Otago key partner in Māori Centre of Research Excellence

riday 8 May 2015

Otago key partner in Māori Centre of Research Excellence

University of Otago researchers are set to make key contributions to Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), which has been selected to receive a further five years’ funding from the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

The CoRE will continue be hosted by the University of Auckland and the co-directors will be Auckland Associate Professor of Sociology Tracey McIntosh (Auckland) and Associate Professor of Law Jacinta Ruru (Otago).

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga will involve wide engagement of researchers and teams from universities, wānanga, Crown Research Institutes, museums, polytechnics, iwi research groups and commercial entities.

Otago’s Dr Emma Wyeth (Preventive and Social Medicine) will be co-deputy director alongside Dr Jamie Ataria (Lincoln).

Associate Professor Ruru says she is honoured and excited that the new vision for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga 2016-2020 has been funded by the Government.

“This is great news for collaborative Māori research across the country, including for Māori researchers at the University of Otago.

“Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga has a new strong national research leadership team who together with Māori researchers across the country will work on new foundational economic, environmental and wellbeing research projects, all underpinned by te reo me tikanga Māori.

“Our vision is for Māori leading New Zealand into the future. Our research realises Māori aspirations for positive engagement in national life, enhances our excellence in Indigenous scholarship and provides solutions to major challenges facing humanity in local and global settings.

“Otago has a great opportunity to become a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga hub that will contribute towards conducting and showcasing Māori research excellence, capacity and capability building of Māori researchers and connections with our Māori communities including our iwi partners,” Associate Professor Ruru says.

The named Otago Principal Investigators in the CoRE are Bridget Robson, Dr Emma Wyeth (Health Sciences), Professor Paul Tapsell, Associate Professor Poia Rewi, Associate Professor Merata Kawharu, Associate Professor Paul Whitinui, Dr Lyn Carter and Associate Professor Jacinta Ruru (Humanities) and Dr Diane Ruwhiu (Commerce).

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