Projects

We don’t have many Māori or Pacific Engineers and we need them. The University of Auckland’s Engineering degree programme is challenging and lists Level 3 Mathematics with Calculus as a compulsory prerequisite for consideration to enter.

The rise in cross-cultural marriages between Māori and other cultural groups in Aotearoa New Zealand has raised the issue of who decides where a deceased Māori person is to be buried, after they die, when his or her partner is not Māori.  There are several reported recent cases where whānau Māori have intervened to take a person back home for burial, often against the wishes of the surviving spouse and children.
 

The Ngāti Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau iwi places great significance on Te Kete Poutama, an area that encompasses Lake Rotoitipaku near Kawerau, because it has been integral to their economic, cultural, spiritual and social wellbeing for generations. Tasman Pulp and Paper, now Norske Skog Tasman Ltd., leased the area for dumping waste in 1971 and it became the primary disposal site for solid paper-mill waste. Now Lake Rotoitipaku no longer exists – it’s filled with more than 600,000m3 of toxic material. In 2013 the dumping will stop and the land will return to its trustees.

Māori are increasingly taking on environmental management roles (often on a voluntary basis) that juggle the responsibilities of both traditional networks and government regulations. The focus of this scoping project was to identify the barriers, obstacles and potential solutions to conducting research in the area of local customary fisheries from a flax roots level, that is the application and management of Mataitai and Taiapure by communities and marae.
 

Māori have expressed a desire to be involved in freshwater management in a way that reflects their values. This remains a challenge both for Māori communities and government agencies. Māori groups wanting to work with government on freshwater management often do not have the capacity to access the wide range of processes, structures and tools available to them.

This research project adopted an approach which is grounded in Māori cultural values and beliefs to answer three questions: what are the dreams, aspirations and goals that whānau in the Porirua community have for their own development; what are the major areas of concern for these whānau which may in fact prevent them from achieving their dreams; and finally how do government agencies and insti

This project explored how Māori migrants, while striving for greater economic development, have nonetheless been able to maintain a distinctive Māori identity. A particular focus of the research was how these overseas Māori groups see the relationship between their cultural identity as Māori and their pursuit and achievement of economic success.

At Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga we now manage a database of well over 500 Māori scholars. Twenty five ago years ago Māori academics were so few we’d have had no need for the resource. As for Māori PhDs, with a national total of around 20, some academics would have been realistically able to name them all.

The purpose of this research is to investigate what influences business practices have on Māori organisations and their communities. Current business ideology does not acknowledge or recognise tikanga Māori, nor does it differentiate between Māori and Pākehā business practices.

People living in isolated communities often live in homes that lack essential amenities such as clean reliable water, energy or power sources, vehicle access, telecommunications and waste management systems. Under these circumstances the health and safety of whānau, in particular the most vulnerable (kaumātua and pēpi) can be compromised and placed at risk.

This research project contributed to a growing body of critical analysis and examination of Māori dance and performance as a primary form of cultural expression in which the synthesis of diverse cultural and historical influences is contributing to a redefinition of Māori culture.

This research project aims to characterise the possible effects of agricultural and industrial activity on the well-being of the Mataura River, using an approach that includes a monitoring framework developed by Ngāi Tahu alongside ecotoxicological methodologies. Ngāi Tahu concerns over the increasing degradation of the catchment have underpinned this research project.

This scoping exercise investigated how He Rauheke as a contextual framework can be developed and applied to the field of early intervention to inform assessment, early identification, programmes of intervention, and evaluation processes. 
 

This project involved gathering and mapping the whakapapa kōrero of four land, river, coastal pathways in the rohe of Ngāti Apa. The researchers worked with four whānau to research and identify old walkways or travel paths.

A concussion implies a temporary disturbance to brain function and can be serious. A medical consultation to judge the severity of the injury, and to specify a management plan are important. Failure to do so can lead to subsequent injury and may impact the individual’s schoolwork and social interactions.

This research was a community action research project dedicated to identifying ways in which to advance Te Reo

This project builds on an earlier Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga study led by Dr Shane Wright that shows faster evolution occurs in more productive, high energy, tropical climates. This is the first research worldwide to demonstrate this.

This project had three goals:  to build community research capacity; to collect, gather and record kaumātua narratives; and to create a teaching resource for Tūhoe schools. Central to this project was the engagement by Ruatoki community and in particular it reinforced the important role kaumātua play as sources of knowledge.

This research project asked the question “What new and interesting performance works can be created when two or more music traditions talk to each other, and can these culturally hybrid artistic forms communicate knowledge about a musical other?” Dr Te Oti Rakena explored new ways of approaching performance practice and studio practice, extending the parameters of the research question beyond m

The Ahuriri or Napier Estuary is of significant value to both tangata whenua and the Hawke’s Bay community as a whole. Historical and current environmental pressures, together with some questionable management processes over the years, had caused an almost total cultural disconnection between the tangata whenua and the estuary.