About this research
Project Summary
Extensive international scholarship demonstrates Indigenous people are particularly and uniquely affected by historical trauma through colonisation. Specific acts of oppression that remain unaddressed often result in the intergenerational transfer of trauma and trauma responses.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, one such act of oppression was the forced removal of Māori children from their families to be placed in a range of state and church managed institutions often for spurious reasons. A recent Royal Commission of Inquiry was undertaken to investigate what happened to children, young people and vulnerable adults in State and faith-based care in Aotearoa New Zealand between the years 1950-99.
This project sought to develop appropriate Kaupapa Māori methodological approaches to track those affected by this specific act of historical trauma, any compound effects on the survivors and any intergenerational effects. The research explored utilisation of existing statistical and other data sets, such as the IDI (Integrated Data Infrastructure) to highlight the trauma responses (and resiliency factors) of those who experienced abuse in care and any traceable intergenerational transmission of trauma to subsequent generations.
Research Questions
- What might Kaupapa Māori methodology reveal about examining real time effects of historical trauma for Māori abused in state and faith-based care during 1950-1999 and their descendants?
- What effects can already be ascertained using current data sets without burdening affected whānau?
- What opportunities exist for whānau to affect their own stories and whānau narratives with available data sources?
Lead Researcher
Dr Belinda Borell, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Whakatōhea, Massey University
Research Team
Dr Emerald Muriwai, Ngāti Ira, Ngāi Tamahaua, Ngāti Patumoana, Te Whakatōhea & Airihi, Auckland DHB
Professor Tracey McIntosh, Tūhoe, University of Auckland
Assoc Prof Lara Greaves, Ngāpuhi, Victoria University of Wellington
Dr Jose Romeo, Massey University
Highlights
- Groundbreaking use of IDI to trace trauma-related health and mortality outcomes
- Showed stark inequalities in life expectancy and death causes for care cohort
- Built a kaupapa Māori methodological model for historical trauma analysis
- Demonstrated the utility of big data in driving Indigenous justice narratives
Select Outputs
Borell, B., & Romeo, J. (2024, November 12). Beyond the “intellectual conversation”: What the IDI can reveal about Māori in state care. International Indigenous Research Conference, Auckland
Borell, B., & Romeo, J. (2025, February 5). 24 years of life lost: People placed in state care have died earlier, more violent deaths – new study. The Conversation.
👉 Read article
This kaupapa Māori project addresses one of the most devastating impacts of colonisation in Aotearoa – the forced institutionalisation of Māori children between 1950–1999. Drawing on the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry and leveraging large-scale data sets like the IDI, this study developed innovative methodologies to trace historical trauma and its intergenerational effects. Without burdening affected whānau through direct contact, the research seeks to highlight systemic harm, measure outcomes such as reduced life expectancy, and support future tools of justice, healing, and whānau empowerment.
Kairangahau · Researchers
Professor Tracey McIntosh
Tūhoe
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga / University of Auckland
Tracey McIntosh (Ngāi Tūhoe) is Professor of Indigenous Studies and Co-Head of Te Wānanga o Waipapa at the University…
Professor Tracey McIntosh
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Māori doctoral scholars often face significant challenges in universities dominated by Western academic traditions. These environments can clash with Māori cultural values and needs, reflecting colonial legacies that marginalise Indigenous knowledge and methodologies. To address these challenges, the Te Kupenga o MAI (MAI) programme was created in the late…
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Associate Professor Deborah Heke
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… -
Associate Professor Hinekura Smith
Associate Professor Hinekura Smith
Dr Hinekura Smith (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is NPM's Emerging Researchers’ Leader, providing further national leadership and coordination of MAI Te Kupenga and developing and nurturing initiatives that contribute to the outcomes and objectives of NPM’s Capability and Capacity Strategy. Hinekura was initially a secondary school te reo Māori teacher then moved into teacher education research almost 10 years ago, when she commenced her postgraduate studies. She has worked as a professional development facilitator in Māori medium schools, te reo Māori facilitator in English-medium schools and a… -
Dr Tim West-Newman
Dr Tim West-Newman
Tim West-Newman develops and implements technical business solutions including websites for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Tim has a PhD in Human Computer Interaction and has worked mainly in web and information technology systems development, having worked in The University of Auckland and AUT University, as well as an independent contractor for various organisations. -
Associate Professor Lara Greaves
Associate Professor Lara Greaves
PhD Candidate: Jennifer Tokomauri McGregor (Ngati Raukawa (Waikato)) Primary Supervisor(s): Dr. Alayne Mikahere-Hall Background: Despite being a long-term government priority, the inequity of Māori nurses in the health workforce is long-standing, suggesting that that recruitment and retention of Māori into the nursing workforce is problematic. Māori nurses…
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Dr Alayne Mikahere-Hall
Dr Alayne Mikahere-Hall
This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation. Led through a kaupapa Māori lens, this programme challenges narrow, imported definitions of racism and equity, and confronts how dominant systems create and maintain Māori…
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This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation.
Led through a kaupapa Māori lens, this programme challenges narrow, imported definitions of racism and equity, and confronts how dominant systems create and maintain Māori ‘vulnerability’. It aims to reframe equity on Māori terms—grounded in rangatiratanga, Indigenous knowledge, and the realities of colonisation.
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Donna has been involved in work on the collection and classification of ethnicity data in New Zealand, particularly as it relates to measuring and monitoring disparities. Most recently, Donna has been focused on work examining disparities in cancer outcomes and access to cancer services for Māori. She is involved in the Differential Colon Cancer Survival by Ethnicity in New Zealand project as well as Unequal Treatment: The Role of Health Services with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare. -
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
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… -
Professor Papaarangi Reid
Professor Papaarangi Reid
Papaarangi is Tumuaki and Head of Department of Maori Health at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She holds science and medical degrees from the University of Auckland and is a specialist in public health medicine. She has tribal affiliations to Te Rarawa in the Far North of Aotearoa and her research interests include analysing disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous citizens as a means of monitoring government commitment to indigenous rights. -
Associate Professor Ricci Harris
Associate Professor Ricci Harris
Dr Ricci Harris (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu) is a public health physician and Research Associate Professor at Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare. She has research expertise in Māori health, epidemiology (including quantitative aspects of Kaupapa Māori research) and the investigation and elimination of ethnic health inequities in New Zealand. This has included research into the classification of ethnicity, ethnic disparities in health status and receipt of health services, and the impact of social determinants (e.g. SES and racism) on Māori health and inequities. Her current… -
Dr Arama Rata
Dr Arama Rata
Arama is of Ngāti Maniapoto, Taranaki, and Ngāruahine descent. She completed her PhD in Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington in 2012, which focused on Māori cultural engagement, identity, and psychological well-being in State secondary schools. Arama then lectured at Te Kawa a Māui (the School of Māori Studies), where she received a Research Establishment Grant to study Māori collective remembering of the New Zealand Wars. Dr Rata is currently involved with research relating to Māori health experiences, Māori in rural communities, as well as iwi consultancy. -
Hana Burgess
Hana Burgess
Hana (Ngäpuhi, Te Roroa, Te Ätihaunui a Päpärangi, Ngäti Tüwharetoa) (she/her) is doing a PhD in Mäori health, with supervision from Donna (Käi Tahu, Käti Mämoe) (she/her) and Papaarangi (Te Rarawa) (she/her)