Dr Andrew Tait
Chief Scientist - Climate, Atmosphere and Hazards
Andrew is Chief Scientist - Climate, Atmosphere and Hazards. His research areas of interest are climate change impacts and implications, adaptation to climate change, spatial modelling of climate, and sector and business applications of climate data. Andrew is a lead author of the Australasia chapter of the IPCC Fifth Assessment WGII Report, a member of the WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl) executive, co-chair of the WMO Focus Area on 'Climate Services for Societal Benefits', and the chair of the Pacific Islands Climate Services Panel. He was seconded to MPI in 2017 to contribute to the Primary Sector Science Roadmap and seconded to DOC from 2017-2019 to interact with researchers, managers, operations staff and the policy team to improve the understanding and use of climate data and information throughout the Department.
Nava Fedaeff
Manager - Climate, Atmosphere & Hazards
Nava joined NIWA in 2014 as a climate scientist. Her initial work focused on co-authoring client reports relating to climate cycles and climate change projections. She later upskilled in operational meteorology with the UK Met Office and began working with NIWA’s Forecasting Services team to deliver forecasts, develop new products for clients and visualise data in innovative and engaging ways. Nava is passionate about science communication and regularly engages with the public, media, business and other organisations about weather and climate.
Dr Sam Dean
Principal Scientist - Climate
Dr Sam Dean is one of New Zealand’s leading experts on climate change science. His research has been able to identify the contribution of human-induced warming to intensifying current New Zealand weather extremes, including droughts and floods. He has contributed to our fundamental understanding of how the atmosphere responds to climate change, as well as improving our understanding of Antarctic sea ice and its influence on Southern Hemisphere climate.
He has a broad and comprehensive knowledge of climate change impacts on New Zealand. Over past 13 years Sam has been at the forefront of developing future climate change projections specifically for New Zealand. These projections are actively used by numerous research institutes, government departments and local government councils to better understand, or plan for, the impacts of climate change. In recent years he has contributed to adaptation solutions to expected climate change impacts.
Sam has been a frequent public speaker on climate change and is one of NIWA’s key contacts for climate information. Sam was previously Chief Scientist for Climate, Atmosphere and Hazards at NIWA from 2015-2019.
