The following reports are the work of Māori senior undergraduate through to masters level students from various tertiary institutes throughout Aotearoa (New Zealand). These are students who were awarded summer internships by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga during the summer of 2004–2005.
The purpose for providing these internships was as a step in putting these students on the pathway towards a career in research. The establishment of this monograph provides a forum for interns to undertake a small piece of research and to publish it. Although it is not a refereed journal, it does provide budding research students with the opportunity to gain more experience in the field of research and its publication. The reports provided here have had minimal editing and minimal input
from the students' supervisors. Therefore they should be read with this in mind. The whole exercise was also beneficial to the supervisors, in extending their experience of having a student researcher work alongside them. From the perspective of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, the summer internship programme also allows us to identify potential researchers for the future and to know their areas of interest.
Many Māori researchers have returned to education in later life. Consequently, while the researchers who have contributed to this publication are all interns, they are not necessarily all youthful—although the majority here are. The contents of this monograph span a wide spectrum of subject areas. These reports stand as evidence of the capacity for research and critical analysis which is strengthening as numbers of Māori tertiary students continue to grow. Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga wishes to thank its 2004–2005 summer interns, and hopes that their new net spreads wide, and brings in a harvest that will benefit all in Aotearoa/New Zealand and indeed the wider world.