Our Staff

Experience
Dr Deborah McLeod has worked in research and evaluation for the past thirty years with specialisation in the health and social sectors. In recent years she has also worked in senior public service positions in the Ministry of Social Development and the New Zealand Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs. Between 2010 and 2012, she worked in Canada managing the Ottawa office of R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd. Her clients included federal and provincial government agencies, trade sector councils, museum corporations, the police and universities. She has worked as director at Malatest International since 2012.

Expertise
Debbie is an expert evaluator. Her project management, research and evaluation design knowledge and analytical skills make her a leader in her field. Her key strengths are designing and managing projects with multiple stakeholders, planning and conducting high-quality evaluations, developing ethical protocols, and technical reporting. She has experience across all data collection methods including survey data collection, stakeholder interviews, focus groups and controlled experiments.
Debbie also has extensive experience in developing and leading teams. In all of her roles she has developed training programmes and provided mentorship to ‘grow’ the evaluation skills of her staff.

Experience
Lana began her research career at the University of Auckland and rose to the position of Pacific Health Research Manager. She moved to the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs where she provided Pacific Research advice to the Ministry executive and managed the research unit within the Ministry contributing to projects including Pacific Debt, Growing up in New Zealand and the study of Pacific non-regulated workers.
Lana joined Malatest International in 2013 as Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland Manager. She has led a range of projects with a focus on the Tāmaki Makaurau community and on Pacific research.

Expertise
Lana has strong analytical and research skills developed from academic training and study, involvement and/or employment in extensive research studies within various Aotearoa universities for more than a decade and more recently in government research and management.
Her skills also include the ability to produce research and evaluation findings that support policy development. Lana has strong project management skills and experience leading projects within government and Aotearoa tertiary institutions. Lana is skilled in all aspects of research design, feasibility, conduct, analyses, evaluation and report writing.

In my spare time…wait …what spare time! I am a mother of 4 who rises at 4.30am every morning to get a workout in (the only ME time in my day). Outside of my 9am – 5pm, I am an unpaid uber for my kids, volunteer sports coach, and weekend sideline supporter.

Experience
Carel has 10+ years experience working in the education sector, both within an iwi environment, and public sector. Most of Carel’s experience has been working with iwi and Māori communities directly, as well as representing their voices and needs. Carel is also an experienced facilitator of rangatahi focused programmes within schools, marae and community settings. Carel’s work focuses on bridging the gap between whānau needs and service delivery, where services can access and include whānau and community voice into strategy and programme design ensuring fit for purpose services that meet the needs of the community.

Expertise
Carel has proficient knowledge in te reo me ngā tikanga Māori, and has competent written and oral communication skills in both Te Reo Māori and English. Carel has experience in working alongside whānau ensuring they have the knowledge, skills and resources to support their dreams and aspirations.

Carel is an innovative thinker that has the ability to weave different perspectives, both personal and cultural, together to achieve common goals and shared outcome and providing a strategic lens when navigating barriers to enable sustainable changes and outcomes to be achieved. Carel’s expertise in engaging with Māori whānau and communities means her approach to evaluation centres on adequately representing the experiences and voice of Māori in all that we do. Carel brings a Kaupapa Māori lens to evaluation, and she is passionate about establishing a Kaupapa Māori team at Malatest.

Experience
Fofoa joined Malatest International in March 2019. She has 5 years’ experience in Public Health, having previously worked at a Pacific NGO and the Auckland Regional Public Health Service. She has worked in the areas of smoking cessation, rheumatic fever and most recently, workplace wellbeing. Fofoa has a strong interest in the wellbeing of first responders. In 2018, she was involved in the research team analysing the first wellbeing survey for staff in the adult emergency department at Auckland City Hospital and also involved in research focusing on the impact of mindfulness intervention has on emergency department staff.

Expertise
Fofoa has a background in qualitative research, she has analysed a range of information from small to large cohorts. She is skilled in engaging with Samoan communities being able to hold conversations in both Samoan and English. She has a strong interest in Pacific wellbeing and telling the narratives about experiences of Pacific, indigenous and minority groups within different settings. In 2016, she completed her thesis titled “Are we on the same page” which focused on the health literacy of Samoan mothers and the management of their unwell children’s care. Her interests and passion have been shaped by her years of experience being a youth leader and working with youth in churches.

Experience
Tara joined the Malatest team in November 2020 and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/ Wellington. She completed her PhD thesis within critical social psychology at AUT. Her thesis examined bisexual+ women’s identities and experiences of marginalisation using a novel mixed method approach. Her work was one of the first research projects to examine bisexuality in Aotearoa. In addition to her PhD, Tara has research experience on a range of projects relating to online media, youth wellbeing, relationships, sexual abuse, women’s health, sexuality and gender, and issues for rainbow people.

Expertise
Tara has strong analytic and research skills in a variety of domains. She has had a lot of experience and training with qualitative research including data collection using kanohi ki te kanohi, phone, and online interviews, and focus groups. Her qualitative data collection specialties include thematic, content, and discourse analyses. Tara also has well developed quantitative and methodological knowledge and skills including working with large data sets, building online surveys, and using SPSS. Tara’s skills and knowledges can be applied to a variety of topics, particularly within social sciences. Tara is excited to add her rainbow lens and expertise to projects.

Experience
Jane joined Malatest in January 2021 and is based in Auckland. With over ten years of experience in public health research in both the academic and non-profit research environment, she has worked on various large and small scale research projects. Samoan born and New Zealand raised, Jane takes huge pride in seeing Pacific people thrive and succeed.

Expertise
Jane is well-versed in qualitative research methods, including focus groups, semi-structured interviews and intervention design and evaluation. She has been involved in diverse research projects covering addictions (tobacco and alcohol), volunteer and customer insight and canine health and behaviour. Jane has worked predominantly with Māori and Pacific, and more recently with people who are blind, deaf-blind or have low-vision. Her honours dissertation was a qualitative research project exploring what motivates Pacific women to stop smoking and the cultural environments that support/hinder being smokefree. Jane is passionate about finding practical applications for research findings to improve outcomes.

Experience
Paris joined Malatest International in May 2021 and is based in Wellington. She completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, with interest papers in abnormal psychology, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, forensic science, sociology and law. Additionally, Paris completed a Certificate in Te Reo Māori, and a New Zealand Certificate in Intelligence. She is currently studying New Zealand Sign Language level 1a.

Expertise
Paris is new to the research field and is eager to expand her skills. She has a passion for working with young people, as well as all things Te Ao Māori. She is excited to utilise her diverse knowledge within the team.

Experience
Clair joined Malatest International in November 2021 and is based in Auckland. She has research experience in both the academic and non-profit contexts. She has a particular interest in sport, gender, and media. Her PhD thesis examined how New Zealand and Taiwanese sportswomen were represented in media and audience response using a mixed method approach. In addition to her academic achievements, Clair completed an internship at Auckland Unlimited looking into the university promotion strategies towards international students. She is also experienced in working for women’s NGOs.

Expertise
Clair has strong analytic skills in both quantitative and qualitative research. She has experience in building surveys, conducting interviews, and using SPSS. She also has specialities in media and audience analysis. Clair has been involved in multiple research projects working with people from diverse backgrounds. She is excited about incorporating her experiences, knowledges, and skills into her work.