Pascale Hatcher is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury. She works on the political economy of mining in the Asia-Pacific region with a specific interest on how transnational norms are being transplanted and contested in local arenas. Luisa Leo is Postdoctoral Fellow on the project "Actors and Controversies Driving the Adoption of the World’s First Deep Sea Mining Governance" funded by the New Zealand Royal Society's Marsden Fund (2023-2025). Her expertise is in understanding the ways in which adaptation and wellbeing intersected.

Dr Kalim Shah is a recognized expert on public policy, regulation and and governance in small island economies. As an institutional theorist, his research addresses science-based policy, regulatory design and administration for climate change, pollution prevention, clean technology, industrialization and sustainable production and consumption. Some of his current work relates to ESG management models; regulatory impact assessment methods; institutional effectiveness of science and technology-based organizations.

Simron Singh conducts socio-metabolic research to evaluate how small island economies utilize (or metabolize) materials, energy, water, and infrastructure. He further analyzes how island economies can transition to a more sustainable, circular resource-use model, thereby bolstering their overall resilience to the impact of climate change.

Prof. Virginie Duvat studies coastal environmental changes and risks, their climate and non-climate drivers, and adaptation responses in tropical islands of the Caribbean region, and Indian and Pacific Oceans. She contributed to the IPCC AR5 and AR6 as a lead author.

Allan Rarai is a PhD student at the University of the South Pacific. His current study focuses on the impact of climate variability and change on Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) in Vanuatu by combining scientific and Indigenous knowledge t to investigate the occurrence of CFP on Ambae Island, Vanuatu Dr. Meg Parsons is a passionate transdisciplinary social scientist specializing in environmental management and climate change adaptation, focusing on specifically Indigenous peoples and other under-represented groups.