Our Research

NPM research solves real world challenges facing Māori. We do so in Māori-determined and inspired ways engendering sustainable relationships that grow the mana (respect and regard) and mauri (life essence) of the world we inhabit.

The excellence and expertise of the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga researcher network is organised by four Te Ao Māori knowledge and excellence clusters or Pae. Pae are where our researchers rise with Te Ao Māori knowledge, tools and expertise to build a secure and prosperous future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand. Pae are purposefully expansive and inclusive, supporting transdisciplinary teams and approaches. Our 2021-2024 programme of work will look to the far future to assure flourishing Māori futures for generations to come. With Māori intended as the primary beneficiaries of our research, our programme will reinforce the firmly established foundations of mātauranga Māori through sound research attuned to the lived experience of Māori.

Four Pātai or critical systems-oriented questions generate transformative interventions and policy advice for stakeholders and next users. All of our research will contribute mātauranga-informed theories, models and evidenced solutions in response to our Pātai. Our Pātai serve to integrate and energise our programme and Pae to synthesize our research for next stage impact and outcomes.

This qualitative summer internship research aims to:

Explore key components of a child health consultation with te reo speaking tamariki and whānau in a primary health care setting. Specific objectives include:

• Identify the structure that doctors employ in a consultation with te reo speaking tamariki

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This summer internship joins and contributes to a research project on Māori whānau experience of Hospital Transfers by being involved and undertaking literature review, in depth analysis of interview data and considering and reflecting on their research and the research impact and contribution.

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This ummer intern project will document Māori community engagement with open days and public observatories as a means of achieving the goals of transformative education in a more culturally appropriate and publicly accessible form.

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He āta mātai, he rangahau i te oranga o te waitai i tētahi rohe o te Tairāwhiti kia mōhiotia ai he wai ora rānei, he tai ora rānei, he mate rānei tēnei momo taiao. Hei reira anō ka whakamōhiotia atu ki ngā mana tiaki o taua rohe, ka whakariterite tikanga hoki hei tiaki i te tai. Ko te rohe e tohua ana ko te ākau o Tokomaru i te raki ki Whāngārā i te tonga.

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He rangahau i ngā kōrero mō Ngāti Ira o te Tairāwhiti. Nō te wā i tuhituhia e Apirana Ngata tana tuhinga e kīia nei ko ‘Raurunui a Toi Lectures’ (Ngata A.T., 1944) ka whakawhāiti ia i ngā kōrero me ngā whakapapa o te hītori o te Tairāwhiti me tana kī kāore anō i oti i a ia, tērā ētahi kōrero nui hei whakaoti ā te wā.

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What is the reo of traditional navigation?

How, why, when and where were these navigational aids used in Māori navigation?

What are the perspectives of contemporary tohunga whakatere waka on Māori navigation aids today?

Which stars and why do contemporary tohunga whakatere waka use in Māori navigation?

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This summer internship project is in support of one of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga's large te reo research projects, led through Te Ipukarea.

Te Reo o te Pā Harakeke seeks to understand the factors that contribute to successful intergenerational transmission of the Māori language in the home.

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The purpose of this summer intern project is to source information (cultural and spatial) that describes the student’s relationship to their marae in preparation for learning how to use spatial information technology to create maps of their ancestral landscapes. 

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The purpose of this internship project is to further the operationalising of Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles by identifying tikanga that could inform practical data governance mechanisms.

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This summer intern research project explores from the perspective of Māori women, their understanding of the ‘Māori economy’ and the roles they have in developing intergenerational growth within the Small-to-medium sized sector.

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Te Aho Tapu

What are the links between environmental integrity and the health, wellbeing and wealth of Indigenous communities?

Ensuring the sustainable management of our natural resources is increasingly becoming an issue of national and international concern, and understandably so.

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Intern: Kara Beckford

Supervisor: Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga

This internship project seeks to create a foundational annotated database of takatāpui literature and resources, including whakawahine and tangata ira tane and other gender non-conforming takatāpui, which are often left out of the narrative.

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We are now 30+ years on from when our children first had the opportunity to attend Kōhanga. They are a part of a fortunate generation, like those who will follow them. And so too are those that are following. But what of those older Māori, their parents and grandparents, some of who do speak te reo but many who do not? What challenges to tikanga, age related roles and relationships do these demographics present? Status, mana, roles, responsibilities, ritual duties and leadership are all age related concepts that, in the Māori world, assume a foundation of learning that leads to experience, competence and accumulated wisdom over time. 

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The overarching research question is: what constitutes entrepreneurial ecosystem efficacy with respect to indigenous entrepreneurs’ innovation intentions and activity? In order to investigate this overarching research question, the following questions will be explored: (i) how do Māori entrepreneurs think about innovation?

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This research seeks to investigate Māori jurisprudence. Māori jurisprudence, broadly speaking, comprises a set of tikanga and how those tikanga are used in everyday life to make decisions that affect Māori communities. For this research we wish to focus specifically on the most important institution of Māori decision-making: the hui.

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What are some of the psychological, emotional and spiritual influences that learners have experienced when learning te reo Māori?

How are these influences related to past trauma or negative experiences of theirs (or others) and in what ways have these influences impacted their engagement with and learning of te reo Māori?

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While all hospitalisations can be stressful for patients and their whānau, hospitalisations involving transfers away from home can be even more so and can present unique issues in terms of how whānau negotiate distance, unfamiliarity, active engagement and help-seeking.

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Intern: Rewi Nankivell

Supervisor: Dr Carla Houkamau

The University of Auckland Business School

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What do alternative models to tribal corporations look like for iwi and hapū development?

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