Additional Comms Support for Our Land and Water Team

Joining the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge team in the role of Communications Advisor is Shareen Hudson.

Based in Christchurch, Shareen brings her public and private sector experience in strategic communications, marketing and design to the Our Land and Water team. In the newly established full-time role of Communications Advisor, Shareen will provide additional communications capacity and event management to support the Our Land and Water mission and share key findings from Challenge research.

Past career highlights identified by Shareen have been in collaborative work programmes that seek to improve the wellbeing and opportunities of children and families facing obstacles such as child poverty, inaccessible recreational areas for those with disabilities, and the dynamics of family harm. Most recently, she worked with the Ministry of Social Development supporting communications and engagement, including around the Royal Commission of Inquiry recommendations following the Christchurch attacks of March 2019.

“We welcome Shareen’s experience working in complex environments and her empathetic approach to connecting and communicating with people who are facing considerable stress and pressure in their lives, which is also felt by many rural New Zealanders,” says Senior Communications Advisor, Annabel McAleer. “As we enter the final two years for Our Land and Water, Shareen’s role will be critical in helping us reach the people and organisations who can put our research into action.”

Bringing a personal passion for environmental conservation and biodiversity, Shareen is looking forward to aligning her focus and experience with the collaborative research work of Our Land and Water, and its mission to preserve the most fundamental treasures of Aotearoa – its land and water – while producing value from those same treasures.

Outside the office, Shareen can often be found meandering along the Southshore Spit in Christchurch, at the edges of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary, or enjoying the eastern wetlands that have in part naturally regenerated post-earthquake. Spotting and photographing our native and endemic bird species, Shareen is appreciative of the solo kotuku that frequents the area, in good company with a bowl of spoonbill, white-faced heron, pied stilt and shag that seem to be returning in numbers not seen since her childhood. Particularly delightful are the colourful kotare that agilely dive-bomb less fortunate crabs, and the visiting korimako that calls out in melodic song.

Our Land and Water looks forward to the opportunities the additional communication role filled by Shareen will allow us to develop, as we gear up to increase access to our growing research, tools and resources that will enable New Zealanders to make a tangible difference to the health of our waterways.

If you would like to connect with our communications team to discuss your information needs, please contact us.