Our Research

NPM research solves real world challenges facing Māori. We do so in Māori-determined and inspired ways engendering sustainable relationships that grow the mana (respect and regard) and mauri (life essence) of the world we inhabit.

The excellence and expertise of the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga researcher network is organised by four Te Ao Māori knowledge and excellence clusters or Pae. Pae are where our researchers rise with Te Ao Māori knowledge, tools and expertise to build a secure and prosperous future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand. Pae are purposefully expansive and inclusive, supporting transdisciplinary teams and approaches. Our 2021-2024 programme of work will look to the far future to assure flourishing Māori futures for generations to come. With Māori intended as the primary beneficiaries of our research, our programme will reinforce the firmly established foundations of mātauranga Māori through sound research attuned to the lived experience of Māori.

Four Pātai or critical systems-oriented questions generate transformative interventions and policy advice for stakeholders and next users. All of our research will contribute mātauranga-informed theories, models and evidenced solutions in response to our Pātai. Our Pātai serve to integrate and energise our programme and Pae to synthesize our research for next stage impact and outcomes.

Enter keywords to search by research description

The project will explore the research question: What would a kaupapa Māori based social media platform for Māori communities and whānau look and feel like?  The research will involve engaging with a specific Māori community through wānanga/whakawhiti kōrero in order to ascertain the key elements required to develop it into a more Māori-specific and -friendly platform. 

Project commenced:

The research project is analysing the WIPO’s proposal to develop databases of Indigenous Knowledge and genetic resources through a case study on mātauranga Māori innovations in papakāinga and assessing findings about novel mātauranga vis-à-vis existing and proposed domestic and international laws regarding data in registries.

Project commenced:

Keita’s research is a qualitative case study on MANUKURA and sets out to explore what practices and/or principles are gained from the kura that support ākonga Māori in their educational aspirations. To achieve this, Keita is interested in the voices of raukura (graduates) of MANUKURA and their whānau, current senior ākonga and their whānau, kaiako, and key people who contributed to the early stages of developing this kura.

Project commenced:
Project completed

We, the delegates of the International Indigenous Climate Change Summit (IICCRS), gathered from November 13th to 17th, 2023, recognize the profound climate crisis facing our world and its dire consequences for Indigenous peoples, our lands, and the global ecosystem.

Project commenced:
Project completed

Global climate change has been identified as the single greatest threat to human health.  Within this paradigm, indigenous knowledge systems shaped by generations of sustainable interactions with ecosystems, are being looked to for pathways to climate change mitigation and adaptation.  Mātauranga, the holistic and integrated knowledge system developed by the Indigenous Māori people of

Project commenced:

Māori (and Indigenous) women engage in embodied relationship with the natural environment in a range of ways, such as raranga, rongoā, or physical activity. This research will explore what these embodied relationships can teach us about the potential for reciprocal healing between wahine and whenua, person and place, by developing a network of Māori and Indigenous women and prioritising mātauranga wāhine.

Project commenced:

This kaupapa Māori project addresses one of the most devastating impacts of colonisation in Aotearoa – the forced institutionalisation of Māori children between 1950–1999. Drawing on the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry and leveraging large-scale data sets like the IDI, this study developed innovative methodologies to trace historical trauma and its intergenerational effects. Without burdening affected whānau through direct contact, the research seeks to highlight systemic harm, measure outcomes such as reduced life expectancy, and support future tools of justice, healing, and whānau empowerment.

Project commenced:

Inspired by a little-known Tīkapa mōteatea, He Uru Mānuka, a love lament set among riverside mānuka groves, this project aims to document and culturally map selected Waiapu River locations pairing customary and contemporary technologies.

Project commenced:

Street design in Aotearoa has had limited involvement from iwi, hapū and Māori hāpori to date and yet streets are everywhere, they connect us to each other, they are communication channels and spaces and places to engage with others.

Project commenced:

The best knowledge/technology is coming together for Tahamata Incorporation and shareholders’ coastal farm, Kuku, Horowhenua.

Project commenced:

Sea level rise is threatening many marae and coastal cultural sites across Te Tai o Araiteuru. Yet existing climate models are complex and often not locally relevant or easy to understand. This project created a dynamic, culturally grounded 3D visualisation of the Otago coastline, integrating Kāi Tahu cultural data with environmental modelling to support hapū and marae in making inter-generational climate decisions.

Project commenced:

Every Indigenous community has cultural and biological material held by national archives, libraries, and museums that they do not own or control. Archsite is the online database for the national archaeological site recording scheme of the New Zealand Archaeological Association that began in 1964.

Project commenced:

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga supported Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT) in their submission to the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use in Tairāwhiti and Te Wairoa. Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT) is an informal network of Tairāwhiti residents and others concerned about land use a

Project commenced:
Project completed

This research will explore wairua and spirituality for rangatahi Māori involved with a youth forensic service in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Project commenced:
Project completed

PHD Candidate: Coral Wiapo (Ngati Whātua)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr Sue Adams 

Project commenced:
Project completed

Hineitimoana’s research is a critical biography of her grandmother, Tuaiwa (Eva) Rickard, a Tainui Ngāti Koata woman known for her influential role in the Māori land rights movement of the 1970s.

Project commenced:
Project completed

Project supervisor: Dr Erena Wikaire

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

Project commenced:
Project completed

Project supervisor: Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson

Project commenced:

Project supervisors: Dr Lara Greaves & Dr Annie Te One

Institution: Waipapa Taumata Rau

Raumati interns: Ben Barton (Te Arawa) & Sophie Newton (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Tukorohe)

Project commenced:
Project completed