Ngāti Kahu

Professor Margaret Mutu is of Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whātua and Scottish descent. She is the Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland where she teaches and conducts research on Māori language, tikanga (law), history and traditions, rights and sovereignty, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and treaty claims against the English Crown, constitutional transformation and Māori-Chinese encounters.

She holds a BSc in mathematics, an MPhil in Māori Studies, a PhD in Māori Studies specialising in linguistics and a DipTchg. She has published four books: a grammar of the `Ua Pou dialect of Marquesan (2002); the history and traditions of her hapū, Te Whānau Moana (2003); her collection of annual reviews of issues affecting Māori, The State of Māori Rights (2011); and Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation, on the traditions, history and Tiriti o Waitangi claims of her iwi (nation), Ngāti Kahu (2017).

She has also published numerous articles and book chapters and is called on frequently by local, national and international media to provide information and expert commentary. Margaret is the chair of her iwi parliament, Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu of the Far North and of two of her marae. She has been a mandated representative of Ngāti Kahu and of Māori in a number of national and international fora. She has three children, six grandchildren and a huge extended family.

Cindy Kiro is the Director of The Starpath Project, at the University of Auckland and was previously Head of School Te Kura Māori at Victoria University and Children’s Commissioner. Her areas of research expertise are Public Health, Māori Health, Children and Young People Policy, and Māori Development. She is a lead author on “Trends in Wellbeing for Māori households/families, 1981–2006".

Dr Marilyn McPherson was previously Senior Research Fellow – Research Performance at Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga , where she conducted research relevant to the NPM Research Plan and also assisted the Centre in the academic monitoring and evaluation of its research.

Marilyn completed her Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Geography at The University of Auckland in 1976. Following 16 years teaching at St Stephens School, Marilyn enrolled and graduated with a Master of Arts in Geography from The University of Auckland in 1992. Her thesis was entitled Toitu Te Whenua: Relationships Between Whānau and Whenua. Following the completion of her Masters degree, Marilyn continued to work in Māori education, research and health at Pūkenga, Faculty of Māori Education at UNITEC. In 2003, she consolidated these interests by completing her PhD at the Injury Prevention Research Centre, within the Department of Community Health and the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Auckland. Between 2004–11, Marilyn was Research – Programme Leader at Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. As Programme Leader she developed the annual contestable research round for mid-career and senior researchers. More than 60 Principal Investigators and their research teams have carried out excellent research across a range of broad themes. The writing retreats, symposia, seminar series and international conferences have provided a balanced opportunity for presenting research ideas to a broad range of audiences from local to international contexts.

Marilyn’s current research interests are eclectic, exciting and engaging. Firstly, from her Masters Study she is exploring the need for aroha in research. Secondly, she is updating her PhD thesis It’s about Whakapapa to review current trends and themes in Māori injury prevention and safety. She hopes to work with other indigenous researchers to develop an indigenous model of safe communities. And thirdly, she will construct a blog to explore San Filipo Syndrome, a muccopolysaccharide disorder which killed her nine year old son, Kyle in 1985. She will explore the impact of a debilitating condition, with no cure, on whānau. She intends to write a book from the blog.