Projects

This is an extension of the Mauri Model based assessment conducted in 2011/2012 which assessed the impact of fracking on the Blood Tribe's lands in Ontario. The findings of this research will be extended by encompassing the input of the Iwi affected by consents issued to allow mining exploration activities in the Taitokerau and Heretaunga rohe.

“Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga’s MAI Doctoral Support Programme was of incredible value, especially in connecting me with other PhD students for advice.”

Some economists argue for diversity in the way collective resources are managed rather than an unquestioning faith in leaving things to the market. We support this thinking and looked at how ethics and Māori knowledge can be used equally alongside economics in managing collective Māori assets.

Māori and Pasifika students are under-represented in higher education. Despite important interventions, such as The University of Auckland's Tuakana programme, Māori and Pasifika students are still under-represented in the student body. This project will rely on focus group interviews with Māori and Pasifika students from both sexes at different university educational levels.

Author: Nick Allison

In 2014 Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) commissioned a report from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) to assess the economic, social and other impacts of the Māori Centre of Research Excellence.

A summary of key findings from this research impact evaluation were:

Astronomy is the study of the objects in the sky (stars, planets, moons, galaxies, comets etc). Traditionally Māori held great knowledge of astronomy and their studies of the night sky played an important role in everyday life. Much of this knowledge remains recorded in te reo Māori and sits within karakia, waiata, whakataukī, and within place names.

Taunakitia Te Marae aims to research the key contributors of success that will enable marae to be centres of excellence for hapū development. It will explore with whānau, hapū and iwi the characteristics that enable or inhibit the success of marae as centres of excellence; and undertake case studies of successful models for marae that enhance hapū development. Through the research, Taunakitia Te Marae will identify critical determinants of marae wellbeing and construct a marae wellbeing framework to be available for use by marae, hapū and iwi within Te Arawa.

Dr Marion Johnson is the Principal Investigator of Te Rongoā Pastures: Healthy Animals, Resilient Farms.

Practitioner wisdom is an undervalued source of knowledge, particularly that of practitioners working successfully with Māori in uniquely Māori ways. In the field of psychology, there are some who have successfully married clinical psychology and mātauranga Māori to realise successful outcomes for those Māori clients they serve.

This project investigates the wellbeing (economic indicators) of Māori households whānau of a specific iwi using New Zealand Census data from 1991–2006. This project aims to provide greater sovereignty to iwi by providing an evidence base for their decision-making through analysis of this data.

In 2004 Dr Kepa Morgan embarked on a pilot project based around an idea of combining rammed earth technology with muka (flax fibre) – effectively integrating mātauranga Māori with science and engineering, to create low-cost housing solutions. The result was whareuku.

Agroecology, grounded in local knowledge and communities, applies ecological principles to agricultural systems. Indigenous agroecology is an opportunity for mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and totohungatanga Moriori (Moriori knowledge) to inform and generate innovation in farm practices. It focuses on guardianship of the land and the waters that flow through it, based on the traditional and contemporary experience of Māori and Moriori agricultural practitioners.

This Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga project incorporates most of the secondary schools and wharekura within the Rotorua school zone. From the literature, data gathered, and the matching and discussion of this information; the research team’s aim is that educators, parents and whānau will better understand the nature of teaching, learning and home socialisation patterns that support Māori student success.

 

Author: Nimbus Staniland. Supervisor: Professor Charles Crothers This report introduces quantitative analyses of Māori youth employment and occupational status using data from the New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) issued by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) in 2008 and 2010.

Author: Ani Kainamu, Supervisor: Dr Dan Hikuroa. This project fulfils part of the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga summer studentship project that looks at the elements of ecological and Mauri restoration at Ōkahu Bay.

Te Pōhā o te Tītī is an online tool designed to help whānau keep track of annual muttonbirding harvests, and look after future populations of the manu. (http://www.titi.nz/)

In an expression of the growing application of NPM projects into digital and online environments, the project Te Pōhā o Te Tītī was initiated in 2012.

Associate Professor Leonie Pihama, from the University of Waikato led the project Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke, which was focused on looking at Māori childrearing practices within a context of whānau ora.

Metabolic health issues such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity are increasingly prevalent in our community, in keeping with worldwide trends. There is now a considerable amount of evidence that events during pregnancy and early childhood influence the risk of metabolic disease in later life by affecting glucose and fat metabolism and possibly appetite regulation.

Even after 30 years of Māori language revitalisation movements, the Māori language continues to be in a perilous state. Despite these efforts there is no one method that can stem the decline as societal factors still impact adversely on language development.

There are multiple Government funded initiatives aimed at addressing Māori language decline, including increasing the amount of Māori Language spoken, maintenance and quality. Te Puni Kokiri (2006 Health of the Māori Language Report) touched on the attitudes of wider New Zealand society towards the Māori language as unengaging and unlikely to change in the immediate future (p.7).