People

Dr Jez Weston – Deputy Manager

Jez is responsible for making sure our operations run smoothly. He has been an engineer, scientist, science advisor, policy wonk, and research fund manager.

When he is not Knowing Your Stuff, he is a Partner in New Zealand’s first climate venture capital fund, called the Climate Venture Capital Fund.

Educational qualifications
BEng (Materials Science), University of Bath, 1993; PhD (Welding) University of Cambridge, 1998; Grad Dip Com (Economics), Victoria University of Wellington, 2007.

Finn Boyle – Trustee – Training Coordinator

Finn’s background is in regenerative practice, leadership development, and design. He has a passion for the social side of Harm Reduction with a focus on how KYSNZ supports people to be empowered and informed, including our team, clients and wider communities.

Finn is a co-founder of KYSNZ and has worked in various roles over the years, now acting as a Trustee and the Training Coordinator.

Educational qualifications
Masters Professional Practice (Regenerative Practice), Otago Polytechenic, 2023; Bachelors Leadership for Change, Otago Polytechnic, 2019; Bachelors of Culinary Arts (Sustainable Food Design), Otago Polytechnic, 2018.

 

Rhiannon Davies – Communications team lead – Administrator

Rhiannon’s been a communications and engagement professional for 15 years.

She got interested in KnowYourStuffNZ after studying sociolinguistics. She saw a chance to directly work language into effective harm reduction messaging that works through empowerment, transparency and evidence.

When she’s not cursing over content and making sure the website’s behaving itself, Rhiannon can be found pottering in her garden, collecting memes, playing with her cat Monster, or making something out of one of Wendy’s sheeps’ fleeces.

Educational qualifications
Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Classical Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, 2006. Bachelor of Communications, Linguistics and Marketing, Massey University, 2016.

Jenny Knight – Volunteer lead

With a professional background in Volunteer Management and HR, Jenny signed up to join KnowYourStuff after seeing the bright yellow tshirts at a few festivals, and wondering what it was all about.

With skills in people management and a weird enjoyment of emails, Jenny is responsible for managing our volunteer database, developing the volunteer journey, and providing the required pastoral care and admin support for our volunteers.

Jenny also has a Masters in Geography, specialising in Disaster and Climate Change Policy, and a Bachelor of Arts (First class honours) in Geography and Anthropology.

Outside of her work, Jenny enjoys gardening, dancing, cooking and painting, and lives with two rescue cats, Darling and Cleo.

Wendy Allison – Chair, Board of Trustees

Wendy founded KnowYourStuffNZ in 2014 with the goals of helping her own community, proving drug checking works, and starting a national conversation about harm reduction.

After 8 years of direct action in which all of these goals were achieved plus a bonus law change, drug checking is established as a legitimate harm reduction measure. Aotearoa has world leading drug checking legislation, a growing collaborative group of drug checking organisations working to ensure equity of access to the service, and an effective national drug early warning system.

Wendy has now stepped back from running KnowYourStuffNZ in the knowledge that it has been well set up to continue to grow and provide quality service and is in very capable hands. She remains as the Chair of the Board of Trustees

Relevant previous research: B. M. Z. Cohen & W. Allison (2015) Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches: The effect of criminalising a ‘legal high’ in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Sociology, 30:1.  A cohort study of BZP users’ attitudes and habits pre-and-post prohibition, considering evidence for any ‘displacement effect’.

Partners

New Zealand Drug Foundation

The NZ Drug Foundation is an NGO driven by the vision of an Aotearoa free from Drug Harm. They focus on providing information services, policy advice and lobbying for drug law reform.

NZ Drug Foundation has been working with KnowYourStuff NZ to promote drug checking as harm reduction, providing support through purchase of a spectrometer and logisitical help, and leading advocacy initiatives.

High Alert

High Alert is New Zealand’s early warning system about dangerous drugs. High Alert is run by the Drug Information and Alerts Aotearoa New Zealand (DIANZ) who are supported by a network of health professionals and social services (both Government and Non-Government Organisations).