2012 Symposium Enhancing Māori Distinctiveness
Dr Kepa Morgan's (BE, MBA, PhD, CPEng, FIPENZ ) bi-cultural background is rooted in his cultural identity as Ngāti Pikiao of Te Arawa. During his engineering career Kepa has strengthened his understanding of Pikiaoanga while also striving for excellence both professionally and academically. As an indirect result of this combination of identity, interests and expertise, Kepa has found himself at the juncture between Māori aspirations and the engineering profession on many occasions. At times these have been adversarial situations, and sometimes the results have been less than optimal, however in all cases he has benefited from the opportunities gaining an understanding decision making processes and frameworks.
Kepa's involvement with The University of Auckland allows exploration of the interface between Māori and engineering, with research interests that can be understood broadly as Indigenous engineering and technologies. In his research, the focus is on the enhanced outcomes that are possible when the contributions of multiple knowledge systems produce designs and solutions that are unlikely to originate from any knowledge system on its own. Specifically Kepa has developed alternative construction systems and materials (Uku fibre reinforced earth composite) and a decision framework known as the Mauri Model. He is Principal Investigator on the NPM project How do we return the mauri to its Pre-Rena state?