• Project commenced:

    This project examined Māori resilience, with particular reference to Māori systems of assessment and management of issues pertaining to mental health and wellbeing. In New Zealand, the researchers proposed, we have two different epistemologies and two different systems of knowledge, which rarely intersect and this is the case in the field of mental health, where western epistemologies dominate, while Māori epistemologies are largely under utilised.

  • Project commenced:

    This research project adopted an approach which is grounded in Māori cultural values and beliefs to answer three questions: what are the dreams, aspirations and goals that whānau in the Porirua community have for their own development; what are the major areas of concern for these whānau which may in fact prevent them from achieving their dreams; and finally how do government agencies and institutions support whānau to achieve their aspirations?  The research also looked at whether government departments enable  whānau to realise their dreams in a way that is consistent with being Māori. 

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    This study on the nature of privilege sheds light on how those with the least advantage are positioned to seem as though they are receiving ‘special benefits’, while unearned advantages that accrue to the privileged remain invisible and unscrutinised, particularly by those that benefit the most from them. Participants’ constructions of privilege emphasise the multi-faceted complexity and discursive ambiguities of the ways in which the concept is utilised within our political economy to account for disparity and covertly reproduce the status quo of Pakeha advantage.

  • Project commenced:

    People living in isolated communities often live in homes that lack essential amenities such as clean reliable water, energy or power sources, vehicle access, telecommunications and waste management systems. Under these circumstances the health and safety of whānau, in particular the most vulnerable (kaumātua and pēpi) can be compromised and placed at risk.
    This research involved interviewing whānau who reside in isolated communities and determining the essential needs of whānau (from their perspective) and the factors taken into consideration by whānau to prioritise these needs.

  • Full project

    Project commenced:

    The Hauraki Māori Trust Board and the Cawthron Institute collaborated in this research project which stemmed from a spate of dog deaths on the beaches of Tikapa Moana (the Hauraki Gulf) in August 2009.  The dogs died from the poison tetrodotoxin (TTX) and this poison was present in sea slugs that had washed up on beaches. It became apparent research was needed to determine the poisoning risk associated with kaimoana from Tikapa Moana.

  • Project Purpose: Timely registration rates with lead maternity carers (LMC) for Māori are low, and research is critically needed to investigate methods of reaching Māori women sooner and to encourage engagement with health professionals. The project aims to trial a novel intervention delivered by community health workers (CHW) who will find pregnant Māori women that have not yet registered with an LMC, deliver key pregnancy health messages and smoking cessation support, and facilitate early registration with an LMC; and assess the acceptability of the intervention to women and CHWs.

  • Project purpose: Mate Māori - Kōrero Kaumātua is a project within Te Puawaitanga o Ngā Tapuwai Kia Ora Tonu - Life and Living in Advanced Age: a Cohort Study in New Zealand (The LILAC Study NZ). The purpose of Mate Māori - Kōrero Kaumātua is to document the knowledge of Mate Māori held by the oldest old Māori (aged 80-90 years). The term mate is used for both sickness and death, with the context and the tense (the past tense indicates death and the present tense sickness). Te Rangi Hiroa distinguishes between sickness due to accidents – mate aitu; and mate atua – sickness due to malignant spirits.

  • Project purpose: Hapai Te Hauora Tapui Ltd was set up in 1996 with a specific focus on Māori Public Health. The shareholder organisations are: Te Runanga o Ngāti Whatua, Raukura Hauora O Tainui and Waipareira Trust. Hapai provides public health leadership and advice to each of these providers and subcontract health promotion services back to these organisations through their own health providers; Te Ha o Te Oranga, Raukura Hauora o Tainui and Wai Health. Hapai’s core function is to provide strategic and policy public health advice and in relation to providing strategic advice on public health issues that directly impact on the health outcome for Māori.

  • Scoping project

    Project purpose: Parents of young children, as the intimate stewards of a new generation, carry the weight of societal expectation upon their often youthful shoulders. While it is true that parenthood has probably never been more scrutinised by communities, institutions and the state at large, leaving almost all parents feeling pressured, it is also the case that certain groups, especially young parents endure greater suspicion, censure and surveillance than any other. Within this cohort, Māori parents and fathers in particular are criticised and often demonised in everyday discourse, in the media, policy frameworks, political power plays and institutional debates.

  • Internship project

    Project purpose: Whariki Research Group is involved in collaborative, action-oriented research working with hapū and iwi in the field of Whenua Ora-Tangata Ora. One key project involves kaitiakitanga practices that are seeing improvements across a range of domains including the restoration of Lake Omapere and the Utakura Valley. The health, integrity and sustainability of ancestral lands, waters, forests, mahinga kai, wahi tapu and nohoanga are critical social and biophysical determinants of the health and wellbeing of Māori people and Māori communities.

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