Announcing The 2023 Fulbright-Ngā Pae O Te Māramatanga Graduate Award Recipient

Fulbright New Zealand and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga - New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence are thrilled to announce that Yasmin Olsen is the recipient of the 2023 Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award which will enable her to undertake postgraduate study in the United States.

Yasmin Olsen (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Tīpā) from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland will complete a Master of Laws at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Yasmin graduated with an LLB (Hons First Class) and a BA in English Literature from the University of Otago in 2015. Yasmin was inspired to apply for a Fulbright Award by Māori lawyers, particularly wāhine Māori, who have been previous recipients of this award and brought home what they learned in the United States to Aotearoa to benefit Māori communities.

"I’d like to get involved in the criminal justice reform work happening at Yale Law School that is having a profound impact across the United States. I also look forward to connecting with other indigenous peoples within Yale and across the United States generally. Those relationships are really important to inspiring and supporting indigenous success" says Yasmin. "After my study I intend to return home and contribute to transformative criminal justice reform here in Aotearoa. I have a particular focus on shifting criminal justice responses to better serve wāhine and tamariki Māori, especially those affected by family and sexual violence, and strengthening the role Māori whānau and communities play in repairing the harm caused by criminal offending."

NPM Co-Director and Fulbright alumna Professor Tahu Kukutai comments, “Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga is really excited to work with Fulbright to enable this opportunity for Yasmin. Her scholarship and leadership is exemplary, as is her commitment to transformative justice for our whānau and communities."

Penelope Borland, Fulbright New Zealand’s Executive Director adds, “Fulbright New Zealand is proud to partner with Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga in offering this award and I am delighted that Yasmin will have this opportunity to further her work and thinking in the United States. Yasmin's ultimate ambition - to use this opportunity to improve Aotearoa's criminal justice system, particularly for vulnerable wāhine and tamariki Māori - is inspiring and we look forward to watching her journey."

Yasmin and the rest of the 2023 Fulbright New Zealand cohort will be honoured at a special awards ceremony at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday 28 June, hosted by Deputy Speaker, Greg O'Connor with the Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Carmel Sepuloni congratulating awardees. 

Applications for the Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate awards are open now. The closing date is August 1. For more details, please visit https://www.fulbright.org.nz/awards/nzgraduate/fulbright-npmgraduate/.

Announcing the 2023 Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award Recipient

Fulbright New Zealand and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence are delighted to announce that Hinekura Smith (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is the 2023 recipient of the Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award to undertake research in the US.

Hinekura Smith from Northland will research Native American and Native Hawai’ian women’s traditional clothing making as decolonising and culturally regenerative arts praxis at the University of Washington and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Hinekura is currently a senior lecturer and director of Ngā Wai a Te Tūi Māori and Indigenous Research Centre at Unitec Te Pūkenga.

Hinekura says, “I was inspired to apply for a Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga award for the opportunity to strengthen Indigenous research relationships and networks in a located and authentic way. While travelling to conferences is a great way to connect, collaborate and disseminate, a five month award enables a deeper connection through place based research.”

“I want my research-curious teenaged daughters to see that Kaupapa Māori research connects us in different and similar ways with our global Indigenous relations and that what we do here in Aotearoa can have a positive transforming impact not just for us here in Aotearoa but as part of a broader Indigenous decolonising agenda” says Hinekura.

The annual Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award is valued at up to US$37,500 for three to five months of teaching and/or research at US institutions.

“We are so pleased that Hinekura is able to extend her ground-breaking research through the collaborative opportunities that Fulbright offers. She embodies mana wāhine and we are really proud to have her as our 2023 scholar,” says Professor Tahu Kukutai, Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and Fulbright alumna.

Fulbright New Zealand Executive Director Penelope Borland says, “We are delighted to partner with Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga in supporting Hinekura’s inspiring Kaupapa Māori research and look forward to hearing more about her experiences and learnings as she starts this exciting journey and when she returns to Aotearoa.”

Hinekura and the rest of the 2023 Fulbright New Zealand cohort will be honoured at a special awards ceremony at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday 28 June, hosted by Deputy Speaker, Greg O’Connor, with Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Carmel Sepuloni congratulating awardees.

Applications for the Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar award are now open. The closing date is October 1 annually. For more details, please visit

https://www.fulbright.org.nz/awards/nzscholar/fulbright-npmscholar/.

You can read about all the 2023 Fulbright New Zealand Award recipients here.

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