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.

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    Intern: Hana Skerrett-White

    Supervisor: Professor Angus Hikairo Macfarlane

    University of Canterbury

     

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:
  • Project commenced:

    This Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research project aims to assess the status of selected taonga shellfish (including pipi, tuatua, kina and pāua) resources within the Rohe Moana o Tauranga Moana, and the impacts caused by the grounding of the cargo vessel Rena on these fisheries and iwi ability to manage them. The Rena grounding highlighted to iwi the threats posed by environmental disasters to traditional fisheries. In this case, fisheries were closed along the coast and at times, from Waihī to Pukehina. Rubbish, oil and containers washed ashore from Waihī to Te Kaha highlighting the widespread effects on coastlines and fisheries.

  • Project commenced:

    Traditional use of plants for medicinal purposes is a feature of indigenous human societies. The biological principles that underpin many such traditional remedies has been established using various scientific methodologies. 

  • Project commenced:

    This project addresses the crucial gap in previous research by studying the everyday lives and positive relationships of Māori men in the context of men’s health. Māori men face many challenges in maintaining health and in developing meaningful and culturally patterned relationships.
     

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    The human capital theory holds that education is a form of investment in that the individuals who are consumers of education acquire skills and knowledge that can be converted into work and income in the post-school years. but it is not a level playing field, many would argue. Some of the so-called 'toughest kids' come from very difficult home situations. Inconsistent housing, absentee parent(s), lack of resources, and violence are only a few examples of what some of these students have to face every day. Kids that are neglected at home can act out in school to receive attention, good or bad. They want someone to notice them and take an interest in their lives.

  • Project commenced:

    This research project aims to determine how whānau might flourish. The researchers, led by Professor Mason Durie, focuses on six themes – the characteristics of flourishing whānau; profiling the contemporary lives of Māori whānau; exploring the cultural realities of modern whānau; identifying the necessary resources (cultural, social, economic) for whānau to flourish ; assessing the challenges facing whānau in 2025, and developing strategies that will enable whānau to flourish. The research will provide information that can be translated into action and is especially relevant to iwi, central government, territorial authorities, local communities, services and whānau themselves.

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    In 2012, a wave of youth suicides in Northland featured far too many of Ngātiwai descent. 19 people under 25 years took their own lives, a huge increase from 5 the year before (Penney & Dobbs, 2014). Suicide rates for Māori youth in Te Tai Tokerau, including the Ngātiwai rohe, is therefore a major public health issue. In recognition of this, the Ngātiwai Trust Board has identified an urgent need for localised, iwi/hapk -based activities/interventions that deepen our understanding of the complex social and cultural factors which have led to the high rate of self destructive and suicidal behaviors among the youth of Ngātiwai.

  • Project commenced:

    This research project explores the relationship between cultural connectedness and wellbeing (as a social determinant of health). The research will provide evidence relating to wellbeing and cultural connection within and between whānau with the intent to develop an aspirational model for Waikato-Tainui. The intern Ayla Jenkins will provide support to the researchers during marae and whānau engagement in the field. The supervisor is Jonathan Kilgour.

  • Project commenced:

    This research project evaluated and monitored the environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts of the grounding of the ship Rena on Otaiti, with a particular focus on the impacted areas of Maketū, Mōtītī, and Pāpāmoa. The research team led by Dr Kepa Morgan incorporated an assessment of the mauri of the impacted people within these areas and their environs. Mauri is a universal concept in Māori thinking and is the force between the physical and spiritual attributes of something.

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    Author: Manaia Rehu. Supervisor: Dr Kepa Morgan Hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ is emerging as the future of global energy. Fracking operations are increasing at an alarming rate throughout North America and the rest of the world. However, the process of fracturing fuel-rich subterranean rock deep below the surface to extract oil and gas has great uncertainty surrounding it. The aim of this study is to use the Mauri Model Decision Making Framework to investigate the impacts of fracking on an indigenous reservation in Alberta, Canada. The Mauri Model framework could give insights into the costs and benefits of fracking on the reservation.

  • Project commenced:

    We know many of the key elements for social transformation, but what is not known is how to actively stimulate them at the right time, pace and scale, with the appropriate self-correcting mechanisms and forms of resource support provided at moments of need. This research project aims to create a new tool, namely an internationally comparative model of indigenous well-being. To do this, the researchers led by Professor Linda Smith will conduct an international comparative study of the conditions, strategies, catalysts and meanings that indigenous people employ to realise their aspirations for well-being.

  • Internship project Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    Author: Elizabeth Jurisich Strickett. Supervisors: Associate Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes and Dr Tim McCreanor. This report was written while undertaking a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga internship with Whāriki, SHORE and Whāriki Research Centre, Massey University. The review topic of marginalising Māori parents arose out of a report on rangatahi and sexual coercion, which included an examination of gender roles, Māori concepts around sexuality and parenting (Moewaka Barnes, 2010).

  • Project commenced:

    This research looked at how the 2010/11 earthquakes in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) have affected Māori mental health communities. The research team led by Dr Simon Lambert focused on how the support networks for Tangata Whaiora (a term applied to Māori mental health clients that translates as people seeking health) and their whānau responded and recovered through the disaster.
     

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    Author: Joshua Tahana. Supervisor Dr Elaine Ballard This report outlines the background for a study to be undertaken 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. This project when completed will generally contribute to research in the area of speech development by providing new information on children’s development in a language that has previously not been investigated in this way.

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    Author: Tara Dalley. Supervisor: Dr Te Taka Keegan The aim of this research was to determine the level of awareness and willingness to use software with a te reo Māori interface by the Māori medium education sector. The literature describes the importance and function of language in culture, society and as a part of identity; te reo Māori is an important part of Māori culture and reflects the values and principles of the Māori worldview. There is much written about the decline of te reo Māori due to factors such as colonisation, assimilation and urbanisation; however, there has been much effort in reviving and maintaining te reo Māori.

  • Full project Pae Tawhiti project

    Project commenced:

    He Mangōpare Amohia: Strategies for Māori Economic Development

    Critical success factors for Māori economic development have been identified in a just released report on the three-year Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) research programme – Te Tupunga Māori Economic Development.

    This significant research programme was led by Distinguished Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, who partnered with four participating iwi - Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāpuhi and brought their values, insights and aspirations to the project.

  • Project commenced:

    Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke is a project focused upon tikanga and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) models of wellbeing for whānau, with Te Pā Harakeke being a metaphor for whānau wellbeing. The project seeks to share with whānau and others, knowledge about successfully raising children in ways that are grounded within tikanga Māori, and have been and continue to be, practiced for generations.
     

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    Author: Raaniera Te Whata. Supervisor: Dr Merata Kawharu As there has been no major analytical works on contemporary Māori leadership, the purpose of this project is to contribute to addressing this knowledge gap by examining entrepreneurial tribal Māori leadership and the role it can play in the revitalisation of wealth in New Zealand in terms of culture, identity, economics and politics.

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    Can communicative language teaching (CLT) help save indigenous languages? This project is a review of literature on CLT and its relevance to indigenous language revitalisation. It forms part of a broader research project to examine the teaching and learning of Māori, Tahitian and Hawai’ian within universities.

COPYRIGHT © 2021 NGĀ PAE O TE MĀRAMATANGA, A CENTRE OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE HOSTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND