Dr Tricia C. Bruce is a sociologist of religion whose books include Faithful Revolution, Parish and Place, American Parishes, Polarization in the US Catholic Church, and Our Lives. She is President-Elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Past-President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, and was a papal-appointed consultor to the Synod on Synodality.

Dr Mathew Guest is Professor in the Sociology of Religion within the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University in the UK. His recent research has focused on religion in higher education contexts and the appropriation of neoliberal assumptions into religious identities across the globe. His most recent book is Neoliberal Religion: Faith and Power in the 21st Century.

Dr Mary Pat Garvin rsm, is an educator, consultant, and facilitator for religious congregations worldwide. She received a doctorate in psychology from the Gregorian University where she also served on the faculty for eight years. In 2025, Mary Pat received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Her research interest is the interplay of spirituality and psychology in the promotion of a healthy and holy living of religious life.

Dr Geoff Troughton is an Associate Professor in the Study of Religion at Victoria University of Wellington. His broad-ranging research focuses on religion in New Zealand, the history of modern Christianity, and contemporary religious change.

Philip Alexander-Crawford (Te Whiu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Rēhia, Ngāpuhi) is Chief Executive Officer of Hango-Ara-Rau. Highly experienced leader of transformation, previously Director of Te Pae Tawhiti – Māori Equity Partnership at Te Pūkenga. Has held senior leadership roles in the vocational education sector, including Chief Executive of Te Matarau Education Trust, General Manager Education for the Ngāti wai Trust Board and Director of Development for Tai Tokerau Wānanga (NorthTec). He is a current board member of Whānau Mercy Ministries Trust.

Anna Nicholls rsm is studying toward a PhD at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She is leaning into her experiences working in Mercy organisations to explore the changing image of Catherine McAuley over time.

Dr Philip Fountain is an Associate Professor in the Study of Religion at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. An anthropologist, his research focuses on transnational Christian humanitarianism and community development.

Dr Amy R. Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Massey University. A scholar of the Study of Religions/Anthropology of Religion, her research interests concern the material and performance cultures of religions, and religion and ecology; and she has conducted extensive research at Marian shrines in Spain, England and Cuba.

Dr Rocio Figueroa Alvear is a Peruvian Catholic theologian and Lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Catholic Theological College in Auckland. She holds a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Her current research focuses on theological and pastoral responses to Church sexual and spiritual abuse.

Dr Michaela Richards is a Teaching Fellow in the Study of Religion programme at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. Michaela’s research investigates the intersections of religion and the environment, particularly focusing on conservation in Aotearoa, and how religious ‘nones’ form meaning through connection with the land.

Dr Michael Belgrave is an award-winning New Zealand historian who has published on many aspects of New Zealand’s history, much of it since the 1980s connected with the work of the Waitangi Tribunal since. His latest book is a general history of Aotearoa New Zealand, but one of his most enjoyable books was a history of Mercy Hospital, to mark the hospital’s centenary in 2000.

Dr John Kleinsman is the Kaitohu / Director of the Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics. His background includes working in the drug rehabilitation and disability sectors. He has extensive experience in reviewing health and disability research proposals and serves on a number of advisory committees. John’s doctoral research used the notion of ‘gift’ to focus on and frame the ethical issues generated at the interface between technology and human reproduction. He is married to Kerry and has three adult children and five grandchildren.