This research project explores the utilisation of sonic mapping and LiDar scanning of Motiti marae and Tapuiwahine A12 landblocks, located 7 km south-west of Te Kūiti, on Mangatea Road. The principal hapū associated with Mōtiti marae are Ngāti Te Puta-i-te-muri, Ngāti Tauhunu, Ngāti Urunumia and Ngāti Kinohaku.The wharepuni are named Ko Te Hunga-iti and Te Hāpainga. The marae connects ancestrally to the Tainui waka, the maunga Kakepuku and Pirongia, the awa Mangapū and the tribal collective of Ngāti Maniapoto.

Our tūpuna were experts in reading tohu o te taiao to live more attuned with the environment and gather kai at the optimal times. Their understanding of their own local taiao is recorded and woven throughout kōrero tuku iho. The maramataka is an example of kōrero tuku iho which provides a uniquely Māori way to record, organise and understand ngā tohu o te taiao.

This research is at the cutting-edge of expanding legal research theory, methodology and legal knowledge in the development of a bijural legal system in Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2021, Te Kōti Whenua Māori initiated a new tikanga-based dispute resolution process, in response to amendments to the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993. We will analyse and assess how tikanga principles are being used in the new dispute resolution process, compare and contrast that use with the court’s traditional adjudication process and assess the outcomes for Māori landowners from both.

This research programme will examine how we might envision an approach to placemaking that would result in outcomes that facilitate the expression of mātauranga Māori, tikanga, whānaungatanga and orangatanga in urban areas. The programme will do this by examining concrete innovations through a series of case studies. These examples will demonstrate the optimism that transformative urban activity brings in terms of the potential to redress the struggles of the past (Awatere et al. 2008; Harmsworth 2004).

This project forms the first phase of a broader initiative to create guidelines to help direct Rainbow Organisations (RO) in ensuring their work is successful in supporting the long-term flourishing of rangatahi takatāpui. 

PhD Candidate: Stacey Ruru (Ngāti Haua, Ngāti Raukawa)

Primary Supervisor(s): Professor Chellie Spiller

Throughout Aotearoa there are examples of wahine rangatira in business, non-government organisations and government organisations who contribute to their whānau, iwi and hapū in governance. This project will investigate the experiences and mentorship of wāhine rangatira in New Zealand governance. The aims of the project are twofold:

Tangi is the ultimate form of Māori cultural and community expression. Addressing the dearth of scholarly information, this study considers tangi practice, whakapapa, changing environments, community values, sharing knowledge, ritual and what it means to be Māori.

Lead Researcher: Professor Chellie Spiller (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa) University of Waikato

Research Team:

Professor Jarrod Haar (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngaati Mahuta) AUT University

Dr John Reid (Ngāti Pikiao, Tainui) University of Canterbury

Dr Jason Mika (Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Kahungunu) University of Waikato

Dr Matthew Rout, University of Canterbury

While the terms racism and equity are increasingly commonly used, action that meaningfully addresses racism and eliminates inequities is less common. This programme seeks to uncover how commitments to equity and ending racism are undermined, ‘non-performative’ or symbolic only, and how they may need to be reconfigured in the context of Aotearoa to align with rangatiratanga. Understandings of racism and (in)equity are strongly shaped by contextual factors and dominant, frequently changing discourses. These in turn influence assumptions and logics underpinning research questions, methods, datasets, analytical frameworks, indicators and interventions.

Currently, the New Zealand Education system is failing Māori in almost every measure of educational progression. A significant part of the problem is the lack of cultural competence of the non-Māori majority teacher workforce. Given the projections of increasing Māori and Pacifica student populations, there is a compelling need to address the paucity of resources to assist well-meaning teachers to develop cultural competence in te reo and tikanga Māori.

PhD Candidate: Ms Emily Bain (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Toarangatira)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr. Esther Willing

It is well established that there are significant problems in Aotearoa New Zealand’s health and disability system, especially for Māori – largely due to the cultural differences between Māori and the biomedical system the New Zealand health system was modelled on.

PhD Candidate: Mana Mitchell (Ngāti Maniapoto)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr Esther Willing

Rapid developments in the fields of intergenerational trauma and indigenous health worldwide have posed novel ethical challenges and philosophical threats to indigenous communities. This, alongside an existing need to further support and protect Māori researchers, participants and academics, means that a more comprehensive understanding of Kaupapa Māori methodologies and ethical strategies has become increasingly necessary.

Project supervisor: Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson

Institution: The University of Otago

Project location: The University of Otago, Dunedin Campus

Project supervisor: Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki

Institution: The University of Waikato

Project Summary: The primary purpose of this project is to explore how selected issues involving race in New Zealand are framed and discussed in social and traditional media, including expression of both overt and more subtle forms of racism.

Project Supervisor: Dr Gianna Leoni

Partner: Te Hiku Media

Project Summary: Papa Reo is a multilingual language research platform grounded in indigenous knowledge and ways of thinking and powered by cutting edge data science. Te Reo Irirangi o Te Hiku o Te Ika (Te Hiku Media) have been trusted gatherers and kaitiaki of te reo Māori data for over 30 years. The overall objective of the summer internship was to investigate the linguistic features of te reo Māori in tautohetohe, formal debates, broadcast in the mid 1990s.

Project supervisors: Mr Tama Blackburn and Miss Sera Gibson

Institution: Taranaki Mounga Project Limited (TMPL)

Project Title: Te Au Roa – Predator sound lure trial: Draw possums out of those difficult to reach places on Taranaki Mounga

Project location: New Plymouth - The intern could be located anywhere in Taranaki as most things are only a drive away but preferably, they would be located in the New Plymouth area.

Name: Dr Matiu Rātima

Institution: The University of Canterbury

Project Title: Tūrou Hawaiki: Morning karakia and waiata as a culturally responsive pedagogy

Project location: Canterbury University Campus Rehua building (with flexible work from home arrangements)

Project Summary: The physiological, psychological and social benefits of singing together are well established in research (see for example Bungay et al., 2010). But relatively little research has investigated the specific benefits of waiata and karakia in the New Zealand context.

Project Supervisor: Dr Robin Quigg

Institution: The University of Otago

Project Summary: Parks and reserves land, if not conservation or national parks, are governed by local authorities, guided by the Reserves Act 1977. Local authorities must give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (TOW), similar to that of the Crown. It is not clear where and how the principles of the TOW fit with the preservation and protection of the reserve given the Reserves Act is specific about the well-being of the reserve, rather than prioritising those with ancestral links to the land now delineated as a reserve.

Project Supervisors: Morgan Tupaea and Dr. Rāwiri Tinirau

Institution: Te Atawhai o Te Ao: Independent Māori Research Institute for Environment and Health

Project Summary: The Whakapapa Research Project aims to gather whānau narratives from eight whānau case studies. As this project unfolds, whānau responses to challenges they have experienced will be documented, and a whānau research methodology will be developed. Through this project, an innovative space of whānau narratives and whakapapa connections will be created, and provide insight into the organisation, perseverance, and preservation of whānau and whakapapa over time.

Project Summary: The Whakarauora Research Project aims to re-integrate traditional fishing methods used by Whanganui tūpuna into the development of an education curriculum and through facilitating wānanga. Wānanga have been facilitated for a tamariki and rangatahi environmental group, called Te Morehu Whenua, who have been established under the auspices of hapū associated with Rānana Marae, Whanganui. As a case study, Te Morehu Whenua examine taonga species within the Whanganui River area, which include tuna, kākahi, kōura, atutahi and pātiki.