Nick Taylor is a founding Director in Taylor Baines & Associates. With a PhD from the University of Canterbury he has been involved since the early 1980s in development of approaches and techniques for social assessment, including applications of soft systems techniques. A major text on social assessment (Social Assessment: theory, process and techniques) was first published in 1990, revised in 1995 and 2004 and recently reprinted.

Nick has particular skills and experience in assessing agriculture and land use change, understanding rural and urban communities, tourism planning, and applying social science to natural resource management issues. He is active in social assessment networks and training including the New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment and committees of the International Association for Impact Assessment, for which he was President.

He is a Senior Adjunct at the University of Canterbury and is on the Advisory Board of the Social Science Research Centre at the University, and on the Social Science Committee of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

James Baines is a founding Director of Taylor Baines & Associates. With an honours degree in chemical engineering, he complements a background in natural resource management and policy with skills in social assessment. He has put considerable effort into developing the analysis and presentation of results from social assessment. This is closely related to work applying soft systems methodology to a range of research and consulting projects. In the past few years, he has pursued interests in more integrated assessment, linking different assessment disciplines as well as linking technical assessments with stakeholder participation.

Over twenty years of applied social research and social assessment practice his interests have spanned at various times solid waste management, waste water treatment and disposal, gambling and casinos, harbour developments, marine farming and water-based recreation, prisons and shopping centre developments, school networks, energy infrastructure developments (wind farms and hydro-electric schemes), and urban structure planning. Recently, he has led several science-sector evaluations for the Ministry for Research, Science and Technology. James is experienced in the preparation and presentation of formal evidence in various judicial settings. He has also been contracted to provide teaching and in-service training, in New Zealand and in Asia. In 2002, along with fellow director Nick Taylor, he was engaged by the UNDP to assist the Federal Government of Malaysia in institutionalising Social Impact Assessment in various levels of government in that country.

Between 2000 and 2006, James was the section coordinator for the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Section of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) and remains active in the organisation.

Wayne McClintock is a social scientist with undergraduate degrees in accounting and economics, and a masters degree in sociology from the University of Canterbury. His specialities are social impact assessment, community development, rural sociology and the sociology of natural resources.

He has worked on a number of consultancy projects with Taylor Baines since 1992, including the analysis of public submissions, social impact assessments, the preparation of evidence for resource consent and Environment Court hearings, and needs assessments. Wayne has also participated in a wide range of research projects focusing on topics such as multiple job holding, unpaid farm work, farms with alternative enterprises, the siting of solid waste and retail facilities, the socio-economic aspects of natural resource policy and planning, and case studies of resource communities associated with developments in the forestry, mining, energy, fishing and agricultural sectors. He has written several journal and book articles that have been published overseas and in New Zealand. Wayne also has extensive overseas experience as a development practitioner in Tanzania and as a cross-cultural researcher in Pakistan.

Brigid Buckenham has been a researcher with Taylor Baines since 1994. She has a diploma in teaching, an MA in English and has undertaken the post-graduate paper in Social Assessment in the University of Canterbury. Her experience includes impact assessment field work, submissions analysis, literature reviews and assisting with focus group discussions.

Brigid has been involved in a range of contracts. Her areas of interest, in the past, have included assessing the effects of retail developments, prisons, waste management facilities (landfills, sewerage schemes and ocean outfalls for wastewater disposal). She has also been involved in regional council clean air projects and assessment of the closure of rural schools.

In recent years Brigid has worked with clients on the spread of non residential facilities into residential areas, the establishment of business technology parks, residential developments, wind and hydro power projects, and irrigations schemes.

Erik Norder combines the dual roles of computer assistant and research assistant and has worked for Taylor Baines since the early days.

His responsibilities cover computer hardware & software purchases and the maintenance of TBA's computer networks, computerised databases and electronic file archives.

On the research side, Erik assists with questionnaire design, data entry and data records, and report editing. He is also the resident GIS expert, graphic artist, computer instructor, webmaster, trouble shooter and general cyber-wiz.