Tonga Karena
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Pou Tikanga
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 wide-ranging career in many fields before joining Tui Ora in April 2024. While primarily an academic, Tonga enjoyed his previous role as manager at PKW, and is also a community leader on various boards. He is a talented musician and keen composer of Māori music, and has been a passionate leader for local kapa haka group Te Moungaroa for a decade. He lives in his family homestead with his partner in Oaonui.
Rangahau · Related projects
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
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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
Associate Professor Esther Willing
Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Koata , Ngā Ruahine
University of Otago
Dr Esther Willing (Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Koata, Ngā Ruahine) is an Associate Professor in Hauora Māori and the…