Our Research

NPM research solves real world challenges facing Māori. We do so in Māori-determined and inspired ways engendering sustainable relationships that grow the mana (respect and regard) and mauri (life essence) of the world we inhabit.

The excellence and expertise of the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga researcher network is organised by four Te Ao Māori knowledge and excellence clusters or Pae. Pae are where our researchers rise with Te Ao Māori knowledge, tools and expertise to build a secure and prosperous future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand. Pae are purposefully expansive and inclusive, supporting transdisciplinary teams and approaches. Our 2021-2024 programme of work will look to the far future to assure flourishing Māori futures for generations to come. With Māori intended as the primary beneficiaries of our research, our programme will reinforce the firmly established foundations of mātauranga Māori through sound research attuned to the lived experience of Māori.

Four Pātai or critical systems-oriented questions generate transformative interventions and policy advice for stakeholders and next users. All of our research will contribute mātauranga-informed theories, models and evidenced solutions in response to our Pātai. Our Pātai serve to integrate and energise our programme and Pae to synthesize our research for next stage impact and outcomes.

  • Internship project

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    Project completed

    This summer internship was organised by Dr. Te Taka Keegan to be a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Named Internship supervised by Dr. Kim Pickering at The University of Waikato. The project was called “He Tohu Maumahara ki a Paora Mato” and involved the creation of a 3D printed Tekoteko with a harakeke based biodegradable filament for a trophy in memory of Paora Mato, a staff member at The University of Waikato who unfortunately passed away last year in June. The design for the tekoteko was taken from a figure carved on Paora’s 21st key, scanned and edited to become a standing figure reminiscent of the tekoteko perched on the gables of a marae.

  • Full project

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    Project completed
    Pae Tawhiti

    A new report from Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research provides guidance for Te Ao Māori on climate change adaptation and mitigation. He huringa āhuarangi, he huringa ao: a changing climate, a changing world was produced by a multidisciplinary Māori research team working across many research institutions.

  • 22PHD10

    Doctoral Thesis

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    Project completed
    Pae Ora
    Pātai Whānau

    PhD Candidate: Hannah Rapata (Kāi Tahu)

    Primary Supervisors: Associate Professor Donna Cormack

    This research is focused on “Te Kai Ora a Kāi Tahu” and will use kaupapa Māori qualitative methods to explore opportunities to strengthen connections between Kāi Tahu whenua, peoples, and waters.

    The centrality of mahika kai to Kāi Tahu identity will be explored with regards to the future of Kāi Tahu whānau and hapori control over kai sources, kai systems and kai practices for kai ora.

  • 22PHD17

    Doctoral Thesis

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    Project completed
    Rautaki Kounga
    Pātai Te Ao Māori

    PhD Candidate: Waratah Mihiwira Taogaga (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Barkindji (NSW), Ngāti Hāmoa.)

    Primary Supervisor(s):

  • 21COV06

    Full project

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    Project completed

    This project asks whether there are lessons to be had found in both the Māori Covid-19 response to date and the growing body of evidence that papakāinga living has benefits beyond the physical home that could inform a wider response to prepare whānau for current and future infectious disease threats and ultimately support ongoing socio-cultural connection and thus everyday good mental health?

    Sustaining physical and mental health will become all the more important given the ongoing concern around the longer term impact of the inevitable recession and the disproportionate affect this will have on Māori (Kukutai, Moewaka Barnes, McCreanor and Mcintosh, 2020).

  • COVID project

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    Ubiquitous Maths Learning Made Easy for Rangatahi and Adult Learners. (Especially if we are in lockdown!)

    Adults and rangatahi often come to maths learning with an already formed (negative) mathematics learning identity. Rangatahi know that for certain future goals they will need to “have” mathematics as part of their knowledge “suite”.

  • COVID project Full project

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    Western views on disability & underfunding of Indigenous health marginalises kāpō Māori. New research aims to change this & centre kāpō Māori lifeworlds

    Traditional forms of Māori story-telling describe strong and knowledgeable kāpō Māori. Ongoing processes of colonisation has seen experiences of marginalisation, invisibility, and ‘othering’ become the norm for Māori, and even more so for disabled Māori. The framing of disability within the Pākehā health sector alongside chronic underfunding of Māori health services has compounded the exclusion and isolation experienced by kāpō Māori.

  • COVID project Full project

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    Project completed

    Often Kaumātua and elders generally, are seen as vulnerable and passive recipients of services throughout the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic. However, in the village of Ohinemutu and as citizens of their iwi Ngāti Whakaue, Kaumātua have been active leaders in the response of the village, initially during the first four-week lockdown in 2020. However, that leadership was a continuation of their ongoing active participation in village activities. Feed the Pā brought together members of the village and others living outside who engaged the principles of awhi, tiaki and manaaki in responding to the needs of their community.

  • COVID project

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    Hoki atu ki tōu maunga kia purea ai e koe ki ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea – Return to your mountain to be cleansed by the winds of Tāwhirimātea

  • COVID project

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    Project completed

    Māori are facing many challenges in their work experiences, especially during Covid-19. This research seeks to understand the unique cultural strategies that employees engage in that make these challenges more bearable.

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    Kia Ārohi Kia Mārama - Scoping Excellence Scoping project

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    Project completed

    Over the past 60 years, the water quality has declined in many large NZ lakes, including Rotorua, Pupuke, Rotoehu, Rotoiti, Tutira and Horowhenua in the North Island, and Lakes Ellesmere (Te Waihora) and Forsyth (Wairewa) in the South Island (Rowe 2004). All of these lakes are important taonga to tangata whenua, and have served as pataka kai for many generations. These lakes have become turbid and are periodically affected by harmful algal blooms. Drinking water supplies have been reduced, culturally-significant fisheries have deteriorated, with koura and kākahi being two pertinent examples.

  • Scoping project

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    This study will explore how comparative views of “home” relate to concepts such as identity, whakapapa, and hauora and how these concepts thereby impact service utilisation and uptake in two areas (one rural and one urban). The research seeks to ask

    How do urban and rural Māori conceptualise “home” and do these ideas of home differ across generations?
    Do perceptions of home affect decisions to access services (education, health, financial, etc.?). If so, how?
    How can services be improved to incorporate these views / perceptions of home?

  • COVID project

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    Project completed
    The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of Whakarewarewa Village Tours. The hapū of Whakarewarewa resolved to re-open the village in December 2020 however, the decimated context of the tourism industry, change of attention to a domestic market and the apprehension of the whānau to the opening of the village to tourists requires a thorough investigation and reconsideration of what is on offer for tourists in the village.
     
    The principal goal of this research project therefore is to understand the principles and processes the hapū of Whakarewarewa Village might use to redefine what tourism could look like at this iconic destination post-COVID-19.
  • 21COV11

    COVID project

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    Project completed

    Research on the impact of COVID-19 on Māori tends to highlight its negative outcomes. This strengths-based research project examines improvements in Māori wellbeing that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

  • COVID project

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    Project completed

    New research analyses the mental, relational, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing of over 3000 Māori during and post-lockdown through Te Rangahau o Te Tuakiri Māori me Ngā Waiaro ā-Pūtea | The Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS).

  • Scoping project

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    The guiding research question for this project are:

    1) How has Tuurangawaewae Marae fostered community mauri ora (wellbeing) within Waikato and in Te Ao Maaori more broadly?

    2) What role has Tuurangawaewae Marae played as both a repository and a place of action for te Reo me ngaa Tikanga in Waikato and in Aotearoa-New Zealand?

    3) What are the factors underpinning Tuurangawaewae Marae’s endurance as a centre for Maaori political action and manaakitanga (caring for community) both nationally and for Waikato whaanau

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    We have identified a set of questions relating to Māori restorative justice in the Aotearoa Justice system and its effectiveness for Māori:

    What are the barriers Māori face when they participate in restorative justice as it stands?
    What can we learn from the traditional ways of resolving conflict that could minimise these barriers?

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    What unique Human Resource Management (HRM) practices are offered in Aotearoa workplaces that directly engage in a positive way with Māori employees? 
    What do these look like? How are the perceived (and received) by Maori and non-Māori employees? Do they positively shape attitudes as we might expect - and if not, why not? What are the barriers and drivers behind them? 

  • Internship project

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    This research report has been titled Rākau-nui as an acknowledgement to the full moon phase in the Maramataka (Māori lunar calendar). Rākau-nui also represents the collected journey to which this full report has been constructed from. The Maramataka is
    a repository of ancient and traditional knowledge orally handed down throughout the generations by our forebears to ensure the sustainability of a healthy environment and thus healthy people (Tawhai, 2013).

    The Maramataka is a system of phases which allow Māori to construct ways to interact with the environment.

  • Internship project

    Project commenced:

    This report has been prepared for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga as part of the summer internship programme 2018-2019. This project is titled Tangaroa Ara Rau: Whānau connections and Water Safety with a purpose to understand unique whānau connections to water and its benefit for water safety.

    Throughout the summer of 2018 Terina Raureti (Ngāti Raukawa) was given the opportunity to work alongside the waka club Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki and their Tūmai Ora initiative which focused on engaging rangatahi with their pepeha through waka.

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