Challenge Leadership Team
The Challenge Leadership Team is responsible for scoping, leading and advancing the development of the Deep South Challenge.

Dr Mike Williams (NIWA)
Director
Mike’s research interests are in New Zealand's Deep South region, and are centred on ice-ocean interaction both in sea ice, and under Antarctica’s ice shelves. He is also interested in the changing climate in the Southern Ocean and New Zealand’s Subantarctic. Prior to starting at NIWA in 2001, Mike completed a PhD in oceanography at the University of Tasmania, and was an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Copenhagen, where he worked on coastal ocean circulation off Chile and tracking icebergs across the North Atlantic.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64 4 386 0389

Anne-Marie Rowe (NIWA)
Challenge Manager
Anne-Marie comes to us from our sister National Science Challenge, Resilience to Nature's Hazards, and brings crucial experience navigating the relatively new, many-headed creatures that are the NSCs. Anne-Marie also has around 20 years of experience in university research management, more recently at Victoria University of Wellington, with previous research management roles at Massey University and University of Otago’s Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64 4 382-1616

Dr Olaf Morgenstern (NIWA)
Earth System Modeling and Prediction
Olaf holds a PhD in meteorology and has worked in the UK and Germany on the development of atmospheric chemistry and chemistry-climate models. He has led chemistry-climate modelling at NIWA since 2009 and has been a Programme Leader since 2012. In addition, Olaf is a Principal Investigator of the core Capability and Clouds & Aerosols projects and the contestable Stratospheric Ozone project. The aim of the Capability project is to make available, support, and coordinate the development of the New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM). The Clouds & Aerosols project is targeting the representation of Southern-Ocean clouds and aerosols, and the Stratospheric Chemistry project will improve the representation of stratospheric chemistry, particularly of the ozone layer, in the NZESM.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64 4 386-0928

Associate Professor Sandy Morrison (Waikato University) | Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Rārua ki te Tau Ihu, Ngāti Tama ki te Waipounamu
Vision Mātauranga
Sandy is tribally grounded, globally informed and whānau tested against the everyday realities in which whānau exist. From 2004-08, Sandy served as President of the Asia South Pacific Association for Adult and Basic Education (ASPBAE), the largest non-government organisation on adult education in the world. Sandy was also inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame by the University of Oklahoma. Her current position as the Assistant Dean (Academic) for the University of Waikato’s Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies allows her to continue to challenge the thinkers of tomorrow and concentrate on her research interests around Treaties, Adult Education and Indigenous Development. Sandy leads the Te Tai Uka a Pia (Iwi relationships with the Southern and Antarctic Oceans) project in the Vision Mātauranga programme, and is also part of the Culture and Climate Change project of the Engagement programme.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: + 64 7 838 4737

Anita Wreford (Lincoln University)
Impacts & Implications
Anita Wreford is an expert in the economics of climate adaptation, particularly in the natural environment, agriculture and forestry sectors. She’s been involved in many fields of climate research, from infrastructure to agriculture to trade. Anita has worked around the world, with the IPCC, the EU Commission, the OECD, the UK’s Committee on Climate Change and the Scottish Government’s ClimateXChange programme.
Email: [email protected]

Dr Mike Harvey
Processes and Observations
Mike has a PhD in environmental physics and has led atmospheric research programmes at NIWA for the last 14 years. He’s had a long-term interest in improving our understanding of important environmental processes, which among other things helps us understand the efficacy of some climate change mitigation actions. Mike has been involved in the Phase 1 Clouds & Aerosols project, making targeted observations to improve the representation of Southern-Ocean clouds and aerosols in the NZESM.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64-4-386-0308
Latest news and updates
Living with Uncertainty: Call for research ideas
In recent years, the policy landscape for climate adaptation in Aotearoa has shifted dramatically. There is also growing recognition that stakeholders and end users require methods and tools that help them make decisions despite uncertainty about the future.
Major climate modelling effort captures New Zealand’s exceptional oceanic conditions, leading to better climate simulations
The significant effort to develop and run New Zealand’s own Earth System Model (NZESM), within the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate, is leading to more realistic climate simulations for New Zealand.
Our Kāhui Māori to protect and guide Antarctic as well as climate adaptation research
The Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate is humbled and excited that its Kāhui Māori have agreed to share their knowledge with the Antarctic Science Platform, and to act as its Kāhui Māori (Māori advisory group) as well.