Our people are at the heart of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Across Aotearoa and beyond, our whānau of researchers, students, partners, and professional staff are united by a shared commitment to advancing Māori knowledge, innovation, and excellence. Explore the profiles below to learn more about the diverse individuals who contribute to our research community and help shape a flourishing future for Māori.
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Kaiārahi · Leadership 13
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
Tūhoe
Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland
Pou Pae Ora, Pou Pātai Whānau, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor - Māori (Research
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine (Tūhoe) is a leading Māori health researcher and internationally respected authority on…
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…
Dr Daniel Wilson
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Pou Pae Auaha
Daniel Wilson (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao) is a lecturer in Computer Science at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of…
Dr Daniel Wilson
Daniel Wilson (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao) is a lecturer in Computer Science at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland. His teaching and research are in the areas of AI, Māori Data Sovereignty, Māori Algorithmic Sovereignty, and AI ethics. Daniel is a member of Te Pokapū in The Māori Data Sovereignty Network Te Mana Raraunga, Co-Director of the Centre of Machine Learning for Social Good, member of the Kāhui Māori for the AI Forum, treasurer of the AI Researchers Association, and an establishment member of the AI in Health Research Network. Daniel has a PhD in Philosophy and a Master of…
Associate Professor Deborah Heke
Ngā Puhi, Te Arawa
Te Whare Wananga o Wairaka Unitec
Rautaki MAI Te Kupenga
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
Associate Professor Deborah Heke (Ngā Puhi, Te Arawa) is the Director of Ngā Wai a Te Tūī Māori and Indigenous Research Centre at Unitec. With a background in Exercise Physiology, Psychology, and Public Health, her current research centres on Mana Wahine scholarship. Recent work includes an exploration of Māori and Indigenous women’s embodied practices and physical activity in te taiao as a means for connecting, communicating, and healing. Deborah is also passionate about building the capability and capacity of Māori and Indigenous (future) scholars and providing spaces for Indigenous…
Professor Melinda Webber
Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hine, Te Paatu / Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hau
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Pou Matarua/Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Centre of Māori Research Excellence and the University of Auckland Co-Director for the Atlantic Fellowship for Social Equity
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Co-Director Melinda Webber is Professor of Education at Te Pūtahi Mātauranga | The Faculty of…
Professor Melinda Webber
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Co-Director Melinda Webber is Professor of Education at Te Pūtahi Mātauranga | The Faculty of Arts and Education, Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland. Melinda specialises in Māori Education and Social Psychology and is the Aotearoa New Zealand co-director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity programme based at The University of Melbourne. She wrote Walking the space between: Identity and Māori/Pakeha (NZCER Press, 2008), co-wrote A fire in the belly of Hineāmaru A collection of narratives about Te Tai Tokerau tupuna & Ka ngangana tonu a Hineāmaru - He…
Professor Karyn Paringatai
Ngāti Porou
Te Tumu - University of Otago
Pou Pātai Te Ao Māori
Karyn Paringatai (Ngāti Porou) is a lecturer in Te Tumu – School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the…
Professor Karyn Paringatai
Karyn Paringatai (Ngāti Porou) is a lecturer in Te Tumu – School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the University of Otago, where she obtained her BA (Hons), MA and PhD degrees. Her teaching and research interests are in a number of areas that intersect at various points that include: Sociological issues surrounding Māori urbanisation and Māori identity development and maintenance; Māori performing arts, particularly poi, the analysis of haka and waiata compositions and the role kapa haka plays in identity; Grammatical aspects of the Māori language and second language acquisition…
Professor Tahu Kukutai FRSNZ
Ngāti Tiipā, Ngāti Kinohaku, Te Aupouri, Ngāti Māhanga
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Pou Matarua & Professor Te Ngira Institute for Population Research
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Co-Director Tahu Kukutai is Professor of Demography at Te Ngira: Institute for Population…
Professor Tahu Kukutai FRSNZ
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Co-Director Tahu Kukutai is Professor of Demography at Te Ngira: Institute for Population Research, The University of Waikato where she specialises in Māori and Indigenous demography and data sovereignty. Tahu is a founding member of the Māori Data Sovereignty Network Te Mana Raraunga and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. She co-edited Indigenous data sovereignty: Toward an agenda (ANU Press, 2016), Indigenous data sovereignty and policy (Routledge, 2020) and The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology (Oxford) .Tahu has undertaken research with and for numerous…
Associate Professor Meegan Hall
Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Apakura
Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington
Toi Matauranga Maori - Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Mātauranga Māori
Meegan Hall (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Apakura) is Assistant Vice-Chancellor…
Associate Professor Meegan Hall
Meegan Hall (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Apakura) is Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Mātauranga Māori) in the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori). She provides strategic leadership to grow engagement with Māori knowledge and people in learning, teaching and research contexts, and supports Māori staff and Māori student achievement.Meegan's research focuses on Māori in higher education, which combines her interest in tertiary learning and teaching with her disciplinary background in Māori studies. She is co-Chair of the Ako Aotearoa Establishment Board, a…
Paora Sharples
Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Pou
Paora Sharples is Kaihautu Tikanga (Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori leader) at NPM and also a Professional Teaching Fellow…
Paora Sharples
Paora Sharples is Kaihautu Tikanga (Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori leader) at NPM and also a Professional Teaching Fellow at the Department of Māori Studies, University of Auckland where he lectures in Kapahaka, Traditional & Contemporary Māori Performing Arts and Te Reo Māori. He has had a significant career in kapahaka as well as traditional and contemporary Māori performing arts, including areas of performing, teaching/training, directing, judging as well as choreography and composition within this indigenous genre of dance.Paora has also spent 30 years developing, teaching and promoting the…
Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes
Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Manu
Massey University
Co-Director SHORE & Whariki Research Centre
Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes is based out of Massey University and is currently Director of Whāriki and Co-director…
Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes
Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes is based out of Massey University and is currently Director of Whāriki and Co-director of the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre. She has worked on research in many areas; more recently relationships between the health of people and the health of environments, sexual coercion, alcohol and youth well-being and identity.Her work is both qualitative and quantitative and she is also involved in developing research within Māori paradigms. Helen is a long time NPM researcher and is now a NPM Theme Leader (Te Tai Ao - Natural Environment ) and member of our Research…
Dr Shaun Awatere
Ngāti Porou
Manaaki Whenua
Kaihautū Māori Research Impact Leader
Shaun Awatere (Ngāti Porou) is a resource economist for Landcare Research in Hamilton. He has been working to improve…
Dr Shaun Awatere
Shaun Awatere (Ngāti Porou) is a resource economist for Landcare Research in Hamilton. He has been working to improve the incorporation of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge and values) into local government planning by developing the systems and processes that will enable Māori values to be integrated into urban design and development.
Marie-Chanel Berghan
Te Rarawa, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tarāwhai, Te Arawa
Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland
Pouhere Matua, Kaitaki, Rangahau Research and Innovation
Marie-Chanel Berghan looks after the financial, contract and operations (physical resources and infrastructure)…
Marie-Chanel Berghan
Marie-Chanel Berghan looks after the financial, contract and operations (physical resources and infrastructure) management of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. As well as managing the publications, specifically the two NPM Journals; AlterNative and MAI Journal. Marie-Chanel has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration and in Business, Māori Development. Before joining the centre, she was the Whakapiki Ake Project Manager at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences for five years and prior to that, a Project Administration Manager at Hewlett Packard.
Emeritus Professor Poia Rewi
Ngāti Manawa, Tūhoe, Te Arawa, Ngāti Whare , Tūwharetoa
Kanapu
Pouhere Kanapu
Happily married with children and mokos who make life so refreshing. My teaching, research and practice included…
Emeritus Professor Poia Rewi
Happily married with children and mokos who make life so refreshing. My teaching, research and practice included Indigenous language revitalisation, te reo me ngā tikanga Māori, Māori oratory, Māori performing arts and Māori history and have spanned the University of Waikato 1990-2003 and the University of Otago 2023-2020. Poia has also held leadership roles at Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and Te Mātāwai. And if he didn’t have 5 operations on his achilles tendon he would have definitely been an All Black and a competitor on Dancing with Stars.
Daniel Patrick
Ngāti Pākehā, Irish, Danish
Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland
Kaiwhakahaere Matua: Executive Director
Daniel is the Executive Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, and has been since 2011. He directs and plans the entire…
Daniel Patrick
Daniel is the Executive Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, and has been since 2011. He directs and plans the entire Centre’s business activities, including contracting, financial operations, resources planning, risk management, systems and performance measures and manages the Centre's investment portfolios. Daniel holds two degrees, a Bachelor's degree in Applied Sciences and a Master's degree in Health Sciences with honours, and is a member of the Project Management Institute and PM practitioner. He came to the Centre having been the Research Programme Manager for the Social Statistics…