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Tāngata · People 466
Renee Smith
Renee Smith is an experienced senior leader with over 20 years’ experience spanning marketing, strategic management and leadership across corporate and Māori enterprise contexts in Aotearoa and Australia. A B&T 30 Under 30 recipient, her mahi has also been recognised and awarded on the global stage. Renee brings a wealth of knowledge to Whāriki as General Manager, complemented by her experience as a pakihi owner.Credentials:Bachelor of Business (Advertising & Marketing) – AUTDiploma of Marketing Communications – International Advertising Association, New YorkTe Reo Māori Level 5 & 6 –…
Dr. Tui Matelau
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti kahu ki Whangaroa, Fo'ui (Tonga). Tui is a researcher who explores the ways in which Māori and Pacific identities are constructed with the aim of enhancing the wellbeing and success of Māori and Pacific people in Aotearoa. She uses multimodal (inter)action analysis as a methodological and analytical framework to analyse the different datasets she collects. After completing a two year MBIE Science Whitinga Postdoctoral Fellowship she became a lecturer in the School of Communication Studies through the Eke Tangaroa programme. Tui is also an emerging Playwright. Her play Wet was…
Associate Professor Liana MacDonald
Associate Professor Liana MacDonald (Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Tama, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) completed a doctorate at Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University of Wellington). Prior to joining Te Ao o Rongomaraeroa, Liana taught in Te Herenga Waka in the Faculty of Education (2021 – 2022) and the Sociology programme (2023 – 2024).Since 2025, Te Ao o Rongomaraeroa has implemented a Tiriti-based, relational and bicultural kaupapa across teaching, research, community engagement and cultural work. This…
Dr Phil Lyver
Phil’s research has used ecological science and indigenous and local knowledge to interpret changes in demographic trends and abundance of wildlife populations (e.g. terrestrial and marine birds). The key focus of his research has been on climatic and anthropogenic (e.g. harvest) drivers of population change, and the development of models to forecast population trends. He has expertise in interpreting ecosystem structure and function within scientific and indigenous worldviews, in particular the ways that different cultures ‘sense’ the environment. Phil has experience interfacing both…
Professor Annemarie Gillies
Annemarie Gillies (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Arawa) is a passionate advocate for the relevance of Rangahau Māori to “our people.” She underscores the importance of collaborative research with Māori communities, co-designing projects that uplift and enable. Her dedication drives our mission to bridge traditional knowledge with contemporary research for positive, community-centred outcomes.
Professor Kyle Powys Whyte
Kyle Powys Whyte is a faculty member at Michigan where he is George Willis Pack Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability and University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor. On campus, Kyle teaches in and coordinates the School’s environmental justice graduate specialization. He is founding Faculty Director of the Tishman Center for Social Justice and the Environment, Principal Investigator of the Environmental Justice + Humanities Hub, co-Principal Investigator of the Global Center for Climate Change and Transboundary Waters, Faculty Associate of Native American…
Professor Charles Menzies
Professor hagwil hayetsk (Charles Menzies) is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.
Professor Menzies' primary research interests are the production of anthropological films, natural resource management (primarily fisheries related), political economy, contemporary First Nations' issues, maritime anthropology and the archaeology of north coast BC. He has conducted field research in, and has produced films concerning, north coastal BC, Canada (including archaeological research); Brittany, France; and Donegal, Ireland.
Professor Megan Davis
Scientia Professor Dr Megan Davis is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Society (PVCS) at UNSW Sydney. Professor Davis is also a UNSW Scientia Professor and holds the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law and the Whitlam Fraser Harvard Chair in Australian Studies at Harvard University and is a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. She has also been appointed a Penn Carey Law Bok Visiting International Professor, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (Penn Carey Law).Professor Davis is a renowned constitutional lawyer and public law expert, specialising on Indigenous peoples and the law, the…
Professor Jason Paul Mika
Ko Ranginui e tū iho nei, ko Papatūānuku e takoto nei, ko te ira tangata kei waenganui i raro i te kaitiakitanga o ngā atua, o te manaakitanga o te Runga Rawa. Tīhei mauri ora! Ko Ngāi Tūhoe, ko Ngāti Awa, ko Te Whakatōhea, ko Ngāti Kahungunu ōku iwi. Ko Jason Mika ahau. I was born in Whakatāne and raised mainly in Rotorua. In November 2024, I was fortunate join Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland as a Professor of Māori Management and Associate Dean Māori in He Manga Tauhokohoko Auckland Business School. My research, teaching, writing, and practice centres on Māori and Indigenous…
Professor Jenny Bol Jun Lee-Morgan
Prof. Jenny Lee-Morgan has a distinguished background in teaching and kaupapa Māori research. Jenny has led and contributed to several large community projects, including the Endeavour MBIE-funded ‘Generation Kāinga: Rangatahi Building a Resilient and Regenerative Aotearoa’, the Marsden-funded ‘Matike Mai Te Hiaroa #Protect Ihumātao’, and ‘Marae Ora Kāinga Ora’, among others. In 2016, she received the Te Tohu Pae Tawhiti Award from the New Zealand Association for Research in Education, recognising her high-quality research and significant contribution to Māori education. Jenny co-edited the…
Emeritus Professor Tony Trinnick
Tony’s research focused on a number of areas in the teaching and learning of mathematics in the medium of Māori.This includes researching the complex relationship between te reo Māori and mathematics, particularly the development of the mathematics register and the teaching and learning of the register.He also researched student achievement in Māori medium mathematics and the factors that support and impinge on student progress.
Dr Acushla Dee Sciasia
Dr Acushla Sciascia is of Ngāruahine Rangi, Ngāti Ruanui and Te Āti Awa descent. She completed her doctoral studies in 2013 with Massey University and since then has been working in the public sector as a research, evaluator and strategist. Dee’s research background has largely emerged from kaupapa Māori research, specifically Māori negotiating and navigating new technologies and online environments. Dee’s research interests have transitioned into the climate change space and she was a part of the National Risk Assessment Framework for Climate Change panel and is co-leading the Mātauranga ā…
Associate Professor Meegan Hall
Meegan Hall (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Apakura) is Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Mātauranga Māori) in the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori). She provides strategic leadership to grow engagement with Māori knowledge and people in learning, teaching and research contexts, and supports Māori staff and Māori student achievement.Meegan's research focuses on Māori in higher education, which combines her interest in tertiary learning and teaching with her disciplinary background in Māori studies. She is co-Chair of the Ako Aotearoa Establishment Board, a…
Professor Matire Harwood
Dr Matire Harwood (PhD, MBChB) lives in Auckland. Matire’s background is in primary health care and rangahau hauora Māori. She has served as the Director for Tōmaiora, Māori Health Research, editor for the Māori Health Research Review; and GP Champion for Primary Care Health Targets at Counties Manukau DHB.Dr Harwood sits on the Board and Māori Health Committee at the Health Research Council, and the Māori Advisory Committee for Auckland / Waitemata DHB.
Dr Maria Amoamo
Research areas: Māori social and economic development, innovation capability, Māori enterprise, cultural and indigenous tourism, social anthropology, and Vision Mātauranga.
Professor Margaret Mutu
Professor Margaret Mutu is of Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whātua and Scottish descent. She is the Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland where she teaches and conducts research on Māori language, tikanga (law), history and traditions, rights and sovereignty, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and treaty claims against the English Crown, constitutional transformation and Māori-Chinese encounters.She holds a BSc in mathematics, an MPhil in Māori Studies, a PhD in Māori Studies specialising in linguistics and a DipTchg. She has published four books: a grammar of the `Ua Pou dialect of…
Rangahau · Related projects
Professor Lisa Te Morenga
I whakapapa to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Te Uri o Hua, Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa. I am a nutrition and Māori health researcher, Rutherford Discovery Fellow and Principle Investigator with the Riddet Centre of Research Excellence. Broadly my research interests relate to supporting individuals, whanau and communities to achieve good health through being able to access healthy affordable food. My research is translational - applying basic nutrition evidence to enhance human health and wellbeing, and ultimately informing food and nutrition policy. Undertaking research addressing health inequities amongst…
Dr Hauiti Hākopa
Dr Hauiti Hakopa’s deep understanding of the liberating power of education and the critical need for equitable access to learning and teaching has been an intrinsic part of his own life’s journey.He has a deep interest in land and whakapapa, cartography and the mapping of Māori connection and relationship to their ancestral landscapes and specialises in collecting information about waahi tapu, waahi tipuna (sacred|cultural/heritage|ancestral sites), oral narratives (moteatea - traditional songs/chants, korereo purakau - stories) and whakapapa (genealogies) embedded in ancestral landscapes. He…
Associate Professor Linda Te Aho
Linda Te Aho, MNZM, (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Waikato-Tainui) is an Associate Professor in Te Piringa Faculty of Law and in 2025 was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and to Legal Education. Linda has long served as the Associate Dean Māori for the law faculty, and more recently for the newly created Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences. An experienced governor, Linda continues to hold senior governance positions for the large iwi organisation, Waikato-Tainui (Te Arataura) and is a member of the Institute of Directors. As a guardian appointed by…
Dr Lily George
Lily gained her doctorate in social anthropology from Massey University in 2010, with research on Awataha Marae in Northcote, Auckland. The research explored innovation of Māori tradition through three periods of cultural renaissance.She recently completed a Health Research Council Erihapeti Rehu-Murchie Postdoctoral Fellowship, based in the Research Centre for Māori Health & Development, Massey University. Her research investigated the life experiences of Māori women who have been incarcerated, ultimately to garner a better understanding of the multitude of factors which lead to…
Associate Professor Katharina Ruckstuhl
Associate Professor Ruckstuhl is the Kaitohutohu of the Otago Business School's Te Maea: Māori and Indigenous Economy and Enterprise Network.She leads a number of research projects, including in the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge, where she is the Vision Mātauranga deputy leader of the Challenge and co-leads the Building New Zealand's Innovation portfolio.She is also the Associate Director Māori on the Dodd-Walls Centre of Research Excellence. Her broader research focuses on innovation and Māori business, resource extraction, energy transition and Māori policy.
Dr Karyn Paringatai
Karyn's research interests are in a number of areas that intersect at various points. These are: sociological issues surrounding Māori urbanisation and Māori identity development and maintenance; Māori performing arts, particularly poi, the analysis of haka and waiata compositions and the role kapa haka plays in identity; grammatical aspects of the Māori language and second language acquisition; Māori language and Māori performing arts teaching methodologies. She is a co-director of an Otago Research Theme, Poutama Ara Rau, alongside Professor Jacinta Ruru (Faculty of Law) and Associate…
Dr Kahu McClintock
Kahu McClintock is an example of Māori leadership that provides direction and also a source of strength and inspiration. With almost 45 years of experience working with Māori whānau, communities, and iwi, Kahu shows what can be achieved through a commitment to helping others, hard work, and courage.Kahu’s approach to leadership is the result of multiple strands of knowledge woven together; cultural, clinical, and academic. One of her strongest influences is her whānau (family). She was born the sixth of eight children raised in the small provincial town of Piopio in the King Country, by a…
Dr John Pirker
Dr John Pirker's fields of research include marine ecology, aquaculture and marine algae and his research interests centre around aquaculture.His disciplines include ecology, evolution and behaviour within marine ecological systems and he belongs to the Māori Research Advisory Group (MRAG) and Marine Ecology Research Group (MERG)