Pae Auaha

This internship is about the kanakana/piharau/pouched lamprey, a struggling fish species in New Zealand due to decline in river water quality, industrialisation, and river alteration.

InternPunua Waitoki, University of WaikatoSupervisorAssociate Professor Te Taka Keegan, University of WaikatoOverviewThis internship investigated suitable Māori language data formats and quantities that can be best utilised by modern AI systems to build generative AI tools for te reo Māori that support Māori Data Sovereignty. The research informs…

This internship focused on the creation of a ‘supervisor’s package’ to support He Ara Pūkeko, an apprenticeship programme.

This internship explored the emerging field of Māori data governance, focusing on unmet needs within current data systems. The project unpacked Te Kāhui Raraunga’s Māori Data Governance Model and repackaged its components into practical formats—including FAQs, presentations, and social media-ready content—to support wider understanding and application…

How do we protect our data as Māori? This internship explored Māori data sovereignty—what it means, how it’s practiced, and why it matters. Through a series of easy-to-understand research briefs, the project supports whānau Māori to better understand and navigate issues like facial recognition technology and the future of our digital information.

This internship created briefs for whānau Māori that explored what Māori Data Sovereignty is and why the protection of Māori data is important in today’s world of rapid technological advancement.

This internship aim was to scope the possibilities hapū, iwi and Māori organisations have to exercise Māori data sovereignty over electoral roll data, collected compulsorily about Māori for the administration of the electoral rolls by the Electoral Commission.

This research supported Te Whakatōhea's vision of mana Māori motuhake through a focus on kai sovereignty and climate resilience. The intern gathered and analysed mōteatea recordings relating to kai, contributing to the iwi’s Tohe Ora Wānanga Whenua programme. The project informed efforts to reconnect whānau with their whenua and promote maara kai for…

This project created “Te Proton Poi” — a waiata integrating mātauranga Māori with quantum physics to support community engagement with advanced health technologies. Inspired by MRI concepts and kapa haka, the project highlights how culturally grounded approaches can bridge science and te ao Māori to empower whānau.

Indigenous histories are held in archives—but often without the authority of the people they belong to. This project pilots the use of Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels within ArchSite, Aotearoa’s national archaeological database, to return cultural control and visibility to Ngā Hapū o Waimarama.

The internship focused on developing an openHAB plugin that understood commands in te reo Māori for smart home systems. Supervised by Associate Professor Te Taka Keegan and others at the University of Waikato, the project enhanced the intern’s skills in software development and smart technology. The open-source plugin contributed to creating technology…

This project explores hapū data sovereignty for Ngāti Tiipa, using tikanga to protect and manage data for whānau. It tests a Māori data privacy framework with Ngāti Tiipa’s digital databases, drawing on their mātauranga to guide decisions on data privacy and sovereignty.