Projects

This research is at the cutting-edge of expanding legal research theory, methodology and legal knowledge in the development of a bijural legal system in Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2021, Te Kōti Whenua Māori initiated a new tikanga-based dispute resolution process, in response to amendments to the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993.

Reimagining our cities through Indigenous knowledge, identity, and environmental care.

Today, over 85% of Māori live in urban environments across Aotearoa. These modern kāinga (settlements) are more than places to live—they’re reflections of identity, connection to whenua, and intergenerational ingenuity. Yet, many Māori have been relegated to the margins of city spaces, facing spatial injustices that continue to impact wellbeing.

Toitū he Kāinga explores how Māori are reclaiming, revitalising, and reshaping urban landscapes—building sustainable futures through mahi toitū (Māori-led environmental care), identity, and rangatiratanga.

This project marked the first phase of an initiative to support the long-term flourishing of rangatahi takatāpui within Te Ranga Tupua rohe (Whanganui, Rangitīkei, Ruapehu, and South Taranaki).

PhD Candidate: Stacey Ruru (Ngāti Haua, Ngāti Raukawa)

Primary Supervisor(s): Professor Chellie Spiller

Tangi is the ultimate form of Māori cultural and community expression. Addressing the dearth of scholarly information, this study considers tangi practice, whakapapa, changing environments, community values, sharing knowledge, ritual and what it means to be Māori.

He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing. These groundbreaking works celebrate Māori futures rooted in kaupapa Māori values while fostering pathways for responsible relationships, meaningful lives, and flourishing Indigenous wellbeing economies. By emphasising the central role of whānau, these publications provide actionable insights and inspiration for transformative change in economic and cultural systems.

Savannah’s research aims to compile mātauranga of whare tikanga (Māori building practises) to understand the processes and practices involved in customary whare Māori (Māori buildings) construction.

The research considers our whanaungatanga relationships and whakapapa connections to ngā rākau and ngāhere. This has led to the creation of a plant-based 16mm film developer, replacing the environmentally damaging Kodak D-76 chemicals.

Ahinata’s project engages with the experiences of wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu, informed by iwi and gender specific contexts, in order to answer the question: How do we as wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu learn about, become, and take care of ourselves, specifically in the areas of gender, sex, sexuality and body?

Arianna’s project demonstrates that connecting to the practice of pīkau where our tipuna carried their babies on their backs provides an active place to reclaim the strengths of our earliest parenting traditions as a metaphor for flourishing whānau. Through the metaphorical values framework and practice of pikau, Arianna’s research follows the collective postnatal and parenting journeys of whānau Māori living in the Otago region.

This research will increase our understanding of the sexual and reproductive journeys of taitamawahine to make clear recommendations to improve the provision of abortion healthcare so it’s accessible and culturally relevant to taitamawahine.

Simon’s research is concerned with the imposition of Western thought on Māori which has displaced our ways of knowing and being. Colonisation is most visible in the political and biophysical spheres, however, less apparent is the damage to the less tangible – a Māori metaphysics – which underpins relation to the world, and importantly, our ways of existing.

This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation.

Led through a kaupapa Māori lens, this programme challenges narrow, imported definitions of racism and equity, and confronts how dominant systems create and maintain Māori ‘vulnerability’. It aims to reframe equity on Māori terms—grounded in rangatiratanga, Indigenous knowledge, and the realities of colonisation.

Project Summary

PhD Candidate: Ms Emily Bain (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Toarangatira)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr. Esther Willing

PhD Candidate: Mana Mitchell (Ngāti Maniapoto)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr Esther Willing

Project supervisor: Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson

Institution: The University of Otago

Project location: The University of Otago, Dunedin Campus

Project supervisor: Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki

Institution: The University of Waikato

Project Summary: The primary purpose of this project is to explore how selected issues involving race in New Zealand are framed and discussed in social and traditional media, including expression of both overt and more subtle forms of racism.

Project Supervisor: Dr Gianna Leoni

Partner: Te Hiku Media

Project supervisors: Mr Tama Blackburn and Miss Sera Gibson

Institution: Taranaki Mounga Project Limited (TMPL)

Project Title: Te Au Roa – Predator sound lure trial: Draw possums out of those difficult to reach places on Taranaki Mounga