About us
The mission of the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate is to enable New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk and thrive in a changing climate.
We know that scientists, industry and communities must work together if society is to adapt to our changing climate. Climate science can be complex and challenging, and isn’t always effectively incorporated in planning and decision making. Our challenge is unique among climate research programmes in New Zealand for the way it joins together physical science, predictive climate modelling and social science. To guide planning and policy, we're bringing together new research approaches to determine the impacts of a changing climate on our climate-sensitive economic sectors, infrastructure and natural resources.
We’re engaging closely with central and regional government, whānau, hapū and iwi, business, infrastructure and industry. We’re collaborating with decision makers to share our research about the kinds of climate change impacts we can expect in the coming decades and centuries, and to develop the kinds of tools required to help people make decisions in the face of complex changes in the future.
Through innovative community engagement and multi-disciplinary research collaborations, our five interlinked programmes connect scientists with society.
Our objective
Our objective, set by Cabinet, is to understand the role of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean in determining our climate and our future environment. Building on our objective, our mission was developed to guide our vision, research priorities and activities.
Our mission
Our mission is to enable New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk, and thrive in a changing climate.
Our governance and management structure
The following schematic outlines our governance and management structure. Māori leadership and input is included at all levels.
Deep South Challenge governance schematic. Click on the image to expand it.
Independent Science Panel
The Independent Science Panel provides our Board with independent science advice and input into the challenge’s science strategy and priorities. The panel also helps with assessments of science quality and performance.
Read more about the Independent Science Panel
Governance Board
Our independent Board was appointed by the collaborative parties of the Deep South Challenge.
Read more about the Governance Board
Kāhui Māori
Our Kāhui Māori provides the Governance Board and Science Leadership Team with strategic advice and input into our science strategy and priorities, and helps with the assessment of science quality, performance and responsiveness to iwi, hapū, whānau and Māori business goals.
Read more about the Deep South Challenge's Kāhui Māori
Science Leadership Team
The Science Leadership Team is responsible for scoping, leading and developing of the Deep South Challenge.
Read more about the Science Leadership Team
Challenge Parties
The Deep South Challenge, hosted by NIWA, is a research collaboration between the following Crown Research Institutes, universities and research providers:
Latest news and updates
What the MV Rena grounding and climate adaptation have in common: Treaty of Waitangi obligations
In the aftermath of the MV Rena grounding in the Bay of Plenty, complaints were taken to the Waitangi Tribunal and the Environment Court about the way local and central government handled the disaster.
DSC Seminar | Sea level rise PLUS big storms: What exactly are we in for?
Councils across New Zealand are declaring climate emergencies. But what climate information are they using to make their decisions and inform their communities? In this seminar, we'll hear from Ryan Paulik and Rob Bell (NIWA), whose ground-breaking research investigates how flooding will get worse under climate change - both at the coast and inland, alongside our rivers.
Change is nothing new in Te Hiku o te Ika: People are resourceful and have always worked with the weather
The iwi of Te Hiku o Te Ika are concerned about the impact of climate change on household drinking water. Results from this research, grounded in three rural Northland communities, have now been published in MAI: A New Zealand Journal of Indigenous Scholarship.