Emma Rogan is a partner at Auckland design company Apropos and founder of New Zealand’s 100 Days Project. Her work has been awarded and recognised by the NZ Best Awards, Communication Arts, The Webby Awards and Adobe.

Though he likes to call his poems “songs for the tone-deaf”, Sam has happily worked with musicians – country band The Warratahs, modern classical man Gareth Farr, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and alternative rocker David Kilgour, among others. Sam was special guest at two acclaimed Leonard Cohen concerts in 2009. In 1986, Sam was awarded a QSM – a “quiet sober man” he claimed. In 2010, he was further festooned with honour when he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to poetry. Sam has enjoyed a burst of activity in recent years, publishing a new collection of poems Doubtless and the semi-autobiographical Backroads: Charting a Poet’s Life, as well as a selection of James K. Baxter poems. His most recent book is Knucklebnes: Poems 1962 – 2012.

Professor John Windsor is a surgeon who holds a personal chair in surgery at the University of Auckland. His current research includes the role of toxic mesenteric lymph in the promotion of multiple organ failure; the investigation of specific mitochondrial therapies to restore cellular bioenergetics; the mapping and modulation of gastric electrical activity; and the development of medical devices. Over the last five years, John has published 80 manuscripts, raised $6m in grants and given over 100 invited talks, including Visiting Professorships to Harvard, Oxford, Karolinska, Singapore, Cape Town and Delhi. John is also co-founder and director of the startup SIMTICS Ltd that has developed the ‘Integrated Cognitive Simulator’ for procedural and surgical skills training.

Pip Hall has worked as a full time writer in theatre, film and television for 17 years. An accomplished playwright, Pip has multiple awards to her name including New Zealand’s most significant and prestigious theatre honour, the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Pip also works extensively in television and film as a writer, story liner, story/script editor, developer, creative producer and actor.

Alistair Knott is a linguist and cognitive scientist working at Otago University‘s Department of Computer Science. He grew up in Brussels, attending the European School, a multilingual institution whose Babel-like environment sparked a lifelong interest in language. Ali studied psychology and philosophy at Oxford University, and then did postgraduate and postdoctoral work in artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. He took up a lectureship at Otago in 1999, where he is now an associate professor. Ali’s research is in computational modelling of human language, with a focus on models of language generation. He worked on some of the earliest text generation systems deployed on the World Wide Web, and on an influential web-based human-computer dialogue system. His current interest is in psychological models of text generation: What are the neural mechanisms which allow people to talk about what they see and do?

Assil Russell is a young dental surgeon from Hamilton who has a passion for helping others. Born in Iraq and raised in New Zealand, at the age of 21 Assil set up New Zealand’s first and only registered medical and dental charity for Iraqi orphans and disadvantaged children – I CARE (Iraqi Children’s Aid & Repair Endeavour). Assil believes that “You don’t have to be a doctor to save lives” and ICARE is now an international movement that is empowering ordinary people from all walks of life to make a real difference, one smile at a time.

David was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He earned a BSc in physics from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by an MSc and PhD in Physics from Ohio State University. While working on university campuses in Michigan and California, David held postdoctoral positions at both Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. David’s current work is based at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. He loves to play with ideas and is most happy when he can uncover similar strands of thought on disparate subjects, particularly in science, philosophy and religion. David believes that New Zealand should nurture its intellectual resources as it has done for its environmental riches.

Michelle has a PhD in biomedical materials engineering, runs New Zealand’s only nanomechanical testing laboratory and is a self-confessed adrenaline junkie. Her passion for both sports and science has enabled her to travel the world on the search for her next adventure or research project. With specialist knowledge in nanotechnology, Michelle has contributed to the development of cutting edge technologies. Secretly, however, Michelle has been working on advancing these developments to help her to achieve her childhood dream of becoming a real life superhero.

Activity-based working, where workers can change desks depending on what they are doing, pioneered by consultants Veldhoen + Company of the Netherlands, dominates the design of Auckland's new waterfront ASB North Wharf. Derek Shortt, ASB's property manager, took Anne Gibson, Property Manager for the New Zealand Herald on a tour of the controversial new Wynyard Quarter HQ, criticised by some for its radical, cone-shaped roof feature and unusual appearance.

Four young Kiwi entrepreneurs have been in Russia this week representing New Zealand at the Microsoft Imagine Cup. NZHerald.co.nz business reporter Ben Chapman-Smith caught up with InfinityTek team to find out what innovation is behind their idea & design.

KPMG’s Global Head of Agribusiness, Ian Proudfoot, joins us in the Herald studio to talk about the state of our agricultural sector. He’s the author of the Agribusiness Agenda 2013 – a comprehensive report looking at what industry leaders are looking for and their biggest concerns. He talks to online business editor Chris Daniels

A $76 million job - the country's biggest building makeover - won the Property Council's top award. Precinct Properties' upgrade of its ANZ Centre on the corner of Albert, Swanson and Federal Sts was judged the most successful and the most challenging job, beating 78 other finalists. New Zealand Herald reporter Anne Gibson spoke to Precinct Properties CEO, Scott Pritchard about the award-winning refurbished building.

Prime Minister John Key said if ICT projects failed in the same way Novopay had, the buck would now largely stop with the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) and his department as well as the relevant minister.

ANZ bank was named today as the first target in a class action style law suit being taken by Auckland barrister Andrew Hooker.

FedEx and the Young Enterprise Trust are pleased to announce the final team of very impressive young Kiwis who will be competing against the eight other Asia Pacific countries and their 48 representatives in Hong Kong in just over two months’ time. Courtesy: FedEx

A new group, Auckland 2040, has risen up to oppose Auckland Council’s draft unitary plan, the city’s blueprint for the next few decades. Richard Burton, a spokesman, spells out who the organisation is and what it hopes to achieve.

Expert opinion and analysis from NZ Herald Economics editor Brian Fallow. Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said he's likely to keep the official cash rate at 2.5 per cent through 2013, repeating his view that the kiwi dollar is overvalued and that he stands ready to intervene again if needed.

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said he's likely to keep the official cash rate at 2.5 per cent through 2013, repeating his view that the kiwi dollar is overvalued and that he stands ready to intervene again if needed.

Lower building heights, tighter controls on developers and giving the public the right to object to apartment buildings are among changes being considered for suburbs in Auckland's Unitary Plan. New Zealand Herald reporter Anne Gibson had an exclusive talk with Auckland Super City Mayor, Len Brown.

In part one of a three part series Steve Orsbourn talks to the Duco owners about the promotion of boxing bouts where debate remains over whether entertainment is more important than the sport itself.

A new law designed to crack down on money laundering and terrorism financing in New Zealand is about to come into effect. PwC director Stephen Drain explains the changes.

Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens discusses some of the business and economic topics of the week with NZ Herald’s Chris Daniels.

Prime Minister John Key talks to Newstalk ZB's Leighton Smith about Auckland's Unitary plan

Prime Minister John Key talks to Newstalk ZB's Leighton Smith about the Denniston Mine decision.

Devil beasts and fruit loops, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and game show hosts all made guest appearances in the Budget debate yesterday.

KPMG partner Paul McPadden gives his instant opinion and analysis of Budget 2013 to nzherald.co.nz Business editor Chris Daniels.

Expert opinion and analysis from New Zealand Herald Economics editor Brian Fallow on the 2013 Budget delivered by Finance Minister Bill English.

Finance Minister Bill English has stayed on the track set in previous years in today's Budget, reconfirming the return to surplus in two years while taking steps to reduce the risk of a housing bubble. Social housing is a big element of the Budget. Watch his speech in full.

Tomorrow Bill English will deliver this Government's fifth Budget. Five years is a long time in economic terms, long enough for a complete cycle of expansion and contraction in the normal course of events. He touches on some of the things we can expect.

Shares in Mighty River Power have started trading this afternoon on the NZX at $2.73 each - a 23c or 9.2 per cent premium on the listing price.