About this research
Project Summary
Mātauranga Māori enriches and broadens the knowledge and solutions science provides in response to natural hazards. When these dual knowledge systems engage in mutually respectful relationships the benefits are far reaching. Indigenous led and focused solutions are capable of informing preparation and post hazard actions. The reframing of ‘natural hazards’ in accordance with an Indigenous lens has the potential to strengthen identity, understanding of cultural and physical landscapes along with health and wellbeing.
Reclaiming and reimagining mātauranga Māori as a creative and valid knowledge system responsive to the many landscape changing occurrences being experienced across Aotearoa New Zealand is a necessity in this current age. Being, knowing and doing in reflection of mātauranga Māori will further enhance a community's ability to transform and thrive in response to these challenges.
This publication will draw in Māori researchers from across the resilience research space to highlight the importance of building resilience within our Māori communities and the ways that this is already happening, particularly in disaster-stricken regions and communities. The publication will be accessible, visually aesthetic with high-resolution images and magazine style academic prose and writing. We aim to produce a publication that is academic as well as accessible by all of our communities.
This publication proposes to:
• increase the visibility, understanding and transformational potential of mātauranga Māori in natural hazard research and resilience.
• create a comprehensive collection of research undertaken by Whanake Te Kura I Tawhitinui researchers in collaboration with whānau, hapū and whānau.
• redefine solutions to natural hazards as determined by a mātauranga Māori lens.
• make this transformational research accessible to those who will benefit most.
Project Lead
Dr Acushla Dee Sciascia, Ngāruahine Rangi, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Āti Awa, Massey University - Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa
Team
Kristie-Lee Thomas, Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Tohora, Rapuwai, University of Canterbury
Professor Taiarahia Black, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi
Dr Darren Ngaru King, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Independent
Dr Peter Meihana, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāi Tahu, Massey University - Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa
Israel Birch, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Tawake, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Independent (ringatoi)
Professor Regan Potangaroa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Massey University - Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa (Albany)
Dr Ruakere Hond, Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Āti Awa, Tuhi Productions
Lara Taylor, Te Arawa, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku, Kaiwhakahaere, E Oho! Awakening Aotearoa
Tonga Karena, Te Āti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tuhi Productions
This research explores how mātauranga Māori enriches natural hazard resilience in Aotearoa by integrating Indigenous knowledge with science. It highlights Māori-led solutions that strengthen cultural identity, wellbeing, and community response to disasters. The resulting publication will be accessible and visually engaging, showcasing collaborative research to support thriving Māori communities facing environmental challenges.
Kairangahau · Researchers
Ētahi atu · Other projects
This project explored how Māori and Indigenous communities used digital platforms to protect and share mātauranga, with a focus on te taiao. It investigated tikanga-based digital protocols and iwi/hapū needs, informing the development of Indigenous-led digital solutions.
View projectDigital Solutions to Support Knowledge and Connections
This project explored how Māori and Indigenous communities used digital platforms to protect and share mātauranga, with a focus on te taiao. It investigated tikanga-based digital protocols and iwi/hapū needs, informing the development of Indigenous-led digital solutions.
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Dr Hauiti Hākopa
Dr Hauiti Hākopa
Hauiti is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow based at Te Tumu - University of Otago and specialises in collecting information about waahi tapu, waahi tipuna (sacred|cultural/heritage|ancestral sites), oral narratives (moteatea - traditional songs/chants, korereo purakau - stories) and whakapapa (genealogies) embedded in ancestral landscapes and uses modern GIS mapping technology to enhance this process. -
Dr Acushla Dee Sciasia
Dr Acushla Dee Sciasia
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? What kinds of intergenerational…
View projectHe rongoā tō te reo – Te Reo Māori as a form of healing
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Dr Acushla Dee Sciasia
Dr Acushla Dee Sciasia
He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing. These groundbreaking works celebrate Māori futures rooted in kaupapa Māori values while fostering pathways for responsible relationships, meaningful lives, and flourishing Indigenous wellbeing economies. By emphasising the central role of whānau…
- Mana Touchstones
- Te Ahunga atu ki ngā Ōhanga Oranga Māori: Towards Māori Economies of Wellbeing
- He Rauhī Kupu
He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing
He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing. These groundbreaking works celebrate Māori futures rooted in kaupapa Māori values while fostering pathways for responsible relationships, meaningful lives, and flourishing Indigenous wellbeing economies. By emphasising the central role of whānau, these publications provide actionable insights and inspiration for transformative change in economic and cultural systems.
- Mana Touchstones
- Te Ahunga atu ki ngā Ōhanga Oranga Māori: Towards Māori Economies of Wellbeing
- He Rauhī Kupu
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Professor Chellie Spiller
Professor Chellie Spiller
Dr Chellie Spiller, of Matawhaiti Iwitea, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, is Professor of Management and Leadership, and Associate Dean Māori at the University of Waikato. She was previously a senior lecturer and Associate Dean Māori and Pacific at the University of Auckland Business School. She has over 30 years of corporate experience in tourism, finance and marketing, holding senior executive positions in New Zealand and abroad, and brings this experience to her academic work and leadership and management development programmes. Her research explores how Māori and indigenous businesses create… -
Professor Jarrod Haar
Professor Jarrod Haar
Professor Jarrod Haar (PhD) is a Professor of Human Resource Management in the Department of Management and has tribal affiliations of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Mahuta. In 2018, Professor Haar was appointed as a Member of the Marsden Fund Council and is the Convenor of the Marsden Economics and Human Behavioural Sciences panel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi (2020), a Research Fellow of the Australia & New Zealand Academy of Management (since 2012), and Chartered Fellow of the Human Resource Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ). He won the inaugural HRINZ HR… -
Dr John Reid
Dr John Reid
John is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury’s Ngai Tahu Research Centre. He is a specialist in leading and developing multi-disciplinary research and development programmes focused on addressing interrelated social, economic, and environmental problems. His research explores the way in which Indigenous and Western cultures shape identity, sense of place, and approaches to social and economic development. John's current research interests are focused on sustainable development within indigenous tribal communities and in fostering novel approaches to development through… -
Associate Professor Jason Paul Mika
Associate Professor Jason Paul Mika
Jason is Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Kahungunu. He is an associate professor at Te Raupapa Waikato Management School and Te Kotahi Research Institute, University of Waikato, in Hamilton, New Zealand. Jason’s research, teaching, writing, and practice centres on Indigenous business philosophy in multiple sites, sectors, and scales, including Indigenous trade, tourism, agribusiness, and the marine economy. In 2015, Jason completed a PhD in Māori entrepreneurship at Massey University. In 2019, Jason was a Fulbright-Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga senior scholar at Stanford University’s Woods… -
Dr Matthew Rout
Dr Matthew Rout
Matt works on indigenous socio-economic development and environmental sustainability initiatives and projects with a focus on applied outcomes through theoretical synthesis. He has a particular interest in how philosophical insights from ontology and epistemology can be used in practical ways to aid indigenous development. Indigenous and modernist ontology and epistemology Institutional economics Postcolonial psychology Settler colonisation Sustainable development