Reference Group / Encyclopedia of NZ / Staff
In keeping with Te Ara's first theme, we asked the encyclopedia team to describe their role and their ethnic background.
Jock Phillips is general editor, with overall responsibility for Te Ara. He taught American and New Zealand history at Victoria University for many years, was chief historian at the Department of Internal Affairs and later the Ministry for Culture and Heritage for 13 years, and worked as a conceptual leader at Te Papa. His ancestral background is Jewish and Home County English.
Tessa Copland joined the team as a researcher/writer but has now taken on the role of production editor, preparing entries for publication. She has a BA in English (Canterbury), has published two non-fiction books, and has worked as an editor for Consumer's Institute, Te Papa, and the education website Te Kete Ipurangi. Her mother is English; her father is a New Zealander with Australian, Irish and Jewish ancestry.
Helene Coulson, web designer, has a Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design from the Wanganui School of Design. Her work encompasses the design of web pages, graphics and interactives, and the preparation of resources in all media for the content management system. Her ancestors come from Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia and Germany.
Emma Dewson, who has an MA in History from Victoria University, is researcher/editor for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Her work involves researching for the online DNZB, liaising with institutions to obtain new resources such as images and sound files, and assisting with resource research for the encyclopedia. Emma's ethnic background is New Zealand European with Scottish, French and English connections.
Janette Hart, who has a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Otago is the administrative support officer for the Encyclopedia team and personal assistant to the general editor. Janette has previously worked in administrative roles with the government sector, and has an interest in New Zealand’s social history. She has English, Scottish, Irish and French ancestors.
Basil Keane is Māori editor/ētita Māori, with responsibility for Māori content. Basil has a Law degree and a BA Honours (first class) in Māori Studies from Victoria University, and also holds the translators and interpreters licence from Te Taura Whiri i te Reo. He has Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne and Ngā Puhi tribal links. His European ancestors were Irish, Scottish, Danish, Polish-German, and English.
Melanie Lovell-Smith, who joins the project as a resource researcher, has a BA (Hons) in History from Otago University and an MA in History from Auckland University, and previously worked as a researcher for the Historic Places Trust register. She has English and Scottish ancestors.
Tamahou McGarvey is a translator for Māori entries. He previously worked as a Māori Language Commission translator. He was born and raised in Ruātoki, a Māori-speaking community.
Historian Malcolm McKinnon, editor of the New Zealand Historical Atlas/Ko Papatuanuku e Takoto Nei and author of a number of books, most recently a history of the Treasury, has joined Te Ara to oversee and write entries for the Encyclopedia's Places theme.
Alastair McLean has a BSc (Hons) in Zoology and a BA in Anthropology from Otago University. Prior to coming to Te Ara he worked at Te Papa as a researcher and as the photographic programme co-ordinator. He was born in Edinburgh and has Scottish ancestry.
Theme Editor for Earth, Sea and Sky, Simon Nathan is an earth scientist whose areas of expertise include web design and dissemination of data, digital terrain models, regional geology and volcanology. He was formerly on the staff of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, a Crown Research Institute, and is a past president of the Geological Society of New Zealand. Simon has recently been writing a biography of plate tectonics theorist Harold Wellman.
Fiona Oliver is a production editor, preparing writers' texts and captions for publication. Fiona has a PhD in English Literature and over ten years' editorial experience in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Her mother is French/Scottish and her father is a New Zealander of Scottish descent.
Charles Royal (Te Ahukaramū) writes Māori entries part-time, as well as advancing research on creativity and innovation in Māori knowledge for his own company. He was director of graduate studies and research at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa at Ōtaki from 1996 to 2002, and in 2001 conducted research into indigenous worldviews in the United States and Canada as a New Zealand Fulbright senior scholar. His tribal affiliations are Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngā Puhi.
Ross Somerville, production manager, is responsible for the editorial and production stages, and is currently overseeing the development of technology for the workflow and publishing processes. Ross has a BA (Hons) in Modern Languages and a background in librarianship; he was an assistant editor with the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography before joining Te Ara in 2002. Ross is a fifth generation New Zealander whose forebears include early-settling Scots, Anglo-Irish bishops, Somerset burghers and the odd Huguenot.
Nancy Swarbrick is managing editor, with responsibility for commissioning and writing processes, scheduling and planning. She has an MA in English (Waikato) and a Masters in Public History (Victoria) and previously worked as assistant editor (editing and research) at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. She is a fifth generation New Zealander with English, Irish, Manx, Dutch and Danish ancestors.
Leanne Tamaki is a resource researcher for Māori entries. She has a BA in Social Anthropology and Art History and was a librarian before joining the team. Her iwi is Tūhoe and her hapu is Ngāti Rere.
Christina Troup is a science writer with a particular interest in New Zealand wildlife. She has a Master of Applied Science in animal ecology, a BA in linguistics and a background in field biology, education and natural history interpretation. A fourth generation New Zealander, her tribal affiliations are with the Gordon clan in Scotland.
Carl Walrond is a researcher/writer with responsibility for preparing and checking encyclopedia entries. He gained a PhD from the University of Otago while researching back country trout fisheries for the Cawthron Institute in Nelson. Carl describes himself as 'half Finnish, half Kiwi'.
Maggy Wassilieff, science writer, has a PhD in plant ecology and has worked as a science editor and secondary school teacher. Her ancestral links are to the western isles of Scotland, in particular Iona, where three of her Macdonald grandparents were born.
As leader of the resource team, Shirley Williams is responsible for the staff gathering images, sounds, moving images and documents to enhance the entries. Formerly a music teacher and an image researcher for the online Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Shirley has an MA in History from Waikato University. She has English, Scots and Welsh ancestry on her father's side, and Irish, English (via Australia) and French on her mother's.