Professor Regan Potangaroa
" loading="lazy" decoding="async">
Associate Dean Māori Advancemen, Te Tumu Whakarae Design & Creative Technologies
Dr Regan Potangaroa is Professor at the School of Future Environments at AUT. He is recognised as a global expert in humanitarian engineering and Māori-centred resilience. With 45 years of experience spanning structural engineering, architecture, disaster response, and academia, Regan has been involved with over 200 humanitarian deployments in 22 countries and pioneered innovative assessment methods for traditional timber structures like wharenui. His recent work, featured in the short film Rising from the Earth; showcases how marae across Aotearoa are navigating seismic risk, climate change, and cultural survival through community-led adaptation. Regan is a recipient of the 2023 Te Rangaunua Hiranga Māori Award and a key figure in integrating Mātauranga Māori with technical innovation for future-ready infrastructure.
Rangahau · Related projects
23WHA15Whanake te kura i Tawhitinui – Building resilience within Māori communities
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…
View projectWhanake te kura i Tawhitinui – Building resilience within Māori communities
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
-
Kristie-Lee Thomas
Kristie-Lee Thomas
Tēnā koe! He uri au nō Ngāti Mutunga ō Wharekauri me Te Āti Awa.I'm passionate about bringing people and knowledge systems, particularly Mātauranga Māori and disaster risk science together in ways that best support whānau, hapū, iwi & local communities in planning and preparing for disaster events and climate change.I currently work part time for UC on a number of kaupapa Māori research projects, co-lead RNC Te Whanake Te Kura i Tawhiti Nui research programme and teach into the UC Master of Disaster Risk and Resilience programme whilst I study towards my doctorate. -
Professor Taiarahia Black
Professor Taiarahia Black
Taiarahia Black is a New Zealand academic known for advancing Māori language revitalisation and reclamation through scholarship, teaching, and cultural knowledge work. Rising to full professor at Massey University, he built a career that blends Māori language priorities with academic credibility and institutional service. His public engagements have also reflected an educator’s instinct: interpreting language and cultural values in ways that can be carried into everyday life. Across decades in higher education, he has come to represent a careful, language-centered approach to sustaining… -
Dr Darren Ngaru King
Dr Darren Ngaru King
Darren Ngaru King is an interdisciplinary research scientist with experience spanning the earth and human-systems sciences. His research focus is climate variability, tsunamis and impacts on Māori communities. He investigates factors that influence the risk, vulnerability and endurance of climate-sensitive sectors, systems and groups, using approaches grounded in applied geology, Māori oral history and Mātauranga Māori. Darren is also a member of the Kāhui Māori of the Deep South National Science Challenge. -
Dr Peter Meihana
Dr Peter Meihana
Peter is a Senior Lecturer in Māori History at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Massey University, and a Trustee of Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau. His research interests include Māori history; tribal history; and colonisation. -
Israel Birch
Israel Birch
Israel Tangaroa Birch is known for his distinctive work with steel and lacquer. His highly polished, patterned surfaces interact with light to create shifting, luminous fields of colour and shadow that seem to ripple as the viewer moves—offering a deeply immersive experience.Birch’s practice involves grinding and carving directly into steel, embedding a physicality into each work that speaks to the process of making. This dynamic energy—of movement, sound, and intent—feels captured within the material itself, reflecting his constant exploration of the medium’s limits.Birch holds a Master of… -
Professor Regan Potangaroa
Professor Regan Potangaroa
Dr Regan Potangaroa is Professor at the School of Future Environments at AUT. He is recognised as a global expert in humanitarian engineering and Māori-centred resilience. With 45 years of experience spanning structural engineering, architecture, disaster response, and academia, Regan has been involved with over 200 humanitarian deployments in 22 countries and pioneered innovative assessment methods for traditional timber structures like wharenui. His recent work, featured in the short film Rising from the Earth; showcases how marae across Aotearoa are navigating seismic risk, climate change… -
Dr Ruakere Hond
Dr Ruakere Hond
Dr Ruakere Hond is a longstanding advocate of te reo Māori revitalisation and a key supporter of the Parihaka community. He was instrumental in working to achieve reconciliation between that community and the Crown, and he has held several leadership roles in Māori language organisations, including Te Reo o Taranaki, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, and Te Ataarangi. He has served two terms as a member of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and is a past board member of Te Mātāwai, which leads the implementation of the Maihi Māori language strategy.In 2013, Dr Hond completed a doctorate in public… -
Lara Taylor
Lara Taylor
Lara Taylor's whakapapa is to Ngāti Tahu, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Pāhauwera, and Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku. She is passionate about Māori rights and interests, particularly related to Te Ao Tūroa. Her career has involved Māori planning and strategy – Auckland Council, Māori researcher at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, and advisory and governance roles for hapū and iwi. She is a Komiti Member on the national Māori planner’s forum Papa Pounamu, associated with the New Zealand Planning Institute. Lara has recently established her own business, E Oho! which specialises in Māori policy… -
Tonga Karena
Tonga Karena
No Ngāti Kahumate, no Ngāti Hinekura ahau. He kaiawhiawhi ki Parihaka, ā, he kaiwhakaūkaipō i te reo o Taranaki. Inā tata nei i noho hei kaimahi ki PKW – he rau whakaihoiho te tūranga. I tua atu i tērā, he kaiwhakahī waiata, he tauira tākuta, ka mutu, he pūkenga ki roto i nga whare wānanga hoki. Ko ia tērā ko te Pou Tikanga o Tuiora.As Pou Tikanga, Tonga Karena provides the cultural leadership and vision for our whole organisation. He ensures that the cultural resilience of Tui Ora kaimahi is the framework for our everyday activities and our engagement with our community.Tonga has had a…
Ētahi atu · Other people
Professor Albert L.Refiti
Samoan
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Leali’ifano Dr Albert Refiti is the leader in critical studies research on spatial design and architectural…
Professor Albert L.Refiti
Leali’ifano Dr Albert Refiti is the leader in critical studies research on spatial design and architectural environments in the Pacific, with a focus on material culture and ethnography on the subject. He advanced the discipline by creating a method of spatial exposition to examine the notion of vā (space) and wā (time) as central mechanisms to understand Pacific societies and their buildings, artefacts and social system.Dr Refiti practised architecture in Auckland (1990, 1994-2002) and London (1991-1993) before beginning his academic career at Auckland University of Technology in 2002. He…
Nova Paul
Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Te Māhurehure ki Whatitiri, Ngāpuhi
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Nova Paul (Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, and Te Māhurehure ki Whatitiri, Ngāpuhi) is a filmmaker and artists from Aotearoa…
Nova Paul
Nova Paul (Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, and Te Māhurehure ki Whatitiri, Ngāpuhi) is a filmmaker and artists from Aotearoa New Zealand.Drawing from her Ngāpuhitanga (ancestry) Nova’s films create an image of everyday self-determination. Using early cinematic film processes and experimental film practices and weaving traditional stories and indigenous knowledge she considers the poetics and politics of place to create an image of tino rangatiratanga (Māori sovereignty). In her technicolour films, colour separation techniques explored ways in which film could picture wairua (spirit) layering…
Associate Professor Alayne Mikahere-Hall
Ngāti Whatua, Te Rarawa, Tainui-Maniapoto
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Rātonga Hapori | Community ServiceAssociate Professor Mikahere-Hall (Ngāti Whatua, Te Rarawa, Tainui-Maniapoto)…
Associate Professor Alayne Mikahere-Hall
Rātonga Hapori | Community ServiceAssociate Professor Mikahere-Hall (Ngāti Whatua, Te Rarawa, Tainui-Maniapoto) maintains a strong commitment to her whānau and hapū marae and has provided long‑standing leadership within Whaiora Marae in Ōtara, serving on the Board of Trustees since 2014 and as Chair for the past eight years. She is deeply involved in Māori communities through both urban and rural marae and is an active member of Te Kotahi a Tāmaki, an Auckland‑based marae collective "The mission of Te Kotahi a Tāmaki is to reinforce marae as centres of cultural excellence and enterprise. The…