It is with mixed feelings that we deliver our final e-pānui for 2023. These are unsettling times for many and we are grateful to be able to draw on our collective strength and enduring resilience as a people, and to know that we will continue to carry forward the dreams of our tūpuna and the futures of our mokopuna. Beyond Aotearoa, we acknowledge the tremendous suffering that others are facing. Our deepest aroha goes out to the whānau and communities of Gaza - many of our NPM whānau have been involved in events and initiatives to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

We are also grateful to be able to celebrate bright moments. Our lead story spotlights NPM Ruānuku Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith who recently received the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s highest research honour, the Rutherford Medal. Linda was one of NPM’s founding Co-Directors. Her influence and vision is evident in NPM’s first annual report in 2002/3 stating our intent: 

to “ground” research in the Māori perspective, to define research problems explicitly from the  Māori experience of them, and to focus members of research teams on applying their    discipline-based methodologies to the resolution of those problems. Māori language, knowledge and culture together with the contribution of expert Māori and their communities in the formulation of research projects, underpin all aspects of the research. 

That intent has not changed. In 2021 NPM published Te Pūtahitanga: A Tiriti-led science policy approach for Aotearoa New Zealand. It called for a policy approach that is enabled by, and responsive to, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Mātauranga Māori, and set out how Te Tiriti offers a powerful framework for connecting systems and communities of knowledge in ways that are mutually beneficial and future focused. 

In 2022 NPM also published a collective submission on the government’s green paper Te Ara Paerangi: Future Pathways. Penned by some 40 Māori researchers, the submission noted that “our galvanising force is a collective ambition to realise best research, science and innovation outcomes for whānau, hapū, iwi, Māori and all communities across Aotearoa. 

This year NPM hosted the International Indigenous Climate Change Research Summit and published a communiqué from the delegates emphasising the pivotal role of Indigenous voices, ideas, and actionable solutions in addressing climate change.

Our ongoing commitment is to undertake excellent Māori-led research that contributes to the future flourishing of our communities, culture and whenua as Tangata Whenua - a position from which we will not resile.

Ngā Pou Matarua | Co-Directors

•  Professor Tahu Kukutai
• Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora