About this research
Project Summary
Social media platforms enable people to connect, communicate, and stay informed. However, they are also off-shore repositories of ‘Big Data’ in an open data environment, which poses a significant threat towards Māori Data Sovereignty (MDSov) – the recognition that data should be subject to Māori governance. One solution towards realising MDSov is to build Māori-governed IT applications. A test version of a Māori social media platform – Tōku Whānau – has been developed by Māori with the objective to provide kaupapa Māori content that caters to Māori communities’ aspirations.
The research will involve engaging with a specific Māori community through wānanga/whakawhiti kōrero in order to ascertain the key elements required to develop it into a more Māori-specific and -friendly platform. The findings will directly inform the feasibility elements of the platform for further testing and refinement, with the view for a full public launch of the application. The project anticipates that the development of Tōku Whānau will also be a major step towards further realising MDSov by understanding the enablers and barriers to advance Māori aspirations in the world of IT and Big Data.
Research Question
What would a kaupapa Māori based social media platform for Māori communities and whānau look and feel like?
Lead Researcher
Moana Rarere, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tūhoe, Ngāti Whare, Whakatōhea, University of Waikato
Research Team
BJ Walbaekken, Waikato-Tainui, Mana Digital
The project will explore the research question: What would a kaupapa Māori based social media platform for Māori communities and whānau look and feel like? The research will involve engaging with a specific Māori community through wānanga/whakawhiti kōrero in order to ascertain the key elements required to develop it into a more Māori-specific and -friendly platform.
Kairangahau · Researchers
Ētahi atu · Other projects
Since the arrival of visitors to Aotearoa, Māori have always been quick to assess and adapt language, technology and information. Contemporary society brings new languages, technology and information instantly to our fingertips. New pressures and demands can be a consequence of readily accessible knowledge. For all its advances, there are also…
View projectNgā whenu haumaru hei raranga: Social Wellbeing
Since the arrival of visitors to Aotearoa, Māori have always been quick to assess and adapt language, technology and information. Contemporary society brings new languages, technology and information instantly to our fingertips. New pressures and demands can be a consequence of readily accessible knowledge. For all its advances, there are also disadvantages. For rangatahi, those with addictions and Māori whānau connections and wellbeing can be negatively affected.
This programme of research investigates examples of Māori approaches to social wellbeing. Through a series of research activities undertaken by the research team, a case study will emerge reflective of collaborative interactions with key stakeholder organisations. Utilising qualitative methods such as key informant, wānanga, hui, photo elicitation and go along interviews, the research is primed to capitalise on the collaborative relationships to affect national policy and regional service delivery.
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Dr Pita King
Dr Pita King
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Moana Rarere
Moana Rarere
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Dr Rewi Nankivell
Dr Rewi Nankivell
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Dr Eleanor Britain
Dr Eleanor Britain
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Hans Tiakiwai
Hans Tiakiwai
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Megan Fitzpatrick
Megan Fitzpatrick
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Professor Darrin Hodgetts
Professor Darrin Hodgetts
Darrin Hodgetts is a Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Waikato. Previously he was a teaching fellow at Massey University, and then held a post-doctoral fellowship in Community Health at Memorial University, Canada, followed by a lectureship at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. Darrin has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and three books relating to health, poverty, community and inequalities. He is an expert in the use of participative, action-orientated ethnographic research methods. Darrin is Co-Principal Investigator on the Ngā Pae o te… -
Tiana Watkins
Tiana Watkins
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…
View projectKawa Whakaruruhau: Culturally-safe spaces for Māori nurse practice development
Kairangahau · Researchers
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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…
View projectResearch to Interrupt Racism and (In)equity (RIRI)
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)