The agency is home to employees from South Africa, Nigeria, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Canada, the Ukraine, Greece, the United Kingdom, Fiji, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand.
And more than a dozen languages are spoken fluently.
One of the reasons for ERMA New Zealand’s cultural and academic diversity is the agency’s need for highly qualified and experienced people with very particular specialties, often requiring positions to be advertised internationally.
At least 14 staff list their highest qualification as a PhD, a similar number hold Masters degrees, and a host hold post-graduate diplomas, bachelor degrees and other diplomas and certificates.
And the breadth of knowledge represented in these qualifications is reflected in the subject areas, which range from agriculture, accounting, engineering, entomology and environmental studies to African studies, geology, mycology and zoology.
As the regulator of hazardous substances and new organisms, ERMA New Zealand also holds the technical expertise relevant to several international conventions.
The agency contributes to New Zealand’s input into the Cartegena Biosafety Protocol and the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants.
It also has a role in representing New Zealand’s interests in appropriate international forums.