Our congratulations go to Dr Kepa Morgan, NPM Principal Investigator from the University of Auckland who has been awarded the prestigious Furket Award from IPENZ (Engineers NZ) for technical excellence and innovation in the engineering field of sustainability and clean technology.
Kepa Morgan (Ngati Pikiao) has spent his career exploring the interface between Maori and engineering, with research interests that can be understood broadly as Indigenous engineering and technologies.
His recent research projects have included studying the effects of the Rena MV disaster on the local environment and investigating the impacts of this event on the Mauri of the area, how iwi and hapū have been responding and how they are planing on restoring the Mauri over the coming years.
He has also worked as part of a team developing alternative construction systems and materials (Uku fibre reinforced earth composite) for Māori communities. This involves harakeke being mechanically stripped, cut to given lengths and combined with soil cement mix to provide reinforcement. The combination of conventional rammed earth technology and the reinforced earth cement has many benefits including: low toxicity, warm during winter and cool in summer, lasts six generations, cost effective, soil from the surrounding land can be used and is easy to construct. It draws on traditional Māori knowledge, with similarities to maioro (fortifications) in pā construction.
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