Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
" loading="lazy" decoding="async">
Pou Pae Ora, Pou Pātai Whānau
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine (Tūhoe) is a leading Māori health researcher and internationally respected authority on Indigenous child wellbeing. She is Research Director and Principal Investigator of Growing Up in New Zealand, Aotearoa’s flagship longitudinal study of child development, and a Professor at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
Her work in Kaupapa Māori epidemiology has influenced national policy in maternal and child health, racism and child wellbeing, food security, and youth wellbeing. Known for combining scientific rigour with strong community partnerships, she ensures research translates into meaningful outcomes for whānau and communities.
Professor Paine is an internationally recognised leader in Indigenous research, contributing to global initiatives including The Lancet Commission on Racism and Child Health. She is widely respected for mentoring emerging leaders and for strengthening connections between research, policy, and communities. In 2025, she received the University of Auckland Research Impact Award, recognising the real-world difference of her work for tamariki and whānau.
Rangahau · Related projects
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…
View projectResearch to Interrupt Racism and (In)equity (RIRI)
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 ‘vulnerability’. It aims to reframe equity on Māori terms—grounded in rangatiratanga, Indigenous knowledge, and the realities of colonisation.
Kairangahau · Researchers
-
Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Donna has been involved in work on the collection and classification of ethnicity data in New Zealand, particularly as it relates to measuring and monitoring disparities. Most recently, Donna has been focused on work examining disparities in cancer outcomes and access to cancer services for Māori. She is involved in the Differential Colon Cancer Survival by Ethnicity in New Zealand project as well as Unequal Treatment: The Role of Health Services with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare. -
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine (Tūhoe) is a leading Māori health researcher and internationally respected authority on Indigenous child wellbeing. She is Research Director and Principal Investigator of Growing Up in New Zealand, Aotearoa’s flagship longitudinal study of child development, and a Professor at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.Her work in Kaupapa Māori epidemiology has influenced national policy in maternal and child health, racism and child wellbeing, food security, and youth wellbeing. Known for combining scientific rigour with strong community… -
Professor Papaarangi Reid
Professor Papaarangi Reid
Papaarangi is Tumuaki and Head of Department of Maori Health at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She holds science and medical degrees from the University of Auckland and is a specialist in public health medicine. She has tribal affiliations to Te Rarawa in the Far North of Aotearoa and her research interests include analysing disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous citizens as a means of monitoring government commitment to indigenous rights. -
Associate Professor Ricci Harris
Associate Professor Ricci Harris
Dr Ricci Harris (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu) is a public health physician and Research Associate Professor at Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare. She has research expertise in Māori health, epidemiology (including quantitative aspects of Kaupapa Māori research) and the investigation and elimination of ethnic health inequities in New Zealand. This has included research into the classification of ethnicity, ethnic disparities in health status and receipt of health services, and the impact of social determinants (e.g. SES and racism) on Māori health and inequities. Her current… -
Dr Arama Rata
Dr Arama Rata
Arama is of Ngāti Maniapoto, Taranaki, and Ngāruahine descent. She completed her PhD in Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington in 2012, which focused on Māori cultural engagement, identity, and psychological well-being in State secondary schools. Arama then lectured at Te Kawa a Māui (the School of Māori Studies), where she received a Research Establishment Grant to study Māori collective remembering of the New Zealand Wars. Dr Rata is currently involved with research relating to Māori health experiences, Māori in rural communities, as well as iwi consultancy. -
Hana Burgess
Hana Burgess
Hana (Ngäpuhi, Te Roroa, Te Ätihaunui a Päpärangi, Ngäti Tüwharetoa) (she/her) is doing a PhD in Mäori health, with supervision from Donna (Käi Tahu, Käti Mämoe) (she/her) and Papaarangi (Te Rarawa) (she/her)
Ētahi atu · Other people
Dr Daniel Wilson
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Daniel Wilson is a lecturer in Computer Science at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland. His teaching and…
Dr Daniel Wilson
Associate Professor Deborah Heke
Ngā Puhi, Te Arawa
Te Whare Wananga o Wairaka Unitec
Associate Professor Deborah Heke (Ngā Puhi, Te Arawa) is the Director of Ngā Wai a Te Tūī Māori and Indigenous Research…
Associate Professor Deborah Heke
Professor Melinda Webber
Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Hine, Te Paatu / Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Whakaue
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Co-Director Melinda Webber is Professor of Education at Te Pūtahi Mātauranga | The Faculty of…
