Projects

This research project contributed to a growing body of critical analysis and examination of Māori dance and performance as a primary form of cultural expression in which the synthesis of diverse cultural and historical influences is contributing to a redefinition of Māori culture.

This research project aims to characterise the possible effects of agricultural and industrial activity on the well-being of the Mataura River, using an approach that includes a monitoring framework developed by Ngāi Tahu alongside ecotoxicological methodologies. Ngāi Tahu concerns over the increasing degradation of the catchment have underpinned this research project.

This scoping exercise investigated how He Rauheke as a contextual framework can be developed and applied to the field of early intervention to inform assessment, early identification, programmes of intervention, and evaluation processes. 
 

This project involved gathering and mapping the whakapapa kōrero of four land, river, coastal pathways in the rohe of Ngāti Apa. The researchers worked with four whānau to research and identify old walkways or travel paths.

A concussion implies a temporary disturbance to brain function and can be serious. A medical consultation to judge the severity of the injury, and to specify a management plan are important. Failure to do so can lead to subsequent injury and may impact the individual’s schoolwork and social interactions.

This research was a community action research project dedicated to identifying ways in which to advance Te Reo

This project builds on an earlier Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga study led by Dr Shane Wright that shows faster evolution occurs in more productive, high energy, tropical climates. This is the first research worldwide to demonstrate this.

This project had three goals:  to build community research capacity; to collect, gather and record kaumātua narratives; and to create a teaching resource for Tūhoe schools. Central to this project was the engagement by Ruatoki community and in particular it reinforced the important role kaumātua play as sources of knowledge.

This research project asked the question “What new and interesting performance works can be created when two or more music traditions talk to each other, and can these culturally hybrid artistic forms communicate knowledge about a musical other?” Dr Te Oti Rakena explored new ways of approaching performance practice and studio practice, extending the parameters of the research question beyond m

The Ahuriri or Napier Estuary is of significant value to both tangata whenua and the Hawke’s Bay community as a whole. Historical and current environmental pressures, together with some questionable management processes over the years, had caused an almost total cultural disconnection between the tangata whenua and the estuary.
 

A Kaupapa Māori epidemiology is sensitive to the demographic circumstances of the Māori population. Itreinforces the development of policy and practice that is responsive to Māori.  A Māori standard population (or indigenous standard) brings Māori from the margins to the centre of the epidemiological frame. 
 

This project has two artistic outcomes, Aniwaniwa and UFOB. Both of these artworks were exhibited and generated ongoing public exhibition opportunities and interest. The themes addressed were rising sea levels in the Pacific caused by global warming and flooding of landscapes to generate hydroelectric power.

This research grew from the concern about how to stimulate discussion and debate within Māori communities about the role of Māori women, in the past, present and future.  This research sought women’s stories, in order to let Māori women speak about how they perceive their relationships to the state, environment and others in their communities.  This research also included considering

In this research project, Hauraki traditional knowledge concerning the harvest of oi (oi, grey-faced petrel, Pterodroma macroptera gouldi) on the Ruamaahua (Aldermen) Islands was recorded and analysed.  The harvest of oi linked Hauraki individuals to culture, ancestors, individual well-being and tribal identity.  It also maintained mana, kaitiaki responsibilities and traditional knowledge systems. Daily catch rates of oi chicks (and number of birders) have declined in some circumstances by as much as 87% between 1950 and 2007.
 

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.

There is emerging awareness among Māori that mātauranga Māori and Māori values have an important part to play in papakāinga design as well as in modern urban planning and settlement design.

Current methods for the control of possums, primarily aerial broadcasting of sodium fluoroacetate (i.e. “1080”), are often at odds with the needs of rural Māori communities. Large-scale aerial broadcasting can lead to widespread, indiscriminate by-kill of native and introduced animals important to the environmental, cultural, and economic well-being of rural Māori.

Dr Shane Wright (Te Āti Hau, Tūwharetoa) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Auckland. The idea for this research project started to form in his twenties, when he was travelling the world as a gofer for science teams and noticed how plant diversity changed with altitude.
 

This research project integrated two distinct but complementary pieces of research to amplify the voices of young Māori who entrusted their experiences, opinions, and ideas to the two research teams; and to speak back to those who might implement change for them.

This research project led by Dr Mere Kēpa undertook a series of interviews and focus groups to answer how Māori people can humanise the care of elderly Māori. The researchers identified significant shortcomings in healthcare services for elderly Māori outside urban areas and made recommendations to government agencies, service providers and whānau based on their findings.