Ngaire is a well-established researcher with 350+ publications and 50+ research grants. She is recognised as an international expert in falls prevention, bi-cultural ageing, primary health care, and currently leads several research teams, each engaged in a number of research projects: -Te Puawaitanga o Ngā Tapuwae Kia Ora Tonu, Life and Living in advanced Age: a Cohort Study in New Zealand (LiLACS NZ) has produced over 80 outputs with a focus on equity, health service use, health and well being in advanced age, and led to several intersecting projects led by colleagues including; Kaumatuatanga (Prof Merryn Gott), Managing Health (A/P Janine Wiles), Whaioranga te Pā Harakeke – Iwi-driven injury prevention and recovery for Māori (Dr Joanna Hikaka), The SUPER trial (Dr Ruth Teh). - Falls and older people: studies of falls in older people after stroke, in residential care and in a large sample of primary care patients have led to collaborative teams aiming to prevent falls through intervention development and testing. The latest, Staying Upright in Residential Care will report in 2023 (Dr Lynne Taylor)

Rosie has a background in psychology and clinical sleep practice. She is a senior lecturer at Massey University, Manawatu, where she is affiliated with the Health and Ageing Research Team and the Sleep/Wake Research Centre. Her research focuses on sleep across the lifespan with a particular focus on understanding experiences of sleep with ageing, dementia and caregiving; factors affecting sleep; and non-pharmacological approaches to supporting sleep health. 

Jo is a pharmacist and health researcher based at Waipapa Tauamata Rau - University of Auckland. She worked as a pharmacist at Waitematā DHB for almost two decades where she held pharmacy leadership positions in older adult medicine. Jo completed her PhD on quality use of medicines in Māori older adults and developing a culturally safe service model for community-dwelling Māori older adults. Her current research focuses on equitable access to medicines for Māori, iwi-driven injury prevention and rehabilitation for older Māori, and Māori experiences and expectations of kaumātua care.

Orquidea Nallely Gabriela Tamayo Mortera, MNMA
Secretary of NZAG
Orquidea is a New Zealand Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. She is a well-established Recreogerontologist professional, a national and international presenter, currently engaged in supporting several organisations across Aotearoa New Zealand and other countries in the use of therapeutic recreation to enrich senior citizens' wellbeing, optimise health and enhance quality of life. 

Pete’s main area of interest is in the application of systems methodology to analyse complex ‘soft’ systems dominated by the weltanschauungen of actors. 

He has used this approach to develop monitoring systems to inform evidence based policy interventions for Ministry of Health and EECA, to develop organisational reviews, and inter agency knowledge systems.  As a result of his work at NZHIS and for the Governments of Nuie and Tuvalu, Pete developed a keen interest in public health as an effective and economically efficient approach to maximising health outcomes.  A past Vice-president of New Zealand Grey Power, Pete is particularly interested in research to inform advocacy and policy in areas where the well-being of older people predominates.

Pete’s current focus, apart from going for walks with his dogs, is in gaining inclusion in Government financial analysis for the national economic contribution of older people through voluntary and unpaid work.

Ms Bryant has been a practicing physiotherapist since 1995. She has been teaching at the University of Otago School of Physiotherapy since 2006, supporting the university's Māori Strategic Framework, Kaupapa Māori Research and is currently the Associate Dean Māori. She is also employed by Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, conducting Kaupapa Māori research addressing equity for aging Māori accessing ACC rehabilitative and preventative services, specifically community based strength and balance exercise and wellness classes for pakeke and kaumātua Māori. She has a special interest for integrating indigenous movement practices into rehabilitation and falls prevention community exercise classes.

Rubina is a Professional Teaching Fellow and a PhD Candidate at the University of Auckland. She is work, income, and retirement theme lead at the Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research. She is a Registered Nurse with experience in gerontology nursing. She is interested in the well-being of older people and people from minority ethnic groups. Her PhD research is on later life work decisions of older Asian people in New Zealand.

Judy has a background in education, research, and community health organisations. She contributes with health consumer perspectives to diverse forums, has served on Precision Driven Health’s Independent Advisory Group (2016-23), and is a director of Comprehensive Care PHO. A member of Health Informatics NZ and the Digital Health Association, Judy provides age-friendly perspectives on Counties Manukau’s Brain Health in Older People Advisory Group.

Collaborative community leadership on Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Council’s Seniors Advisory Panel (2014-19) secured Council support to engage with older people and community stakeholders to develop an Age-friendly Action Plan for the city. In March 2022 Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland joined the WHO’s global network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. Appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to seniors in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List, NZAG acknowledged Judy’s contributions by making her a life member. Judy is also a life member of the Mairangi Arts Centre, having chaired their Board of Trustees 2016-20.

Dr Richard Keith Wright is an Associate Professor in Sport, Leisure and Active Living, within the AUT School of Sport, Exercise and Health and a Co-Director of the AUT Centre for Active Ageing. Rich, as he prefers to be known, is also the Programme Leader of the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Sport and Exercise. He describes himself as a sport-obsessed leisure sociologist and social gerontologist who primarily engages in co-designed/created participant action research and arts-based scholarship that seeks to engage and empower older adults through the sharing of meaningful and memorable stories.

Rich’s teaching, research and industry engagement activities showcase serious leisure and active ageing as a visible, valuable and viable means of inspiring social change and sustainable development. Over the past two decades, he has presented at numerous international conferences and accrued over 300 citations from publications located within a range of peer-review journals, edited books and industry reports. He was an Associate Editor for the International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure between 2017-2025 and currently holds the same roles for the Journal of Sport and Tourism and the Frontiers in Sports and Active Living (Sport, Leisure, Tourism, and Events). He also sits on the Editorial Board of Annals of Leisure Research.

Rich was a board member of the Australia and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies (ANZALS) from 2017-2023 and joined the board of New Zealand Association of Gerontology in December 2025. Within the industry, Rich was Chair of the North Shore Table Tennis Association from 2016-2020 and Secretary of the Auckland Sunday Football Association from 2021-2023. In 2022, Rich was elected as the first Chair of the Sporting Memories Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand, a newly established charitable trust that helps people offer hope and happiness to older adults living with dementia, depression and loneliness.

Dr Wendy Wrapson

Wendy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Acute and Primary Health at Auckland University of Technology. She has a background in social psychology and health psychology, and her research focuses on the health and wellbeing of older adults. Her work has included investigations into digital inclusion in later life, Pacific elders’ perspectives on wellbeing, and perceptions of the future self in older age.

Kay Shannon is a nurse by training and a senior lecturer in the School of Nursing at Auckland University of Technology. In her research work she focusses on older people's health and wellbeing, and innovation in Aged Residential Care service delivery. Kay teaches older adult health and wellbeing to undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students, and leads the older adult health and wellness postgraduate pathway. She supervises postgraduate research students investigating topics relevant to older adult wellbeing. 

A Research Associate with the Health and Ageing Research Team in the School of Psychology at Massey University. My research focuses on understanding how experiences of health and illness are shaped by the society we live in and the social and economic circumstances we experience. Much of my research explores representations and experiences of ageing to understand inequities in access to a good old age.

Susan is the lead researcher of the Psychiatry of Older Age Academic Unit at Health NZ I Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury. Susan is passionate about dementia mate wareware education, delirium prevention, and person-centred care. She also has roles as liaison officer for the New Zealand Dementia Foundation, and senior researcher with the Burwood Academy Trust.