Jamie Ataria

Biography

Dr Jamie Ataria is Co-Deputy Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (the Māori Centre of Research Excellence); an ecotoxicologist and Māori business development manager at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson; a Trustee of the Tuaropaki Trust, (a Māori Ahuwhenua Land Trust with commercial interests in energy and food production, and communication) and Director on two of its commercial subsidiaries; and a founding member and Trustee on the Establishment Board of Trustees for Te Pā o Rākaihautū (Designated Special Character School in Christchurch). His previous roles include: a member of Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao for (Māori Advisory Committee to the Board of the Environmental Protection Authority), ecotoxicologist at Landcare Research, a member of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenges Kāhui Māori, and Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University. His research interests are in the development and application of ecotoxicological tools for the assessment of the biological effects and impacts of legacy and new emerging contaminants on culturally significant species and sites (especially freshwater) in New Zealand. He conducts his research within multi-disciplinary/multi-organisational programmes that are firmly embedded in Māori culture and process but with strong linkages to end-user organisations. This approach interfaces between science and mātauranga Māori (traditional and contemporary Māori knowledge) and explores mechanisms that promote mutual understanding and equality of uptake in policy and decision making with respect to environmental resource management. Jamie joins the Bio-Protection Research Centre on a part-time basis as a Pukenga Matua (Senior Lecturer). He is based in Te Mātāpuna, 4th Floor, Burns building, Lincoln University with other Māori BPRC researchers. He will continue as the Co-Deputy Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, and will also lead a Biological Heritage National Science Challenge project ‘Whakamanahia ngā mātauranga o nehe hai oranga tangata, oranga taiao: Mātauranga Māori characterisations of NZ’s biodiversity’.

Research Interest

Ecology, Maori and Ecology, Ecotoxicology, Environmental Toxicology, Wildlife Management