Dr Phillip Wilcox Māori tribal affiliations are Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, and Rongomaiwahine. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Otago’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, with experience in applied genomics and statistical genetics. He is also an Affiliate of the University of Otago’s Bioethic Centre, and is the current convenor of MapNet, a NZ-wide collective of gene mapping scientists, and led the Virtual Institute for Statistical Genetics from 2008 to 2013. He is also a Principal Investigator for the Maurice Wilkins Centre For almost 20 years he has worked in the interface of genetic sciences and Te Ao Māori, and co-leads two genomics-based projects focussing on Māori health (Aotearoa Variome and Rakeiora) which have utilised culturally informed guidelines to inform study design. He spent almost 10 years as technical advisor to Ngāti Rakaipaaka, regarding the Rakaipaaka Health and Ancestry Study. Dr Wilcox has also worked on genetics of plant species (particularly forest trees) and human diseases. He teaches tikanga-based frameworks in science courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as statistics and quantitative genetics, and teaches genetics-related content to pre-NCEA high school students in marae-based learning environments in the University of Otago’s Science Wānanga initiative. Along with Maui Hudson and Katharina Ruckstahl, he initiated SING-Aotearoa, and is currently a member of the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s Ethics Committee which oversees institutional and regional ethics committees, and has advised various researchers in engaging with Māori communities regarding eDNA since 2015.