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.

  • Project commenced:

    The commercial fishing industry is a complex system, and one issue that can hamper the success of fishing companies is the inadvertent capture of fish that are not target species. Under the Quota Management System, if a company has limited quota for a non target-species then fishing for target species has to stop once the limited quota of a non-target species has been met. The Waikawa Fishing Company proposed to address the bycatch issue by designing and creating fish traps, from mātauranga Māori, that target individual species. In collaboration with Cawthron Institute, the economic feasibility of these fish traps were assessed and found to have potential to reduce bycatch.

  • Project commenced:

    Māori have used geothermal waters and materials for centuries, yet in contemporary times only a few iwi groups have developed their geothermal resources, even though geothermal energy has sustainable and renewable attributes. One barrier to development has been a clear pathway that incorporates kaitiakitanga responsibilities into the development process.
     

  • Project commenced:

    The Life and Living in Advanced Age; A Cohort Study in New Zealand (LILACSNZ): Te Puāwaitanga o Ngā Tapuwae Kia Ora Tonu is the first large-scale study of people in advanced age in Aotearoa, New Zealand and the only longitudinal study of people in advanced age that includes a large number of Māori people. The overall study, funded by the Health Research Council, aims to find out what factors contribute to ageing successfully in those already very old.  LILACSNZ is directed by a joint leadership team in close relationship with the RōpūKaitiaki o Ngā Tikanga Māori/Protectors of Principles in Conduct in Māori Research.

  • Full project

    Project commenced:

    This research project’s origins date back 27 years when Dr Joe Te Rito helped establish local Māori radio station Radio Kahungunu at the Hawke’s Bay Polytechnic, Taradale. Joe saw how the dialect of his iwi Rongomaiwahine-Ngāti Kahungunu was diminishing in quality, in terms of grammatical and spoken fluency, with each generation. The station was to fill the gap for children who did not have Māori spoken in the home or role models to learn te reo from. While schools looked after education, the station wanted to bring the voices into the home.

  • Project commenced:

    Health promotion was traditionally delivered within a public health setting in New Zealand. With changes to primary care delivery, health promotion is increasingly delivered within the primary care setting due to national strategy changes aimed at improving health outcomes. Rather than dealing primarily with the individual in a treatment and support role, primary care is now also tasked with providing preventative and health promotion activities. This research focussed on what organisational pre-requisites are necessary for implementing and funding a Māori health promotion framework in a primary care setting.

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    First a public servant in the Native Lands Purchase Department then later MP for Napier and Minister for Native Affairs, Sir Donald McLean (Makarini) was a major architect in the most formative period of our colonial history (c.1850–1880). His fluency in te reo Māori and his willingness to visit Māori in their own communities gained the respect of many rangatira of that time.

  • Full project

    Project commenced:

    This research was carried out on behalf of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. The primary research aim was to find out how Māori individuals and whānau have been affected by problem gambling and the strategies they have taken to address this issue.
     

  • Project commenced:

    This project is developing a computer based bioengineered model of the human eye to give greater insight into eye disease and treatments. This will help patients and families better understand their eye and vision exams, and have improved clinical outcomes, says Jason.

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    This scoping project focussed on determining the Adélie penguin population's responses to climate change. It also successfully lifted the profile of Māori participation, contribution and leadership in the Antarctic research and science. This project was completed in 2008.

  • Project commenced:

    This research aimed to develop a Body Area Network using novel ideas from swarm intelligence and, in particular, Ant Colony Optimization. A Body Area Network is a network of sensors (sometimes mobile sensors) outside or inside the human body.  Examples are ‘smart’ clothing where the network is typically a network of sensors recording human body biometric data or for advanced medical monitoring. A system inside the body could be for remote medical sensing, drug delivery, surgery or internal imaging in a distributed way, especially via a mobile ad hoc network such as a horde of nano robots or mobile micro devices.

  • Project commenced:

    This project set out to identify what might constitute effective leadership of educational reform that seeks to raise the achievement of students not currently well served by the system. The hypothesis was developed from a further examination of the relevant literature supported by a series of in-depth interviews, conducted in 2005 and 2006 with leaders in the twelve schools who have been participating in the Te Kotahitanga research and professional development project since 2003.
     

  • Project commenced:

    The research team for this project in collaboration with Ngāi Tūhoe have sought to actively engage tanagata whenua with all agencies that support building capability in management of wild populations of  Whio (Blue Duck). Whio is one of New Zealand’s national iconic wildlife species. Their presence within our rivers symbolises the completeness and health of our waterways. Whio are currently nationally threatened by predation from introduced predators, loss of habitat, and global climate change; they are not fully secured from extinction.
     

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    Historical trauma is a term commonly used by Native American researchers who have investigated the impact of past relationships between native populations and settler governments on current and future generations of Native Americans. The significance of their research is the emphasis placed on creating healthy, sustainable indigenous futures whilst recognising and seeking redress for historical injustices. These studies have been discussed in New Zealand by Native American scholars (e.g. Dr Karina Walters, Lynn Holder Palmanteer) and can be applied to the Treaty Claims process in New Zealand.

  • Project commenced:

    The premature birth of babies is a highly stressful and tense event for whānau. The care of such babies is focused within hospital based Neonatal Intensive Care Units.
     

  • Project commenced:

    Māori have voiced a range of concerns regarding the aerial application of 1080 bait and expressed the view that alternatives to 1080 are needed. One idea is that there may be toxins already present in plants in New Zealand's ecosystems that could perform well as alternative pest control tools.
     

  • Project commenced:

    We don’t have many Māori or Pacific Engineers and we need them. The University of Auckland’s Engineering degree programme is challenging and lists Level 3 Mathematics with Calculus as a compulsory prerequisite for consideration to enter. It has become common practice for secondary schools to stream by ability (for Mathematics) as early as Year 9 and continue this practice through to Year 13, Level 3. This means that placement in the highest ability groups throughout secondary school are necessary to study Level 3 Mathematics with Calculus. Thus, potential applicants for University Engineering programmes are predetermined as early as Year 9.

  • Project commenced:

    The rise in cross-cultural marriages between Māori and other cultural groups in Aotearoa New Zealand has raised the issue of who decides where a deceased Māori person is to be buried, after they die, when his or her partner is not Māori.  There are several reported recent cases where whānau Māori have intervened to take a person back home for burial, often against the wishes of the surviving spouse and children.
     

  • Project commenced:

    The Ngāti Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau iwi places great significance on Te Kete Poutama, an area that encompasses Lake Rotoitipaku near Kawerau, because it has been integral to their economic, cultural, spiritual and social wellbeing for generations. Tasman Pulp and Paper, now Norske Skog Tasman Ltd., leased the area for dumping waste in 1971 and it became the primary disposal site for solid paper-mill waste. Now Lake Rotoitipaku no longer exists – it’s filled with more than 600,000m3 of toxic material. In 2013 the dumping will stop and the land will return to its trustees.

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    Māori are increasingly taking on environmental management roles (often on a voluntary basis) that juggle the responsibilities of both traditional networks and government regulations. The focus of this scoping project was to identify the barriers, obstacles and potential solutions to conducting research in the area of local customary fisheries from a flax roots level, that is the application and management of Mataitai and Taiapure by communities and marae.
     

  • Scoping project

    Project commenced:

    Māori have expressed a desire to be involved in freshwater management in a way that reflects their values. This remains a challenge both for Māori communities and government agencies. Māori groups wanting to work with government on freshwater management often do not have the capacity to access the wide range of processes, structures and tools available to them.

    This research reviewed international and local best practice models of freshwater management partnerships and provided guidance to the Ngāti Hori of the East Cost on their local stream.

COPYRIGHT © 2021 NGĀ PAE O TE MĀRAMATANGA, A CENTRE OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE HOSTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND