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

E kore e ngaro nga tapuwae i nga wa o mua,

He arahina ke tatou ki te huarahi nei,

Me hangaia e tatou e tatou ano

We can never erase the footprints of our past,

They lead us to the paths of the future

We carve for ourselves.

Project Purpose: The Ōkahu Bay Restoration Project is being undertaken by Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei and is an all-encompassing restoration project. Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei are working with The University of Auckland, Auckland City and NIWA. The first phase is determining baseline and historical conditions of Ōkahu Bay and compiling the information into a GIS database.

A few sleepless nights may well have been all to the good for Sarah-Jane Paine. She successfully completed her doctorate in 2006 on key factors affecting sleep and how they might be affected by ethnicity and socio-economic factors – and in the process became one of 500 new Māori PhDs last year. In a paper published in the international Journal of Biological Rhythms, Sarah-Jane, who is from Tūhoe iwi, saw a prevalence of both “morning people” and ”night owls” in New Zealand.

The teaching and development of a vibrant, dynamic, highly educated and sustainable Māori workforce operatingat the highest levels of tribal and government leadership and civic society, is crucial to driving positive economic, social and environmental transformation in Aotearoa.

Project purpose: To facilitate the publication of map layers that students 2009-11 have contributed to the TKAM Atlas, and secondly to organise and analyse student feedback data related to their Atlas work, for publication in a journal article.

The intern Wiremu Smith will detail recreational fishing hotspots within Tauranga Harbour, especially shellfish and identify species found at each location.

Project purpose: To determine what factors affect the usage of computers in te reo Māori by students in the schooling sector?

Project purpose: Assist indigenous resistance to petrochemical exploitation of Papatūānuku

The programme of work to be carried out: Investigation and identification of fracking impact upon ecosystem and indigenous perspective of impact upon mauri of identified indicators using the Mauri Model decision making framework.

“….a very positive experience. We were able to preserve our mātauranga and build up our capacity in field work survey and monitoring methods along with gaining a new knowledge about our manu in the process.” Toko Renata, Chairperson of the Ruamaahua Islands Trust

“To generate good health policy you need to ensure that the younger population doesn’t miss out.” THE FIRST STEP in fixing any health challenge is to understand what you most need to focus on, says Bridget Robson. For an epidemiologist this view may not seem surprising. But as Director of Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare (Eru Pōmare Māori Health Research Centre) at the Wellington School of Medicine & Health Sciences, the University of Otago, she has shown that the picture of New Zealand patient health can change quite markedly depending on the statistics you use.

“The gathering was a landmark event as the first of its kind in the South Island and it showed the great increase of Māori researchers and the breadth of areas they were involved in.”

-Dr Rāwiri Taonui, Head of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Canterbury

Twenty years ago there where only a handful of Māori researchers with PhDs in New Zealand. But you only needed to visit the Ngā Kete a Rēhua Inaugural Māori Research Symposium held at the University of Canterbury in September to see how much has changed.

Tāmaki Herenga Waka is the over-arching theme for a series of activities aimed at building a positive Māori consciousness and a more dynamic and connected community in Auckland City.

Māori have a long association with the natural environment and are well-positioned to make important contributions to sustainably managing natural resources in New Zealand and the world.

Across New Zealand, many rivers are unsafe parts of the ecosystem, with Kiwis seriously concerned about declining river health.

This Kaupapa Māori research centred Māori worldviews, values, and lived experiences. It drew on legal analysis and case study work to investigate how tikanga Māori is reshaping law and dispute resolution in Aotearoa’s climate-conscious future.

The significance of this research project lies in its contribution to deeper understand what role Māori SMEs have as critical constituents of the Māori Economy. Recent years have seen attention paid to the merit of the Māori economy, based on the potential of an economy worth an estimated $42.6bn in 2013 (Nana, Khan, & Schulze, 2015).

Project Purpose: Settler societies such as Aotearoa New Zealand are fundamentally founded on the encounter between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. As the Europeans expanded their territorial rule, they had to come to terms with how to regulate their relations with the indigenous peoples they encountered.

The purpose of the project is to reflect on the value of the use of the PATH planning 6 key tool in the Whānau Ora context and the contribution this has made to realising the Whānau Ora goals. Currently the tool is being used in two specific areas:
a) to assist whnau in planning for their future via Whānau Ora provider collectives

Project purpose: The project is a pilot for a larger project tracking phonological development (speech skills) in Māori for Māori speaking pre-school children. Although there is a substantial body of literature on how children develop speech sounds in English we know nothing about the developmental trajectory in Māori.

The purpose of this project is to deliver key environmental, economic and cultural knowledge relevant to the Wakatu Incorporation's development generally as well as the development of its products (food and beverage) and its approach to the environmental management of its natural resources.