Dr Amanda Thomas has a PhD in geography and is a lecturer in Environmental Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. Her research is largely grounded with communities, and examines democracy and the ways that environmental politics interact with social justice. more
Anna has worked in various areas of university-based research and women’s health and is enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of Auckland. She is Secretary of ESRA. more
Dr Anna-Maria Murtola is a Senior Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology where she teaches global political economy. Her research is grounded in the critique of political economy and draws on critical theory, cultural studies, philosophy and sociology. more
Ben is a student, activist and researcher based in Tamaki Makaurau. He is currently completing a Masters degree at the University of Auckland around the question of sovereignty in Aotearoa/New Zealand, alongside his work at ESRA and sustained commitments to several activist organisations. more
Dr Campbell Jones is a philosopher and sociologist specialising in the analysis and critique of capitalist ideology. He is a Researcher for Economic and Social Research Aotearoa and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Auckland. His most recent book is Can the Market Speak? (Zero, 2013). more
Dr Dylan Taylor is a lecturer in Sociology at Victoria University of Wellington and editor of Counterfutures. Dylan has written for academic publications, including Thesis Eleven, Rethinking Marxism and New Zealand Sociology. He is the author of Claiming the Century: The promise of social movements and democracy in the 20th Century. more
Finn is a union organiser with the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, and he co-coordinates ESRA’s Political Organisation Inquiry Group, a collaborative research project addressing the organisational and strategic impasses reproduced by the left in Aotearoa, and possible ways of overcoming them. He has previously taught at the University of Auckland. more
Dr Helen Potter is a co-director of Tīaho Ltd, a recently formed kaupapa Māori research group. She brings to ESRA a background in kaupapa Māori research across a range of fields including education, health, and whānau and environmental wellbeing. more
James is a masters student and activist in Tāmaki Makaurau. He currently works and studies at the University of Auckland. James principally locates his research interests in the challenging of financial discourses, critical pedagogy, and continental philosophy. James is a member of ESRA’s Steering Committee. more
Jonathan coordinates ESRA’s communications as it develops into a fully-fledged think tank. His research addresses philosophy and political economy, and he has taught on the future of work at Massey University. He has previously taught Political Studies, International Relations, and Business at the University of Auckland. more
Dr Karen Davis has extensive experience in helping to set up and run community organisations and a strong background in financial administration and community based research practice. She has a PhD in Linguistics, but has chosen to use her analytical and education experience as a community worker, activist and economics educator. more
Nathalie is a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland, a member of teaching staff in the department of Sociology and a community activist. Her role in ESRA is within the Research Committee, developing the initial procedures and projects of the think tank’s research component. more
Dr Peter King is a sociologist and Principal Researcher with Parallax Research. He brings to ESRA a background in social policy research in the fields of poverty measurement, income distribution, material deprivation, barriers to employment, and social gerontology. more
Dr Sue Bradford is a community-based activist and former Green MP whose 2014 doctoral thesis A major left wing think tank in Aotearoa: an impossible dream or a call to action? instigated the development of ESRA. more
Shannon is a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland and teaches critical theory and popular culture in the department of Sociology. His research focuses on continental philosophy, critical theory and the critique of capitalist ideology. more
Vanessa is a researcher and activist specialising in housing and urban planning in Aotearoa. She is an active supporter of the state housing struggle, and an advocate with Auckland Action Against Poverty. She also coordinates ESRA’s Housing Inquiry Group. more
Dr Warwick Tie is a sociologist with Massey University who brings his research background in the politics of conflict resolution, in socio-legal studies, in utopian studies and in political organisation. His teaching focusses on contemporary social theory and on interventions with the ‘unstructured problems’ emerging from the contradictions of late capitalism. more