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Tāngata · People 466
Sarah-Maru Berghan
As Pouhere Whakaaweawe at NPM, she helps drive positive change through grants, awards, and the Research portfolio, all grounded in Māori values. Drawing on a wealth of experience in the tertiary sector, including her recent work in research services at Waipapa Taumata Rau’s Faculty of Science, she is committed to advancing excellence and supporting our people.
Cheryle Rewha Willoughby
Cheryle has a BA in Media/Marketing and Māori studies from Massey University. Diploma in Project Management (TWWOA) and Sales Management, Business Studies (AUT). Her background is advertising and marketing working at Wilson & Horton Ltd for 12 years as EA and Sales Exec. Also in Event Management and Operations, finance, HR, sales and training.She has worked with her whanau and hapu over 35 years. As a secretary, trustee and negotiator, for the Hauai whenua claim and the first successful settlement with the Crown, on behalf of her hapu.Working as a Marketing Consultant with Dept of Labour…
Associate Professor Deborah Heke
Associate Professor Deborah Heke (Ngā Puhi, Te Arawa) is the Director of Ngā Wai a Te Tūī Māori and Indigenous Research Centre at Unitec. With a background in Exercise Physiology, Psychology, and Public Health, her current research centres on Mana Wahine scholarship. Recent work includes an exploration of Māori and Indigenous women’s embodied practices and physical activity in te taiao as a means for connecting, communicating, and healing. Deborah is also passionate about building the capability and capacity of Māori and Indigenous (future) scholars and providing spaces for Indigenous…
Professor Melinda Webber
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Co-Director Melinda Webber is Professor of Education at Te Pūtahi Mātauranga | The Faculty of Arts and Education, Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland. Melinda specialises in Māori Education and Social Psychology and is the Aotearoa New Zealand co-director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity programme based at The University of Melbourne. She wrote Walking the space between: Identity and Māori/Pakeha (NZCER Press, 2008), co-wrote A fire in the belly of Hineāmaru A collection of narratives about Te Tai Tokerau tupuna & Ka ngangana tonu a Hineāmaru - He…
Okeroa McRae
Okeroa's research experience in academia, with whānau, Māori communities, iwi/hapū, non-government organisations and within central government has afforded her with skills and attributes to work effectively across diverse landscapes.
Kiri Edge
Kiri Edge has contributed to a wide range of interdisciplinary research and evaluation projects across both academic and community contexts. Kiri is experienced working within complex and sensitive topics, and engaging with people, whānau, and communities that some consider ‘hard to reach’. Kiri’s research interests are diverse, but pivot towards endeavours that contribute towards Māori wellbeing and flourishing, equity, social justice and sustainable community-driven development. Kiri’s current rangahau interests include reclamation of indigenous pathways to wellbeing, grieving within and…
Ahere Hapi-Harrison
Ahere (Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, Muriwhenua) is the Pou Tūāmahi | Project Lead for the Kanapu research programme. Kanapu is a Māori-led initiative designed to connect, attract, nurture and accelerate Māori talent and leadership in research, science, innovation and technology (RSIT).Kanapu Ahere has managed the ideation, market research, conceptual design and procurement of developers for an online navigation platform for the RSIT sector. The platform, Kanapu Connect, aims to improve knowledge, access, and connection for users within the RSIT sector by mapping the evolving ecosystem, uniquely…
Vanessa Clark
Vanessa Clark is of Waikato descent, part of the Tainui waka confederation of indigenous Māori peoples from Aotearoa New Zealand. She hails from Te Pūaha o Waikato (commonly referred to as Port Waikato), situated an hour south of Auckland. Her affiliations to hapū (sub-tribes) along this lower stretch of the Waikato River include Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Tahinga and Ngāti Āmaru.Established in 2012, Vanessa Clark Consulting leverages Vanessa's 20+ years of global experience predominantly in the science, information and technology sector.Vanessa, as Principal, has a rich and diverse background having…
Dr Awanui Te Huia
Associate Professor Awanui Te Huia (Ngāti Maniapoto) is a recipient of Ako Aotearoa Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching Award (Kaupapa Māori Category), recognising her outstanding contribution to reo Māori education and kaupapa Māori research at Te Herenga Waka; Victoria University of Wellington.Her teaching is known for creating enjoyable, creative, and safe spaces that empower learners. Her teaching approach weaves together psychology, kaupapa Māori methods, and innovative tools to make te reo Māori accessible and inspiring for current and future learners. This nationally recognised…
Miriama Cribb
Miriama Cribb is Te Ātihaunui-ā-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Tama, but is most active at her home in Whanganui. Miriama is completing a PhD in Management at Massey University, looking at implementing Indigenous frameworks in non-Indigenous organisations, using Te Awa Tupua as her case study. She also works part time as a researcher at Te Atawhai o Te Ao Research Institute in Whanganui. Her research interests are in Māori management and Māori business, organisational studies, and social and governance structures that advance hapū and iwi aspirations.
Te Hirea Doherty
Te Hirea Doherty is a current medical student at Otago University, brings unique insights from her clinical placements, bridging academic research with hands-on experience in hospital settings.
Dr Shaun Awatere
Shaun Awatere is facilitating this webinar. He is a member of the NPM research leadership team and works as a resource economist for Landcare Research. Shaun works to improve the incorporation of Mātauranga Māori into local government planning by developing the systems and processes that enable Māori values to be integrated into urban design and development.
Professor Joe Te Rito
Professor Joseph Te Rito (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rangitāne, Ngāti Hinemanu ki Ōmāhu) is a long-time advocate for te reo Māori and this appointment recognises his lifetime commitment to Māori language revitalisation through activism, scholarship, and the promotion of pedagogy with particular attention to the mita (dialect) of Ngāti Kahungunu. Joe has previously worked as Dean, Faculty of Māori Studies at EIT where he was responsible for setting up all the academic programmes and the Te Ūranga Waka complex including the wharenui Te Ara o Tāwhaki. He was also responsible for the…
Meihana Watson
Meihana Watson is of Ngāti Hinemanu, Ngāi Te Upokoiri descent and lives in the small rural community of Omahu. He is the current chairperson of Omahu Marae and the Ngāti Hinemanu, Ngāi Te Upokoiri me ōna Piringa Hapū Authority Trust (Piringa Hapū). Meihana leads the charge in calling for Piringa Hapū to responded to the devastation left by Cyclone Gabrielle within the takiwā of the authority. The efforts of the UTAINA 10-year Recovery Plan has been informed by the whānau, the community and validated by Price Waterhouse Coopers. Meihana is from the generation of Kōhanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa…
Kelly Stratford
Kelly represents the people of the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Ward on the Far North District Council. Her portfolio is housing and she sits on the Joint Climate Change Adaptation Committee and the Civil Defence Emergency Management Committee.
Willie Te Aho
Willie Te Aho is from Raukokore in Te Whanau a Apanui where he lives. He is married to associate Professor Linda Te Aho of Ngati Koroki Kahukura and they have two sons and a mokopuna of 10 months – the new centre of his universe! Willie holds a BA, LLB and MBA. He worked on housing developments within Maori Affairs in the late 1980s and has established a number of papakaenga developments from the Waikato to the Bay of Plenty. Willie was the inaugural Managing Director for Toitu Tairawhiti Housing Limited ($73m) until May 2022 when Annette Wehi who started with him succeeded him. Willie is…
Hera Ngata-Gibson
Hera Ngata-Gibson is of Te Aitanga a Hauiti people of Uawa (Tolaga Bay) on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and lives with her family in Anaura. Community and environmental advocate, Hera led the charge in calling for an independent inquiry into land use in the region after the devastation wrought by recent weather events. She is a member of Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti, a group which represents farmers, landowners and conservation workers seeking to change outcomes when adverse weather events occur in the region.
Dr Tara McAllister
Tara has a background in freshwater ecology. Her work in this space focuses on understanding the environmental causes of toxic algae blooms in rivers. More broadly, she is interested in the intersections of mātauranga Māori and ecology, te taiao and environmental management. More recently, her research has focused on highlighting inequities for Māori in the research sector. She currently holds a Marsden called Vision Mātauranga- is it past its’ used-by date? which will explore the impact and epistemological roots of the Vision Mātauranga policy in New Zealand’s research sector.
Associate Professor Sereana Naepi
I am a researcher and educator committed to fostering equitable and inclusive higher education and research systems. As a Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the University of Auckland, my work critically examines the intersections of equity, decolonization, and systemic change in academia. Drawing on Pacific and Indigenous methodologies, I aim to challenge traditional power dynamics and advance transformative approaches to equity within higher education. My research has been published in leading international journals and is recognized for offering critical insights into equity-focused policies…
Research Professor Reremoana Theodore
Research Professor Reremoana (Moana) Theodore (Ngāpuhi) joined the Dunedin Study team in 1998 as an interviewer on the age-26 assessment phase (1998-99). She returned to the Study in 2007 and undertook post-doctoral research examining the early life predictors of cardiovascular outcomes including blood pressure, using longitudinal modelling techniques. Moana then worked on aligned longitudinal projects including the Graduate Longitudinal Study New Zealand and Te Kura Mai i Tawhiti (a programme of lifecourse research examining the long-term benefits of kaupapa Māori early childhood education…
Professor Michelle Thompson Fawcett FRSNZ, DNZG, MNZPI
Dr Michelle Thompson-Fawcett (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Te Ata) is Distinguished Professor in the School of Geography at the University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. She has 40 years’ experience in planning practice and university teaching and research. Michelle’s research explores urban and environmental planning activities by Indigenous communities at the local level. In particular, she examines the extent to which groups are able to engage in, influence, and achieve self-determination in regard to urban and environmental decision-making. She works with Māori communities on their aspirations for…
Dr Crystal Victoria Olin
Dr Crystal Victoria Olin is an architectural and urban researcher, designer, leader and educator whose work explores city-making in relation to identity and belonging, justice and care, resilience and the empowerment potential of urbanity. She has lived in Aotearoa New Zealand since 2012 and holds dual US–NZ citizenship. Crystal's recent research has centred on placemaking in public and community housing, with a focus on community infrastructure, urban design, and the complexities of measuring placemaking impact. This work has been undertaken as part of Public Housing & Urban Regeneration…