Dr. Sarah-Kay Coulter

Dr. Sarah-Kay Coulter (Whaea Sarah) is an awarding winning Indigenous scholar and educator from the Māori tribes of Ngāti Porou and Waikato-Tainui. She holds a position in the Division of Arts, Law, Psychology & Social Sciences teaching Indigenous Histories, where her teaching and research centre Indigenous philosophy, histories of New Zealand education, and climate histories.

Dr. Coulter's research investigates how Indigenous peoples create, sustain, and transmit belonging across generations through relationships with land, history, education, and governance. Her work explores how these understandings can inform more just, resilient, and sustainable futures in an era of climate change, migration, and social transformation.

As an early career researcher completing her PhD in 2025, Dr. Coulter has led several significant, nationally competitively funded projects in Indigenous development and traditional ecological knowledge, including sustainable land-use initiatives on whenua Māori, environmental restoration in schools and communities, the protection of the culturally significant Kāretu grass, and climate-readiness planning with flood-prone marae. She also led the first Māori whānau delegation to Indonesia through Education New Zealand, advancing Indigenous international exchange and green-economy learning.

 

Dr. Coulter’s leadership has been locally and internationally recognised. She is a Prime Minister’s Scholar, a Blues Award recipient, a keynote speaker, and has won awards for excellence in Teaching and Learning. She has served as a Regional Skills Leader for the Bay of Plenty through MBIE and continues to advise on Indigenous education, policy development, and Indigenous rights.