Projects

Astronomy is the study of the objects in the sky (stars, planets, moons, galaxies, comets etc). Traditionally Māori held great knowledge of astronomy and their studies of the night sky played an important role in everyday life. Much of this knowledge remains recorded in te reo Māori and sits within karakia, waiata, whakataukī, and within place names.

Taunakitia Te Marae aims to research the key contributors of success that will enable marae to be centres of excellence for hapū development. It will explore with whānau, hapū and iwi the characteristics that enable or inhibit the success of marae as centres of excellence; and undertake case studies of successful models for marae that enhance hapū development. Through the research, Taunakitia Te Marae will identify critical determinants of marae wellbeing and construct a marae wellbeing framework to be available for use by marae, hapū and iwi within Te Arawa.

Dr Marion Johnson is the Principal Investigator of Te Rongoā Pastures: Healthy Animals, Resilient Farms.

Practitioner wisdom is an undervalued source of knowledge, particularly that of practitioners working successfully with Māori in uniquely Māori ways. In the field of psychology, there are some who have successfully married clinical psychology and mātauranga Māori to realise successful outcomes for those Māori clients they serve.

This project investigates the wellbeing (economic indicators) of Māori households whānau of a specific iwi using New Zealand Census data from 1991–2006. This project aims to provide greater sovereignty to iwi by providing an evidence base for their decision-making through analysis of this data.

In 2004 Dr Kepa Morgan embarked on a pilot project based around an idea of combining rammed earth technology with muka (flax fibre) – effectively integrating mātauranga Māori with science and engineering, to create low-cost housing solutions. The result was whareuku.

Agroecology, grounded in local knowledge and communities, applies ecological principles to agricultural systems. Indigenous agroecology is an opportunity for mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and totohungatanga Moriori (Moriori knowledge) to inform and generate innovation in farm practices. It focuses on guardianship of the land and the waters that flow through it, based on the traditional and contemporary experience of Māori and Moriori agricultural practitioners.

This Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga project incorporates most of the secondary schools and wharekura within the Rotorua school zone. From the literature, data gathered, and the matching and discussion of this information; the research team’s aim is that educators, parents and whānau will better understand the nature of teaching, learning and home socialisation patterns that support Māori student success.

 

Author: Nimbus Staniland. Supervisor: Professor Charles Crothers This report introduces quantitative analyses of Māori youth employment and occupational status using data from the New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) issued by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) in 2008 and 2010.

Author: Ani Kainamu, Supervisor: Dr Dan Hikuroa. This project fulfils part of the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga summer studentship project that looks at the elements of ecological and Mauri restoration at Ōkahu Bay.

Te Pōhā o te Tītī is an online tool designed to help whānau keep track of annual muttonbirding harvests, and look after future populations of the manu. (http://www.titi.nz/)

In an expression of the growing application of NPM projects into digital and online environments, the project Te Pōhā o Te Tītī was initiated in 2012.

Associate Professor Leonie Pihama, from the University of Waikato led the project Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke, which was focused on looking at Māori childrearing practices within a context of whānau ora.

Metabolic health issues such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity are increasingly prevalent in our community, in keeping with worldwide trends. There is now a considerable amount of evidence that events during pregnancy and early childhood influence the risk of metabolic disease in later life by affecting glucose and fat metabolism and possibly appetite regulation.

Even after 30 years of Māori language revitalisation movements, the Māori language continues to be in a perilous state. Despite these efforts there is no one method that can stem the decline as societal factors still impact adversely on language development.

There are multiple Government funded initiatives aimed at addressing Māori language decline, including increasing the amount of Māori Language spoken, maintenance and quality. Te Puni Kokiri (2006 Health of the Māori Language Report) touched on the attitudes of wider New Zealand society towards the Māori language as unengaging and unlikely to change in the immediate future (p.7).

This significant research programme was led by Distinguished Professor Graham 

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga is pleased to invest $1.5 million over three years in this research initiative, with a tripartite agreement between the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington and University of Otago.

There are more than 16,000 Māori treasures held in overseas museums, art galleries and allied institutions. Unfortunately, the knowledge about many of these taonga has been mainly confined to museum personnel, academics and scholars who have visited these institutions. Māori people have been largely dislocated and alienated from their taonga and been the passive observers of the research and knowledge about them.
 

This research will unravel heritage threads and leadership principles that connect New Zealand and Polynesia. It will explore narratives relating to entrepreneurial leaders, including the early navigators who travelled between Tahiti, Rarotonga and New Zealand.

This project examines rongoā (traditional Māori knowledge of medicinal plants) to find ways to improve animal health naturally, and overall, manage farms with respect for the land.