Research Overview

Awardee: Kirsty Dunn (Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa), University of Canterbury

The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Ngā Au o Te Awaroa: Podcast Project Celebrating Māori Philosophy, Creativity, and Community.

This three-part podcast project aims to share research undertaken within Aotahi: School of Māori and Indigenous Studies with the wider community, while also celebrating the innovative kaupapa led by postgraduate students.

Awardee: Deborah Heke (Nga Puhi. Te Arawa), Unitec

Funding from this Grant will contribute to activities that support the dissemination, engagement, and impact of research and creative outputs, specifically: the creation and development of a prototype augmented reality (AR) experience exhibition that shares Māori research and narratives through immersive digital storytelling.

Awardee: Dr Reuben Collier (Ngāti Porou, Rereahu-Maniapoto), Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Nga Taonga Tuku Iho.

He Rau Aroha: This book pays tribute to specific soldiers of the 28th Maori Battalion who gave their lives during the Battle of Cassino where they were killed in action. Each contributor began with a soldier's regimental number and carefully researched their story. Families of the soldiers were interviewed so their voices and memories could be told in the research.

Awardee: Madi Williams (Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Rangitāne o Wairau), University of Canterbury

The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Ngāti Kuia: He Pūtake, Hei Pakiaka Ora | A History. The first book focused on the history and identity of Ngāti Kuia.

Ngāti Kuia is an iwi from Te Tauihu-o-Te-Waka-a-Māui. Ngāti Kuia’s history has been left out or misrepresented in existing works. This book is an intentional, necessary writing of Ngāti Kuia into the historical narratives. The aim of the book is to illuminate Ngāti Kuia perspectives about their past and provide these perspectives with a platform in the historical narratives in an accessible way for Ngāti Kuia whānau, the general reader, as well as academics, both Māori and non-Māori.

Awardee: Tia Barrett (Ngāi Tahu, Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto), Auckland University of Technology

The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Pātaka Wā: storehouse for time.

The recipient is a lecturer in Visual Arts, a lens-based artist, and a PhD candidate at Auckland University of Technology. Their doctoral research explores how time is experienced, told, and embodied within te ao Māori. Their creative practice is grounded in kaupapa Māori and environmental relationships, and they are currently developing a new version of an installation titled Pātaka Wā: a storehouse for time. This work has previously been exhibited and tested and is now being prepared for installation at RM Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2026.

Awardee: Anna Adcock (Ngati Mutunga), Victoria University of Wellington

The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Te Rito o te Harakeke: Collective Resilience and Relational Research with Whānau Māori.

This project supports the dissemination of doctoral research through presentation at the Indigenous Futures Unbound: Indigenous knowledges leading transformative futures conference, held on Kabi Kabi Country, Sunshine Coast, Australia, in November 2025. He Tamariki Kokoti Tau was a longitudinal Kaupapa Māori study with whānau Māori whose pēpi were born preterm. The PhD research, Te Rito o te Harakeke, followed whānau through birth, neonatal intensive care, hospitalisation, and transitions home. It illuminated whānau experiences of resilience and aroha, showing that preterm birth is not only a medical event but a collective journey of connection, cultural continuity, and Indigenous thrivance.