John has been involved in water engineering for the past 40 years including 15 years as Director of Water for Survival, a NZ charity which raised funding for water supply and sanitation projects in some of the world's poorest countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, India, Nepal and Papua New Guinea. Projects funded were very basic low technology activities, such as hand dug wells, hand drilled bore wells, gravity pipelines, spring protections, rainwater tanks, pit latrines, and health education programmes. John and other Water for Survival members were able to visit these projects to ensure that the best outcomes were being achieved with the funding provided from New Zealand. John's working career involved the design and commissioning of drinking water treatment plants in Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Stratford. Water for Survival amalgamated with Oxfam New Zealand in July 2003.

Dr Pauline Norris - sociologist

Pauline is a sociologist who is interested in health and healthcare in developing countries. She is particularly concerned about inapppropriate use of antibiotics, especially in developing countries. In 2005 she worked at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, looking at the ways people have tried to reduce antibiotic use in various countries. Many of these were community education projects and one involved school children learning about appropriate antibiotic use and then educating their families and communities. In New Zealand, Pauline worked with a school teacher who designed material for school children, their teachers and parents, about germs and antibiotics. Increasing handwashing so that diseases are not spread between people, would be one way to reduce the need for antibiotics, so that's why Pauline is really interested in this project.

Pauline is a Senior Lecturer and the Leader of Pharmacy Practice Research in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago, and a member of the Dunedin Water for Survival committee.

John Cocks - waste engineer

I am a waste engineer with an international consulting firm (MWH New Zealand Limited) specialising in solid waste and wastewater engineering. More specifically I specialise in strategic planning for waste and wastewater, small community and on-site wastewater systems, and solid waste and wastewater solutions for developing countries. My work has taken me to Hong Kong (wastewater solutions for communities in the New Territories), Laos, Maldives, Philippines, Vanuatu, Nepal, and China. Also, a recreational pursuit is mountaineering and I've travelled to Kenya, Uganda, Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Colombia, Chile, Pakistan, China, Tibet, Nepal and India. Such travel has involved visiting distant and developing communities, living in such environments and using local facilities. From my travel, I've built up a large photographic collection of people, villages and facilities such as local toilets and waste disposal areas (and mountains).

Elaine Burgess - plant scientist

Elaine has been a practising researcher for 25 years and over the last 15 years has worked in the isolation and identification of biologically active natural products from New Zealand terrestrial plants and fungi. She currently works as a Research Assistant for Crop & Food Research based at the University of Otago and has contributed to 16 referred scientific publications.

A passion for her is the investigation and analysis of the active and marker compounds in medicinal plants and herbs. Many plants have anti bacterial properties (e.g Australia Tea tree oil and New Zealand Manuka oil) and could be utilised in hand washing to eliminate the spread of diseases. She is also a current member of the Dunedin Water for Survival group.