NPM Calls for a National Māori Research Strategy

The past week has seen Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM), New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence, host its 7th Biennial International Indigenous Research Conference with almost 500 delegates attending from New Zealand and around the world.

On Tuesday 15th November, NPM together with the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) held an event which launched the IMSB’s Māori Report for Tāmaki Makaurau 2016, and where NPM’s patron Dr The Honorable Sir Pita R. Sharples announced the call for a National Māori Research Strategy.

The purpose of this call is to draw on the collective breadth, depth and strength of Māori researchers from across the country to create a new bold research agenda that is vital to the future of New Zealand.

The National Māori Research Strategy will be designed to generate researched solutions to establish the conditions necessary for prosperous, sustainable and healthy lives across all of our communities.

NPM Co-Director Associate Professor Tracey McIntosh says “We embrace the potential of Māori-led research and Māori researchers who are embedded into the lives of their communities and iwi. Their work is grounded in the certainty that we can achieve flourishing communities by drawing on culturally informed and evidence based solutions, and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga’s intention is to ensure this knowledge and expertise benefits not only Māori, but New Zealand as a whole.”

Over the coming months Māori researchers will be invited to submit their research ideas and questions for the transformative changes that they consider are critical for the nation’s future. We expect these contributions to encompass all of NPM’s research themes.

Tracey continues “The strategy will be designed to fully capture and deliver on the promise and potential that Māori research holds for the future of our country. While individuals and individual disciplines may not have all the answers to the significant challenges that we face or allow us to fully seize the wonderful opportunities that are presented, as a collective we have unparalleled strength.

We are looking forward to our network responding to this challenge: from environmental scientists, biologists, physicists, engineers, economists and social scientists, to health researchers, legal scholars, heritage specialists, educators, linguists, artists, and cultural knowledge-bearers.

NPM is seeking research ideas that will tackle both deeply entrenched and complex social problems, as well as ideas that strive to generate new knowledge and innovation for the future.”

Over the next few months Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga will be outlining more details of this call for a National Māori Research Strategy and engaging widely with our researchers, communities and partners across Aotearoa.

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