Rose is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Ferrier Research Institute, carrying out multidisciplinary research to understand and characterise biosynthetic pathways in fungi. Her research requires skills across bioinformatics, synthetic and molecular biology, analytical chemistry and natural product chemistry.

Rose joined the committee in 2025.

Olivia is a research fellow at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research. Her research focuses on developing a novel mRNA vaccine platform designed to generate liver-targeted immune responses, with the goal of improving treatment outcomes for liver cancer.

Olivia joined the committee in 2025.

Muhammad is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the VUW School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. His research is focused on halogen bonding (X-bonding) in ionic liquids (ILs). He is computationally investigating the nature of X-bonds and chemically modifying IL ions to enhance the presence of X-bonding. Ionic liquids can be chemically engineered to possess targeted properties that enhance application performance.

Muhammad joined the committee in August 2025 and is looking forward to becoming a more active member of the Wellington Early Career Researcher Community.

Josie is a Research Scientist at Callaghan Innovation. She is interested in various areas of applied microbiology and biotechnology, though the majority of her research has focused on understanding and controlling the causal agent of kauri dieback disease. In her current role, her focus is on microbiology, fermentation, & bioprocessing.

Josie joined the committee in 2025.

Abby is a Senior Research Fellow in the VUW School of Biological Sciences. Her research is focused on the development of improved methods of targeted cellular ablation for both cancer gene therapy and degenerative disease modelling, and design of next-generation gene delivery vectors to support cancer therapies.

Abby joined the committee in 2024 and is looking forward to becoming a more active member of the Wellington Early Career Researcher Community.

Jochem is a Senior Research Fellow at the Ferrier Research Institute. He is the development lead of the production facility within the RNA platform, focusing on advancing and translating new RNA technologies for researchers and industry, supporting innovative treatments for human, animal, and plant health in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jochem joined the committee in early 2023 and is enthusiastic about the society’s role in bringing people together across the university.

Yonathan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Ferrier Research Institute, working within the Laboratory for Synthetic and Chemical Biology at VUW. His research spans genetic and biochemical studies of fungal biosynthetic pathways, methane‑reducing grass endophyte technologies, and RNA vaccine development within the national RNA Platform.

Yonathan joined the committee in 2026 and is keen to support a connected postdoctoral community in Wellington.

Mariel is a Teaching Fellow in Spanish and Intercultural Communication in the School of Languages and Cultures at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Originally from Uruguay, she has also lived in Scotland and Spain during her postgraduate studies. Her research explores literature, translation, and cultural diversity, with particular interests in children's and young adult literature. She completed her PhD at Te Herenga Waka, focusing on the translation of Hispanic American young adult literature into English-speaking markets.

Angus is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Psychological Sciences. His primary research area is visual perception and attention, integrating computational models with in-lab psychophysics, large-scale online experiments, and electroencephalography (EEG).