Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) - New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence – recently received a report commissioned from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) to assess the economic, social and other impacts of its research.
A summary of key findings from this research impact evaluation are:
- NPM has established an unprecedented and extensive formal and informal network of cooperation between its partner research institutions;
- 80% of NPM research projects were designed and shaped by communities;
- The majority of the projects reported improving the practices, processes and policies of end-users such as tribal authorities and iwi;
- The impacts of NPM projects are localised and highly relevant to the communities involved;
- NPM researchers are highly engaged with the Māori communities they work amongst;
- Almost half of NPM’s projects received additional direct funding;
- NPM is a unique organisation, with no international benchmark to compare it with.
The NZIER report demonstrates that NPM shapes its research to directly address the concerns of its communities, as well as local and central government, and then applies that research to ultimately improve social, economic and environmental outcomes for Māori and indeed all of New Zealand.
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