Matakitenga project

Project lead: Professor Waikaremoana Waitoki (Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Māhanga), The University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

The ACT Party introduced the Treaty Principles Bill in 2024, proclaiming to protect everyone’s equal rights before the law. The Bill has sparked immense debates over the Crown’s attempt to rewrite the articles of te Tiriti o Waitangi and undermine Māori tino rangatiratanga.

Project lead: Professor Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Apakura), The University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

This project will document Māori-led responses to climate change through a Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) lens, focusing on the connection between Māori communities and their ancestral whenua (land).

Through wānanga (digital storytelling workshops) and interviews, the research will explore how Māori of the Waikato-King Country region have addressed in the past and are addressing today the effects of climate change through their deep understandings of traditional knowledge and innovative Māori solutions.

Project lead: Dr Mahonri Owen (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), The University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) can be used to accelerate the design/development process, reduce material waste, minimise cost and create personalised solutions for challenges faced in industry. 3D printing is often used in conjunction with other technology to leverage its advantages toward the improvement of human life.

Project lead: Associate Professor Krushil Watene (Ngāti Manu, Te Hikutu, Ngāti Whātua ō Orākei, Tonga) The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau (Host)

Recognising the value and interconnectedness of human and non-human life, climate activism is directed toward the protection of our biosphere and natural environment as a whole. In Aotearoa, such activism as a distinctly Indigenous social practice has clear yet underexamined connections to Māori concepts such as kaitiakitanga.

Project lead: Dr Karen Wright Kāi Tahu The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau (Host)

Māori in Aotearoa experience large and persistent differences in health outcomes compared to non-Māori in nearly all health conditions. While causation of these unfair and unjust differences is understandably complex, differential access to health care services and differences in the quality of care received are contributing factors.

Project lead: Dr. Emmy Rākete Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau (Host)

In the last four decades, New Zealand has begun imprisoning on a scale never seen before in this land’s history. Māori people have consistently made up at least half of the prison population, and Māori communities are among those that have experienced the worst consequences of mass incarceration.