8–14 SEPTEMBER 2025 | BAY OF PLENTY
Footprints for Our Future - Speakers
Hosted by the Rotary Bay of Plenty Community Group
Our Speakers
We’re proud to welcome a line-up of speakers who are not only experts in their fields, but passionate advocates for the environment and community-led action. From scientific insight to real-world stories, these voices will spark ideas, challenge thinking, and inspire all of us to leave a lighter footprint.
Their kōrero is at the heart of Footprints for Our Future — and we’re thrilled to have them as part of this kaupapa.
Dr Mike Joy
Victoria University
Keynote speaker Dr Mike Joy is a prominent freshwater ecologist and science communicator currently at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He has been publicly outspoken about the decline in freshwater quality and ecosystems, especially the impact of nutrient pollution from intensive dairying. This has led to awards from scientific organisations, as well as criticism from the dairy industry. Last year he published a memoir "The Fight for Freshwater".
Professor Chris Battershill
University of Waikato
Professor Chris Battershill leads Coastal Science at the University of Waikato. His main interests include coastal marine ecology and aquaculture. He leads a major research program examining the effects of land runoff on coastal reef systems, on food webs linking land and sea productivity and on resilience in a changing climate.
John Burke
Catchment Restoration
John Burke is an adviser for two major catchment environmental restoration projects. Project Parore covers seven catchments at the northern Tauranga Moana. The large Wai Kōkopu catchment is near Pukehina. He has an agri-business background and owns the environmental award-winning Pukekauri Farm, near Katikati.
