Mātau Taiao

Featured image: Driven to help the planet and humanity thrive

Driven to help the planet and humanity thrive

Rosemary Rangitauira • Nov 30, 2021

Mihi mai ki a Dr Te Kīpa Kēpa Morgan, a professional engineer, who’s inspiring a different value system that he says can help humanity thrive and safeguard the sustainability of our planet. Kēpa affiliates to Ngāti Pikiao (Te Arawa), Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tahu. For more than a decade, Kēpa’s main research area has been in developing and advancing a … Read More

Featured image: Striving to ‘help people reinstate their health’

Striving to ‘help people reinstate their health’

Rosemary Rangitauira • Oct 27, 2021

Dr Anna Rolleston and her team in Tauranga are on a mission to develop a new way of delivering healthcare that demonstrates the power of tikanga Māori and supports people taking control of their hauora (health). Anna, who holds a PhD in medicine, is the managing director of the Centre for Health in Tauranga. Hailing from Tauranga Moana, Anna … Read More

Featured image: Te reo Māori changed Dr Awanui Te Huia’s life

Te reo Māori changed Dr Awanui Te Huia’s life

Rosemary Rangitauira • Oct 27, 2021

Te reo Māori immersion workshops, Kura Reo, changed the trajectory of Dr Awanui Te Huia’s life and set her on a new course of research to explore. Awanui’s initial research background is in Māori health and social psychology. For the past 10 years, her passion for research includes the links between Māori knowledge and psychology, and the experiences of … Read More

Featured image: Scion’s newest Emeritus Scientist

Scion’s newest Emeritus Scientist

Rosemary Rangitauira • Sep 29, 2021

Scion has appointed Dr Tanira Kingi (Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa), who’s currently working with Māori landowners to find alternative ways to use their land, as its newest Emeritus Scientist. Scion’s former Research Leader in Primary Industry Systems is an agricultural economist with 30-years-experience working in the primary industry sector. Tanira says the current industry infrastructure for meat, milk and … Read More

Featured image: Māori-friendly tool to diagnose dementia to be available in 2022

Māori-friendly tool to diagnose dementia to be available in 2022

Rosemary Rangitauira • Sep 29, 2021

A trained clinical neuropsychologist, Dr Makarena Dudley,  is part of a team developing a Māori-friendly tool to help diagnose dementia which is due to be available by mid-2022. For many years, Makarena administered neuropsychological assessment tools, developed overseas, which she says haven’t always helped diagnose Māori patients. She says the current assessment tools fail Māori. “It became more and more … Read More

Featured image: Set on finding a solution for Kauri dieback

Set on finding a solution for Kauri dieback

Rosemary Rangitauira • Aug 11, 2021

Dr Amanda Black of Tūhoe, Whakatōhea and Te Whānau-a-Āpanui is a researcher of environmental soil chemistry, biochemistry, and soil ecosystem health and has set her sights on finding a solution to tackle Kauri dieback. The disease starves the native tree of nutrients and water and is caused by a microscopic fungus-like organism called Phytophthora agathidicida. The organism lives in the … Read More

Featured image: Pursuit of ‘positive social change’

Pursuit of ‘positive social change’

Rosemary Rangitauira • Aug 11, 2021

Dr Maria Bargh, who has a PhD in Political Science and International Relations, is driven to use her research disciplines to create positive social change in Aotearoa. Her research focusses on three key areas: Māori politics te taiao – the environment; and the Māori economy Maria is based in Wellington and is an associate professor in Te Kawa a Māui … Read More

Featured image: A path forged by wisdom

A path forged by wisdom

Rosemary Rangitauira • Jul 05, 2021

Dr Poia Rewi credits his kaumātua (elders) for much of his journey as a kaihāpai o te reo Māori (Māori language supporter) and also acknowledges the pivotal role non-Māori mentors have played in his life. “Being raised in Murupara (Bay of Plenty) I was mentored by my koroua (grandfathers), kuia (grandmothers), and pākeke (adults) who guided my affinity for Māori … Read More

Featured image: ‘Little nuances can change a community’

‘Little nuances can change a community’

Rosemary Rangitauira • Jul 05, 2021

Supporting Auckland communities to ‘re-indigenise’ their spaces, to enhance opportunities for better health outcomes for their hapori (communities), is Dr Kimiora Raerino’s mission. Kimiora, of Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Rangiwewehi, specialises in research on the physical environment, health and Māori wellbeing, and has lived in Auckland for about 30 years. She works as a research officer in the Whāriki … Read More

Featured image: Weaving mātauranga Māori and science can empower Aotearoa

Weaving mātauranga Māori and science can empower Aotearoa

Rosemary Rangitauira • Jul 05, 2021

Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua – As man disappears, the land remains. This proverb embodies Dr Daniel Hikuroa’s ambition to look after the land while he’s here and highlights his passion to weave mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) with science. Dan affiliates to Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui and Ngāti Whanaunga.   He specialises in many disciplines including Earth systems science, natural hazards … Read More