The overarching research questions for this NPM Platform Project are:

What are the mental health needs for rangatahi, what services are available to them, what are the gaps in rangatahi primary mental health care, and what are the potential innovations/strategies that would fill these gaps?

The overall aim of this project has been to improve primary mental healthcare for rangatahi and to achieve this the researchers are engaging with rangatahi health and mental health consumers, key informants, stakeholders, and the wider community to gain insight into their experiences, perspectives and expert knowledge and identify the gaps, needs and solutions relating to rangatahi mental health.

The need for this project arises from a previous study conducted by MidCentral District Health Board (MDHB), which identified the following questions as essential:

1.              What are the experiences of long-term conditions for tangata Māori?

2.              What are the main support systems utilised by tangata Māori in the 'self-management' of their long-term conditions?

The overarching research questions for this platform are:

What current methods do Māori use to manage money? What financial products and services are likely to be effective for Māori and how might these be successfully implemented? What support can Māori organisations (including iwi) and the government provide to increase whānau financial literacy and savings?

Poverty within many Māori communities is perpetuated by low incomes, poor financial literacy and a lack of whānau role models who encourage saving. For change to occur, financial education, collaborative community efforts and radical behavioural shifts are required.

What are the bases for Māori enterprise collaboration? How do Māori activate Indigenous entrepreneurial capabilities for collaboration and what forms do Māori enterprise collaborations take?

By exploring Māori enterprise collaboration as a fundamental but challenging strategy for Māori economic development, this project identifies principles and models which can inform Māori and non-Māori about enterprise collaboration. It does this by using mātauranga Māori, kaupapa Māori, tikanga Māori and te reo Māori, as well as considerations of non-Māori principles, practices and technologies for enterprise collaboration.

This proposed research will undertake a co-generative process with our community and collaborating researchers to scope and develop specific research questions that would form the basis of individual applications to three funding bodies. However, our meetings to date have broader research questions that have been discussed so far include:

What are the implications of reclaiming and reviving the mātauranga associated with nga atua Māori and how does it contribute to reimagining the role of atua Māori in the modern world?

How and why are atua Māori, and associated mātauranga, being referenced in different fields today? For example: Sport, recreation, and nutrition; Health and environmental sciences.

What are recent examples of the application of mātauranga associated with atua Māori in teaching and research? For example: Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo; Dr Rangi Matamua's research in Māori Astronomy.

What are the knowledge gaps pertaining to the impact of incarceration on whānau health and wellbeing, what is the nature and scope of current initiatives for whānau who have a family member incarcerated, and what are the barriers and challenges for whānau utilising current initiatives for these whānau members?

What does tikanga Māori mean in today’s context; how is tikanga Māori understood and practiced within iwi, hapū, whānau, marae and more broadly in our everyday practices and national institutions; and how can key Māori principles and practices such as wānanga, kaitiakitanga, hakairo Māori, and wairua Māori more holistically drive research, professional and daily practice?