Dr James Ataria was a Deputy Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga for a fixed term 2016 to 2018. He is Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University and an ecotoxicologist at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson and is also an associate trustee of the Tuaropaki Trust and a member of Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao (Māori Advisory Committee to the board of the Environmental Protection Authority).