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Tāngata · People 466
Associate Professor Esther Willing
Dr Esther Willing (Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Koata, Ngā Ruahine) is an Associate Professor in Hauora Māori and the Director of Kōhatu Centre for Hauora Māori. Her research interests include health policy and health systems research and she is passionate about improving Māori health outcomes and addressing health inequities in Aotearoa.She currently is involved in research on immunisation uptake and coverage for hapu māmā and tamariki, guidelines for prioritising intensive care resources to support equity and discourse and framing of Māori health.
Arianna Nisa-Waller
Arianna Nisa-Waller (Ngāi Te Rangi / Ngāti Ranginui) is a Māori researcher, Indigenous health educator, and storyteller. My mahi centres whānau wellbeing, Indigenous parenting journeys and relational models of care. My expertise sits within kaupapa Māori research, maternal and perinatal wellbeing, visual and narrative methodologies, and community-led approaches to healing and transformation. Through my doctoral rangahau, Pīkau ki Tua, I explored how ancestral parenting practices and intergenerational knowledge can illuminate new possibilities for whānau wellbeing in Aotearoa.
Professor Albert L.Refiti
Leali’ifano Dr Albert Refiti is the leader in critical studies research on spatial design and architectural environments in the Pacific, with a focus on material culture and ethnography on the subject. He advanced the discipline by creating a method of spatial exposition to examine the notion of vā (space) and wā (time) as central mechanisms to understand Pacific societies and their buildings, artefacts and social system.Dr Refiti practised architecture in Auckland (1990, 1994-2002) and London (1991-1993) before beginning his academic career at Auckland University of Technology in 2002. He…
Nova Paul
Nova Paul (Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, and Te Māhurehure ki Whatitiri, Ngāpuhi) is a filmmaker and artists from Aotearoa New Zealand.Drawing from her Ngāpuhitanga (ancestry) Nova’s films create an image of everyday self-determination. Using early cinematic film processes and experimental film practices and weaving traditional stories and indigenous knowledge she considers the poetics and politics of place to create an image of tino rangatiratanga (Māori sovereignty). In her technicolour films, colour separation techniques explored ways in which film could picture wairua (spirit) layering…
Professor Deidre Brown
I am Te Tumu (Deputy Dean) of the Faculty of Engineering and Design Te Herenga Auaha, Professor of Architecture, and Co-convenor of the Ancestral Futures Signature Research Area, at the University of Auckland. My previous leadership roles include Acting Dean, Deputy Dean, Head of the School of Architecture and Planning, and, at various times, Associate Dean in Research, Performance-Based Research Fund, Postgraduate (x2) and Equity in the Faculty of Creative Arts and Industry. Between 2022 and 2026 I was the Co-director of MĀPIHI: Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre (a university-level…
Savannah Brown
Savannah Brown (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine, Ngā Puhi) is a Lecturer in Māori Designed Environments and supervisor of Masters research within the School of Architecture. She has worked in architectural practice at Design Tribe Architects and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland, her research focuses on the repercussions of building legislation on whare Māori. Research Interests: Traditional Māori architecture and building practicesRe-indigenising spacePapakāinga livingTino Rangatiratanga - Māori sovereigntyBuilding legislation issuesThe future for Māori in…
Stacey Ruru
Ko Tainui te WakaKo Waikato te AwaKo Maungatautari te MaungaKo Tauwhare Pā rāua ko Paparamu ?ku MaraeKo Waikato rāua ko Raukawa ōku iwiKo Ngāti Hauā rāua ko Ngāti Raukawa ōku Hapū I joined Whakauae Research Centre in early 2022 as an Emerging Researcher and am working on the Rapua Te Ara Rangatira project – Leadership, governance and decision-making models to achieve health equity.I developed a passion for research when undertaking my master’s degree in Organisational Psychology in 2014 at Waikato University. My research project focused on Māori women’s perspectives on leadership and…
Ella Ruth Newbold
Ella is a Professional Teaching Fellow and Co-Associate Head of School (Initial Teacher Education) in Te Puna Wānanga (School of Māori Education), Faculty of Education and Social Practice, University of Auckland, where she also coordinates and directs the Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Māori Medium). Her career spans 30 years in Māori-medium education — as a classroom teacher, as principal at a Kura Kaupapa Māori, as a director of professional learning and development, and in university lecturing — including leading the redevelopment of the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) Huarahi Māori…
Associate Professor Alayne Mikahere-Hall
Rātonga Hapori | Community ServiceAssociate Professor Mikahere-Hall (Ngāti Whatua, Te Rarawa, Tainui-Maniapoto) maintains a strong commitment to her whānau and hapū marae and has provided long‑standing leadership within Whaiora Marae in Ōtara, serving on the Board of Trustees since 2014 and as Chair for the past eight years. She is deeply involved in Māori communities through both urban and rural marae and is an active member of Te Kotahi a Tāmaki, an Auckland‑based marae collective "The mission of Te Kotahi a Tāmaki is to reinforce marae as centres of cultural excellence and enterprise. The…
Dr. Jennifer Tokomauri McGregor
Ko Wharepahunga te maunga Ko Waikato te awa Ko Tainui te waka Ko Ngati Raukawa te iwiKo Ngati Huia to hapu Ko Aotearoa te marae Ko Jenny Tokomauri McGregor toku ingoa
Associate Professor Aroha Harris
Dr Aroha Harris belongs to Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi. Her research interests span Māori and iwi histories of Māori policy and community development in the twentieth century. Her practice has included both historical and social research for Government departments, private organisations, and iwi. Contributing research advice for Te Runanga o Te Rarawa on a range of iwi development projects included involvement in the negotiation and settlement of Te Rarawa historical Treaty claims. Aroha is a founding member of Te Pouhere Korero, the national collective of Māori historians, and co-editor of their…
Dr Sue Adams
Sue is a researcher and senior lecturer in the School of Nursing, University of Auckland. Her research focuses on the development and establishment of the NP workforce; transition from NP trainee into NP practice; roles of NPs across the sector; organisational structure, climate, and funding models in primary health care utiltising the NP role; NP services to improve access and equity. Sue was the co-leader of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) and Enrolled Nurse (EN) workforce programme funded by the Ministry of Health between 2020 and 2025. Sue supervises PhD and master's students and has a…
Coral Wiapo
Coral Wiapo (Ngāti Whātua) is dedicated to making significant contributions to improve Māori healthcare - passionate about developing the necessary skills, knowledge, and expertise to support the development of the nursing workforce to be able to respond to the needs of Māori. Coral recognises the intersectionality of being wahine Māori, a nurse and a lesbian and strives to give visibility to the strengths that are inherent within this.Coral currently works as a Professional Teaching Fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland. She was previously the Northland Regional…
Dr Pikihuia Pomare
I am an Associate Professor of Kaupapa Māori Psychology and a Clinical Psychologist. My research is grounded in mātauranga Māori and Indigenous Psychologies, with a focus on rongoā Māori and te taiao (traditional healing, the natural environment), wairuatanga and spirituality, Māori mental health, and child and youth mental health, including digital technologies. In 2021, I received the Erihapeti Rehu-Murchie Fellowship (Health Research Council of New Zealand) for a 4.5-year project, Mauri Tau, which examines mauri tau as a Māori framework for wellbeing and emotion regulation.Research…
Erani Motu
Erani identifies as Māori, Cook Island Māori and Pakeha, of Ngā Puhi and Ngati Tautahi descent. A Doctoral student in the Massey University Albany Psychology Clinical Programme, her research focuses on exploring cultural safety of assessments conducted for Rangatahi Māori with offending behaviour in Te Whatu Ora. Erani’s project is in an area with limited research and will explore culturally safe assessment for rangatahi Māori. She will also explore what cultural safety is for rangatahi Māori, the assessment processes' cultural safety, and rangatahi engagement with their assessors. Using a…
Fern Miro Smith
University of Auckland PhD student Fern Smith, based in Te Hiku o Te Ika, is leading research into Māori girls’ experiences of abortion in Te Tai Tokerau, looking at how rangatahi navigate their reproductive autonomy and access to care. Smith, who attended Kaitaia College and whose whānau whenua is Whangaruru, is Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hau.
Associate Professor Deborah Walker-Morrison
Deborah Walker-Morrison (Ngati Kahungunu; Rakai Paaka; Ngati Pahauwera; Ngai Te Ipu, Ngai Tamanuhiri) was awarded the Dunmore Medal (awarded yearly by the Fédération des Alliances Françaises of New Zealand in recognition of major contributions to knowledge of the part played by the French people and French culture in the Pacific). She has received the NZ Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards, nomination (awarded by the University of Auckland).
Dr. Briar Meads
Briar Jane Moana Meads (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) (MIS) received her doctorate at Waipapa Taumata Rau—The University of Auckland. Her PhD research examines Māori adaptation, exploring how oral storytelling shapes Māori literature and its adaptation to screen and how
Keita Durie
Keita is a proud uri (descendant) of Ngāti Kauwhata, Rangitāne, and Ngāti Raukawa, with whakapapa connections to Ngāi te rangi and Ngāti Ranginui through her mother. Keita began her career as a bilingual kaiako, teaching in a rūmaki setting in Tauranga Moana before leading a newly established bilingual unit in Whangārei, working closely with hapū, iwi, and whānau. She has experience with both the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Keita holds a Master of Education (Māori Education) from Massey University and is currently pursuing a doctorate, titled, MANUKURA: A Māori Model…
Ebony Komene
I te taha o tōku pāpā he uri ia nō Ngāpuhi, Tapuika, me TainuiI te taha o tōku māmā he uri ia nō Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, me Te KapotaiKo nēhi rāua ko kairangahau e mahi anaKo Ebony Komene tōku ingoa.I am an active member of Te Wāhanga Rangahau Tapuhi (NZNO Research Section), Te Kaunihera o Ngā Neehi Māori, Māori and Indigenous Scholar Network MAI Ki Te Tai Tokerau/Tamaki Makaurau, and Mauri o Te Ha Te Kura Neehi. I have had the opportunity to support and present research across national and international platforms. Between 2014 and 2023, I received several awards, including the Kate…