Mauri Ora - Human Flourishing

This project explored how tamariki, rangatahi, and their whānau thrived in a changing world by supporting Māori wellbeing and success in diverse workplaces. Through research, interviews, and stakeholder input, it aimed to create a Māori-led Change Management Model and policy framework to foster sustainable incomes, cultural revitalisation, and balanced work–life wellbeing for Māori.

Resilient Legacies: Mānawa te Taonga Tuku Iho explored how Māori cultural treasures—taonga tuku iho—are used, valued, and commodified in Aotearoa’s rugby world. From haka to carved trophies, and digital taonga on the horizon, the project examines the impact on mana, mauri ora, and identity, and the cultural and commercial implications for Māori and rugby alike.

This proposed research will undertake a co-generative process with our community and collaborating researchers to scope and develop specific research questions that would form the basis of individual applications to three funding bodies. However, our meetings to date have broader research questions that have been discussed so far include:

To scope traditional and contemporary understandings of ‘whānau consent’ in regards to genetic, tissue and organ testing, collection, donation and banking.

To understand how whānau go about gaining ‘whānau consent’ and what processes may support these conversations.

The need for this project arises from a previous study conducted by MidCentral District Health Board (MDHB), which identified the following questions as essential:

1.              What are the experiences of long-term conditions for tangata Māori?

How will tikanga Māori empower the evaluation of the experience of Māori whānau in crisis to measure the performance of the Government’s new obligations in law to Te Tiriti o Waitangi?

Our longterm objective is to bring new evaluative knowledge to empower the mana of whānau in crisis.