholders and knowledge cultures to tackle complex problems. He has been applying adaptation pathways thinking across the Asia-Pacific region since 2010, with a focus on island communities, livelihoods and food systems.

Nick has over 15 years’ experience working with communities, sectors, and government on climate change adaptation, disaster risk and resilience in Aotearoa New Zealand, South Asia and Canada. He uses participatory and collaborative methods and systems dynamics, tools and approaches to explore practical solutions to complex social-ecological problems.

Over 25 years’ experience in coastal geomorphology and climate adaptation research, from the understanding of trajectories of vulnerability, to designing adaptation pathways, and assessing adaptation-related coastal “solutions”. Expertise based on fieldworks in small islands in the Pacific, the Indian oceans and the Caribbean

Over 20 years’ experience in social science research on climate adaptation (past-to-present drivers of vulnerability, risk of maladaptation, potential effectiveness of adaptation-related options, design of adaptation pathways). Expertise based on fieldworks (especially in coastal areas in small islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans) and Structured Expert Judgment methods.

Russ has 20 years’ experience leading applied R&D programmes in Australia and South Africa. His work has focused on understanding the social-ecological and political-economy dimensions of climate adaptation; enhancing sense- and decision-making approaches better consider uncertainty and ambiguity; and exploring innovative ways to increase investment into climate resilient development.