NPM E-Pānui

IRC26 is just around the corner, and the excitement is building! Our NPM whānau and volunteers are in full manaakitanga mode, ready to welcome over 600 delegates to the beautiful campus of Waipapa Taumata Rau. Featuring a stellar lineup of Indigenous keynotes and a dynamic programme of 200+ presenters from Aotearoa and around the globe, IIRC26 is set to be an unforgettable celebration of Indigenous fabulousness.

We are also thrilled to announce the successful recipients of our 2026 Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grants.  These grants enable researchers at any of our 21 partner entities to drive meaningful outcomes, share knowledge, and foster connections that amplify research impact and transformation. You can read more about the projects in this e-pānui.

Earlier this month, in partnership with the Royal Society Te Apārangi, we were proud to launch TAIKURA: Research at the Convergence of Knowledge Systems.

With Kōanga upon us, we can all approach the months ahead with renewed vigour and intent.

With just four months to go before we host IIRC26, our NPM team is in full swing preparing to welcome you!

This month we were excited to launch our "Amazing Māori Researchers" reels series.

Kua pō te ao! Kua pō te ao!
Kua pō uriuri, te ao taketake!
Kua puta a Aituā i Whiti-nuku ki Whiti-reinga
Tūātia ana, whakawahia rā hei kaitiaki o te mate
Hinenuitepō! Hei āhea mākona ai tō matekai?

E te tawhito e Tamati, e moe!
Kei te ruānuku e Hirini, okioki ai!
E te hīnātore e Whatarangi, takoto!

Our PhD tauira never cease to inspire us. This e-pānui celebrates just two of the remarkable researchers in our whānau — a reminder of the creativity, depth, and purpose that defines scholarship at Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.

Hine-Kaunuku (Morgana) Watson is breaking new ground in the gaming world, creating action-adventure games that centre wāhine Māori and bring Indigenous storytelling to a global audience.

Meanwhile, Amelia Blundell is weaving together personal history and rigorous research, with a PhD study focused on the kūmara plant which is the taonga at the heart of her whānau life and livelihood.

We were thrilled to partner with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) to host the first Radical ‘Interdisciplinarities: Indigenous Knowledges’ forum in Banff, Canada this month.

The forum gathered 40 Indigenous ECRs from Aotearoa, Australia, South Africa, Botswana, Norway, Greenland, Taiwan, India, Rapanui, Chile, Belize, Amazonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Canada and the United States to develop interdisciplinary research collaborations around three main kaupapa.

As a national Centre of Research Excellence, we value the connections that we have to our 21 partners Te Tira Takimano who share our vision of research that empowers flourishing Māori futures.

This month we were grateful to be hosted on the whenua of Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development for our two-day Kāhui Ārahi research impact wānanga.