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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.

Project lead: Professor Waikaremoana Waitoki (Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Māhanga), The University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

The ACT Party introduced the Treaty Principles Bill in 2024, proclaiming to protect everyone’s equal rights before the law. The Bill has sparked immense debates over the Crown’s attempt to rewrite the articles of te Tiriti o Waitangi and undermine Māori tino rangatiratanga.

Project lead: Dr Te Wai Barbarich-Unasa Ngāti Paoa, Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto AUT University | Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau

Type 2 diabetes continues to be a major health challenge for Māori, who are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed and face more severe and life-threatening complications than non-Māori (Holder-Pearson & Chase, 2022).

Despite decades of intervention, mainstream services have largely failed to improve outcomes for Māori—highlighting the need for culturally grounded, whānau-centred solutions that better reflect Māori realities and aspirations (Tane et al., 2021).

Kimi Ora is a kaupapa Māori diabetes lifestyle programme delivered by Te Kōhao Health in Kirikiriroa. Since 2018, it has supported over 400 participants through a holistic, clinically informed model that centres kaupapa Māori and whānau wellbeing (Masters-Awatere et al., 2021).

Project lead: Professor Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Apakura), The University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

This project will document Māori-led responses to climate change through a Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) lens, focusing on the connection between Māori communities and their ancestral whenua (land).

Through wānanga (digital storytelling workshops) and interviews, the research will explore how Māori of the Waikato-King Country region have addressed in the past and are addressing today the effects of climate change through their deep understandings of traditional knowledge and innovative Māori solutions.

Universities in Aotearoa hold a vast, largely unmapped, collection of Māori data. With that, these institutions are in positions of power to control the ways in which Māori data is collected, stored, accessed and used, often without meaningful involvement from Māori communities. Organised across three objectives, this project explores how Māori data governance can be strengthened within academic policy and institutional contexts in ways which give effect to Māori Data Sovereignty for Māori hāpori, hapū and iwi.

The first objective investigates the potential for Machine Learning to identify and locate Māori research data held within universities.

Objective two examines existing approaches to Māori data governance within a university context and identifies opportunities to bring institutional policies and practices into alignment with Te Kāhui Raraunga's Māori Data Governance Model.

The third objective focuses on the relationships between Māori rightsholders and their data, exploring how Māori aspirations for MDSov can be at the centre of all decision-making.

Project lead: Dr Mahonri Owen (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), The University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) can be used to accelerate the design/development process, reduce material waste, minimise cost and create personalised solutions for challenges faced in industry. 3D printing is often used in conjunction with other technology to leverage its advantages toward the improvement of human life.