Foss Leach CNZM is a New Zealand prehistorian. A strong advocate of collaborative cross-disciplinary research in archaeological science, he has published more than 100 scientific papers and books. He has contributed scholarly evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal for both the Crown and Māori claimants for hearings of Ngāi Tahu, Muriwhenua, Te Rorora and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa. He has carried out archaeological fieldwork in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Micronesia. In 1988 he founded the Archaeozoology Laboratory at the Museum of New Zealand and was its curator until 2001, when he retired. He has served as an officer of many New Zealand and international organisations concerned with archaeology and has held a number of honorary fellowships in New Zealand and abroad.

Helen Leach ONZM is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. She has a special interest in the anthropology of domestic life, including cooking and gardening. With her sisters Mary Browne and Nancy Tichborne, she has co-authored ten books on growing and cooking vegetables and on bread making. Her most recent book is Kitchens, a history of the New Zealand kitchen in the 20th century. She was awarded a Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Medal for contributions in Garden History in 2008. In 2019 she became an Associate of Honour in the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (AHRIH).