The overarching research platform questions include:

How can local tangata whenua be empowered to make the best decisions for sustainable management of Northland’s brown kiwi, and how can the isolated kiwi populations from Ipipiri (Eastern Bay of Islands) be managed to maintain local whakapapa and reduce the negative impact of small population sizes and inbreeding?

Is harakeke one key to a sustainable future for Aotearoa and, if it is, how do we utilise it to develop this sustainable future?

In this platform research, our focus makes the distinction between ‘kai’ as a culturally defined Māori notion and western interpretations of ‘food’. “He moumou kai, he moumou tāngata” describes a state where our existence and futures as healthy Māori people (Mauri Ora: Human Flourishing) are put at risk because our kai sources (Te Tai Ao: The Natural Environment), including access to kai, growing kai, preparing kai, the lore/law pertaining to kai, and control of kai systems (Whai Rawa: Māori Economies) is diminishing.  Without kai or wai the people will perish! 

This NPM Platform Project is building an understanding on how to build stronger, more connected iwi, through enhancing engagement with Māori governance entities.

In Phase 1 of the research, we are exploring the approaches used by Māori governance entities to ask: how do Māori governance entities engage members regardless of where they’re living?

In Phase 2, we then narrow the focus to one tribal governance entity, providing a demographic profile of the iwi based on both census and iwi register data to determine: what are the characteristics of registered and unregistered iwi affiliates?

This project explores the role that enterprise plays in indigenous self-determination. In New Zealand, we have chosen to examine Māori business networks (MBNs), which we argue are a manifestation of this struggle, but suffer from the absence of a sustainable business model. Our research question is, 'what is the role of Māori business networks in Māori self-determination and sustainable economic development'?

What Māori-focused research has been undertaken in the field of speech-language therapy, what does this research tell us about the speech-language therapy needs of Māori, and what evidence is there in the broader health and education sectors for ways to address any inequities or problems with speech-language therapy service provision for Māori?

What existing research, collation, archivingand disseminating of knowledge specific to te reo me ngā tikanga Māori has been done to date across Aotearoa New Zealand within Māori communities, government agencies, and research institutions’, what additional strategies can be used to further support the normalising of te reo me ngā tikanga in the modern world to create communities of practice; and how can iwi, hapū, whānau and marae be further empowered to advance te reo me ngā tikanga, including to share and communicate knowledge effectively with one another?

How will tikanga Māori empower the evaluation of the experience of Māori whānau in crisis to measure the performance of the Government’s new obligations in law to Te Tiriti o Waitangi?

Our longterm objective is to bring new evaluative knowledge to empower the mana of whānau in crisis. 

Māori have clearly and consistently stressed that a Māori child’s wellbeing is inherently linked to their place within, and connection to, whānau, hapū and iwi.

The overarching questions for this NPM Platform Project are: