Fulbright NZ And NPM: An Enduring Partnership

Fulbright NZ And NPM: An Enduring Partnership

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM), New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence and Fulbright New Zealand have established an enduring and successful partnership in recent years.

This relationship has created ongoing opportunities for Māori academics and students to study and experience life in the United States, not only building excellence in Māori research and development but also ensuring that Māori recipients can share their culture with their US contemporaries and contribute to the Fulbright programme’s vision of promoting mutual understanding through educational and cultural exchanges.

NPM and Fulbright New Zealand offer a range of awards to Māori academics, researchers, artists and students from across the country however perhaps the most illustrious opportunities for our network are the annual Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate and Scholar Awards.

Valued at up to US$31,000 (plus NZ$4,000 travel funding) the Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award is for a promising New Zealand graduate student to undertake postgraduate study or research at a US institution in the field of Indigenous development. Previous grantees for this award have included:

• Horiana Irwin-Easthope (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Rakaipaaka)

• Sharon Toi (Te Mahurehure, Ngāti Korokoro, Ngāpuhi)

• Kingi Snelgar (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Whakatohea, Ngāi Tahu)

• Natalie Coates (Ngati Awa, Ngati Hine, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Tuhourangi, Tuhoe)

The Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award, is valued at up to US$37,500 and provides for a New Zealand academic, artist or professional to lecture or conduct research for up to 5 months, at a US institution in the field of Indigenous development. In recent years the award has been conferred on an outstanding list of Māori scholars, including:

• Associate Professor Rangi Matamua (Ngāi Tuhoe)

• Dr Eruera Tarena (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui)

• Dr Matiu Rātima (Whakatōhea, Ngāti Pūkeko)

• Dr Veronica Tawhai (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Uepohatu)

In 2016, NPM and Fulbright NZ have once again reaffirmed their ongoing partnership as part of NPM’s new Centre of Research Excellence contract through to 2020, and have committed to continuing to create opportunities for Māori academics, researchers and students to advance their research excellence over the next five years and together we would like to acknowledge the newest recipients of the Fulbright-NPM Graduate and Scholar Awards.

2016 Fulbright-NPM Graduate Award grantee Maia Wikaira (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) will be travelling to Stanford University to complete a Masters in Environmental Law and Policy, with a focus on freshwater law and policy and Indigenous rights.

This year’s Fulbright-NPM Scholar, Dr Te Kīpa Kēpa Brian Morgan (Ngāti Pikiao, Te Arawa) from the University of Auckland, will be undertaking research at the University of Hawai’i, the University of Arizona and Colorado School of Mines, where he will be continuing his ongoing research into the Mauri Model Decision Making Framework and its application to Indigenous peoples.

Both Maia and Kepa join an ever-growing list of Māori who have shared their Indigenous knowledge and experiences with the world, bringing new perspectives and understanding to the highest levels of academia.

On Tuesday 28 June, NPM’s Co-Director Professor Jacinta Ruru will, together with past Fulbright alumni, academics and political leaders, acknowledge and celebrate their mutual achievements at the prestigious annual Fulbright New Zealand Awards Ceremony at Parliament in Wellington.

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) is a Centre of Research Excellence hosted at the University of Auckland comprising 21 research partners and conducting research of relevance to Māori communities. Our vision is Māori leading New Zealand into the future. NPM 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. Visit www.maramatanga.ac.nz

Fulbright New Zealand was established in 1948 to promote international goodwill and mutual understanding through educational and cultural exchanges between New Zealand and the United States of America. The Fulbright programme offers a range of prestigious awards for New Zealand and American graduate students, academics, artists and professionals to study, research, teach and present their work in each other’s countries. More than 3,000 New Zealanders and Americans have benefited from a Fulbright award to date. The programme is mainly funded by the US and New Zealand governments with additional funding from award sponsors, private philanthropists and alumni donors. Visit www.fulbright.org.nz

ENDS

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