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Awardee: Dan Hikuroa (Tainui, Ngati Maniapoto, Te Arawa), University of Auckland

The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Te Waharoa Hīnātore.

Light has always carried meaning. Hīnātore, the soft glow found against Ranginui’s chest, in te moana whitiwhiti a Tangaroa, and sheltered within te wao nui a Tane, connects people to story, place and imagination. For Māori, hīnātore is both a physical phenomenon and a spiritual presence, embodied as an atua, whose light guides, inspires, and sustains connection between people, whenua and the cosmos.

Awardee: Uenukuterangihoka Jefferies (Ngāti Raukawa, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Awa, Te Whakatōhea), University of Auckland

This kaupapa Māori-informed study explores how fidgeting—small, repetitive movements often seen in people with wairangi ā-aronga (ADHD)—might be linked to patterns of brain activity and thinking. The research focuses on rangatahi and pakeke (16 years and older) in Tairāwhiti, with 40 participants: 20 with lived experience of wairangi ā-aronga and 20 neurotypical individuals, matched by age and gender.

Māori doctoral scholars often face significant challenges in universities dominated by Western academic traditions. These environments can clash with Māori cultural values and needs, reflecting colonial legacies that marginalise Indigenous knowledge and methodologies. To address these challenges, the Te Kupenga o MAI (MAI) programme was created in the late 1990s by Professor Graham Smith. This initiative supports Māori and Indigenous PhD students across Aotearoa New Zealand, providing mentorship, resources, and community connections grounded in Māori cultural values. MAI helps reduce isolation and creates culturally safe spaces for Māori scholars to succeed academically while maintaining their cultural identity.

This research focuses on understanding the long-term impact of the MAI programme by examining the experiences of recent Māori PhD graduates. It aims to explore their motivations, challenges, and the role MAI played in supporting them, as well as their career pathways and contributions to their communities after completing their studies. The findings will inform future efforts to support Māori doctoral scholars, ensuring they thrive in academia and contribute meaningfully to their whānau, hapū, iwi, and society.

This project served as an introduction to the ongoing study Honourable Kāwanatanga: A Prerequisite for Constitutional Transformation. The overall study was designed to answer the following key questions:
1. What is honourable kāwanatanga?
2. How can third sector (and other) organisations strengthen and deepen their engagement with Te Tiriti?

The interns contributed to a research project exploring a new area of law, visual jurisprudence, which is a legal theory that considers how visual legal information affects people's perceptions of the law and its impact on them and their communities. The research focused on the aesthetic and moral implications of Indigenous peoples' visualisation of their law, legal culture, and experiences of coloniality and survivance.

Keita’s research is a qualitative case study on MANUKURA and sets out to explore what practices and/or principles are gained from the kura that support ākonga Māori in their educational aspirations. To achieve this, Keita is interested in the voices of raukura (graduates) of MANUKURA and their whānau, current senior ākonga and their whānau, kaiako, and key people who contributed to the early stages of developing this kura.