Skip to main content
Rangahau · Internship project

Health systems and decolonisation: Preliminary activities to understand health system perspectives

About this research

Raumati intern: Nadine Everson (Te Arawa)

Project supervisor: Dr Karen Wright 

Institution: Waipapa Taumata Rau

Project Summary: 

The internship aimed to design a survey to capture health system perspectives on decolonisation. Key activities included stakeholder mapping, analysis and engagement, and the development of a survey to understand how health organisations perceive and engage with decolonisation, and to scope existing activities aligned with these principles.

The intern was supervised by Dr Karen Wright (University of Auckland), contributing to a wider project led by Kaupapa Māori researchers at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Waipapa Taumata Rau—Dr Karen Wright and Professor Papaarangi Reid. The project laid the foundation for understanding decolonisation within the Aotearoa health system.

The research activities offered the intern the opportunity to work within a Kaupapa Māori research team and supported their development in project management, stakeholder engagement, and survey design. The resulting survey will inform future research into health system stakeholder perspectives on decolonisation.

This internship supported the design of a survey to capture health system perspectives on decolonisation in Aotearoa. Working within a Kaupapa Māori research team, the intern contributed to stakeholder engagement and survey development—laying the groundwork for future research into how decolonisation is understood and actioned across the health sector.

Ētahi atu · Other projects

Doctoral thesis

Kawa Whakaruruhau: Culturally-safe spaces for Māori nurse practice development
Whare wānanga · Host Auckland University of Technology
Matakitenga · Framework
Wā rangahau · Timeline Completed 2025

PhD Candidate: Jennifer Tokomauri McGregor (Ngati Raukawa (Waikato)) Primary Supervisor(s): Dr. Alayne Mikahere-Hall Background: Despite being a long-term government priority, the inequity of Māori nurses in the health workforce is long-standing, suggesting that that recruitment and retention of Māori into the nursing workforce is problematic. Māori nurses…

Research Programme

Research to Interrupt Racism and (In)equity (RIRI)
Kaiārahi · Project lead Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Whare wānanga · Host Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland
Matakitenga · Framework
Wā rangahau · Timeline Completed 2025

This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation. Led through a kaupapa Māori lens, this programme challenges narrow, imported definitions of racism and equity, and confronts how dominant systems create and maintain Māori…

Internship project

Developing a Bibliography of Politics Research by Kairangahau Māori
Whare wānanga · Host Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland
Matakitenga · Framework
Wā rangahau · Timeline Completed 2023

This internship compiled a bibliography of politics research by kairangahau Māori, supporting more inclusive and responsive political studies in Aotearoa. Guided by a multidisciplinary rōpū, interns built research skills and helped shape future pathways for Māori in politics and policy.