Beyond These Shores: Aotearoa and the World

Nina Hall is an assistant professor in International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, based in Bologna, Italy. She wrote her doctorate at the University of Oxford on the global governance of climate change and refugees, and then worked as a lecturer at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. She is currently writing a book on transnational advocacy in the digital era and teaches graduate students about world politics. She is a co-founding member of the New Zealand Alternative, and frequently comments on New Zealand foreign policy. She is a keen sea swimmer, and swims daily in Oriental Bay, Wellington, when she’s home.

Fairlie Chappuis is an independent expert in conflict and security with fourteen years’ experience in research, policy development and operations, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. She is a rostered expert for the International Security Sector Advisory Team and has completed projects for the European Union, Danish Refugee Council, Small Arms Survey, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, among others. Previously, she worked as a programme manager for the Policy and Research Division of DCAF: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, and as a research associate at the Freie Universität Berlin. She was also an associated researcher with swisspeace (University of Basel), the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation (University of Liberia), and the Stimson Center in Washington DC. She holds degrees in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Auckland and the Geneva Graduate Institute, and a doctorate from the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin. Originally from the Coromandel, she is a member of the New Zealand Alternative.

Zeng Dazheng is from Xiamen, China, and wrote a PhD thesis on the history of New Zealand youth culture at Victoria University of Wellington. He is also the co-author with Stevan Eldred-Grigg of White Ghosts, Yellow Peril: China and New Zealand 1790–1950 (Otago University Press, 2014). The book explores all sides of the relationship between China and New Zealand and their peoples during the seven generations after they came into contact. Zeng is currently working as a policy analyst in the public service in Wellington.

Amelia Evans is an international human rights lawyer and an expert on business and human rights. She is currently an Open Society Fellow on economic inequality. In 2012, she co-founded MSI Integrity, a non-profit organisation examining the impact and value of voluntary initiatives that address business and human rights. Amelia has investigated and reported on business and human rights-related issues in a number of countries, particularly in the central African and Asia–Pacific regions. Previously, she was the Global Human Rights Fellow at Harvard Law School and was a clinical supervisor at Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic. She also clerked at the New Zealand Court of Appeal and worked at the Crown Law Office in New Zealand and the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office in Australia. Amelia obtained her LLM from Harvard Law School, and LLB (Hons) and BCA (Economics and Finance) from Victoria University of Wellington. Amelia also works on non-fiction and documentary film projects.

Max Harris is studying for a doctorate in Law at the University of Oxford, where he is an All Souls Examination Fellow. In 2019 and 2020 he worked for the Corbyn-led Labour Party on economic policy. He completed his BA/LLB(Hons) at the University of Auckland, during which time he spent short stints working for the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet and the American Civil Liberties Union. He then worked as a judge’s clerk for Chief Justice Elias of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, before completing his BCL and MPP degrees at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. He wrote The New Zealand Project (Bridget Williams Books, 2017) and has worked in New Zealand on criminal justice advocacy, helping to set up the New Zealand group JustSpeak to encourage young people to speak up for a more humane criminal justice system.

Thomas Nash is Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Massey University and Adjunct Lecturer in Politics in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He is co-founder and co-director of New Zealand Alternative, an independent organisation promoting a progressive role for Aotearoa New Zealand in the world. Thomas is a Councillor for Greater Wellington Regional Council, and chairs its Climate Committee. Before returning to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017, Thomas worked as a humanitarian and disarmament campaigner overseas, leading the global campaign to ban cluster bombs, co-founding and directing London-based disarmament group Article 36, and serving on the governance body of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Tina Ngata (Ngāti Porou) is a mother of two from the East Coast. Her work involves advocacy for environmental, Indigenous and human rights. This includes local, national and international initiatives that highlight the role of settler colonialism in issues such as climate change and waste pollution, and promote Indigenous conservation as best practice for a globally sustainable future.

Tulia Thompson is a New Zealand-born Fijian/Tongan/Pākehā queer feminist writer, living in Aotearoa. She writes about social justice issues, day-to-day experiences, intersectional feminism, politics, gender, racism, culture, books, arts and activism. She has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Auckland. Her doctoral thesis was titled ‘Queer Lives in Fiji’ and was about the marginalisation of sexual minorities in Fiji. After completing her PhD she worked briefly for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She first studied creative writing under Witi Ihimaera and Albert Wendt in 1998. She has written a children’s novel (for ages 9–12) Josefa and the Vu, published by Huia in 2007. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland (2016), and continues to write poetry and essays.