Associate Professor Huia Tomlins Jahnke has been involved as a researcher and research coordinator of the D Company Māori Battalion Oral History Project since 1997 when the Ngāti Kahungunu veterans of D Company established the project. She is Principal Investigator on the NPM project Au e ihu! Nga Morehu TauaThose that are left must endeavour to complete the work. Huia is currently an Professor of Māori Education, and Head of School in the College of Education at Massey University.

Professor Graham Smith, a prominent Māori educationalist, has been at the forefront of Māori initiatives in the education field and beyond. His recent academic work has centered on developing theoretically informed transformative strategies related to intervening in Māori cultural, political, social, educational and economic crises. Professor Smith has made significant contributions to the political, social, economic and cultural advancement of indigenous Māori communities.

Arapata Hakiwai has worked for the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa for over fifteen years, having worked in a number of roles including Exhibitions Concept Developer, Curator and Community Partnerships Manager Māori for National Services, and is currently Scholar Mātauranga Māori, leading the research on the Māori collections. Arapata was formerly the Manager of Bicultural Operations at Te Papa from 1999 through to 2002 and Director of Mātauranga Māori from 2003-2009.

Dr Hēmi Whaanga is a research officer in Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao (The School of Māori and Pacific Development) at the University of Waikato. Hēmi has been a project leader, writer and researcher in a range of linguistic, indigenous Māori knowledge and curriculum projects. He is the principal investigator on the NPM project The ethics, processes and procedures associated with the digitisation of the Pei Jones collection.

Dr Joe Te Rito is of Ngāti Hinemanu descent from Ōmāhu out of Hastings. The community was devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle which flooded the whole community including over 100 houses, the marae, cemetery, school, and kohanga reo. Joe has actively assisted in the recovery efforts by his community since then to provide shelter for displaced families; water, food and stores to local whānau, the rural farming community and other marae; plan for future housing; gather up kōiwi from the cemetery and an ancient burial site unearthed by the flood; recover old carvings from an old pātaka; and revive local Māori history that had been forgotten. He was former head of Māori Studies at EIT (17 years), worked at Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (11 years), currently works for Ako Aotearoa (7 years); and is the original and current head of Radio Kahungunu (35 years).