The Healthier Lives and Ageing Well Challenges teams at the event on Wednesday, 14 August, to celebrate the legacy of the Challenges.
The dawning of Matariki this year also heralded the culmination of the National Science Challenges, marking a decade of research tackling the biggest science-based issues and opportunities facing Aotearoa.
Otago hosted two of the 11 Challenges, focused on health and wellbeing – Healthier Lives and Ageing Well.
With a combined allocated fund of $66.2 million* spread over a decade, the two Challenges have produced a wealth of research evidence and recommendations.
Notable success stories include cardiovascular disease risk assessment equations incorporated into national guidelines; a portable, interactive exhibit that encourages and guides people to keep moving and to age well; a kaupapa Māori falls prevention and wellness programme for ageing whānau; and the development of a ctDNA-based blood test to detect cancer.
Professor David Baxter
Ageing Well National Science Challenge Director, and Otago Graduate Research School Deputy Dean Professor David Baxter says the lasting legacy of the Challenges is in leading the way in harnessing science and mātauranga Māori to deliver lasting community change.
“Across the Challenges, the big take home message is that mission-led science funded over an extended period can have system wide impacts.”
There’s also the wider impact of “how we do research”, especially around engaging and empowering communities, he says.
“Early on, we discovered the incredible value of community engagement in research as they are the end users of our findings.
“We addressed issues of equity in ageing, actively embedding Vision Mātauranga, and committing half our Phase Two funding to ageing and Māori to ensure positive outcomes for Māori communities,” says David.
“We are fortunate to have been led and advised by strong Māori researchers who facilitated the achievement of co-governance in 2017 and helped Ageing Well along our journey to be a Challenge for all New Zealanders.”
Engaging communities in projects also helped “normalise research”, leading to outcomes that were practical and applicable, David says.
“The idea of mainstreaming research recommendations to create sustained change has to start with the communities.”
Research-enabled communities is the where the longer-term benefits will come, David says.
Katrina Pōtiki Bryant
“It is the Te Tiriti-led approach, enabling researchers to have a unique cultural lens into a community and their needs, and for communities to be in the driving seat.”
Ageing Well Taurite Tū Project Lead and School of Physiotherapy Associate Dean Māori Katrina Pōtiki Bryant (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu) says it is time for more research to move the focus to implementation and impact.
“As a kaupapa Māori researcher, our methodology calls for research to lead to direct positive change for the communities involved.”
This includes upskilling and capacity building for the people working at the grassroots, which leads to much more successful implementation of the research solutions, Katrina says.
“I feel this is especially important in health research, that the health dollar should be focused on impacting the end-user positively. I would love to see more solution-based research that will result in ongoing, long-term implementation.”
Healthier Lives National Science Challenge Director and Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Co-Director Professor Jim Mann says the Challenges took a more authentic approach to co-designing research, involving communities and stakeholders throughout the research process.
Professor Jim Mann (Photo: Sharron Bennett)
“We are very proud in the Healthier Lives Challenge for leading by example in co-governance and co-design, especially with the publication of the co-designing health research report, which has been described as a central piece in getting the co-design message across.
“Our focus was involving not only those who do research and those who benefit from it, but also those who would implement the outcomes, like government, policy makers and healthcare providers.”
A change in the process of research was the biggest impact of the Challenges, Jim says.
“Starting with co-design, consulting stakeholders and taking it through to implementation is a research approach borne out of the aim of being mission-led.”
The Challenges were also fertile ground for collaboration at all levels, he says.
“In my very long experience with research, I have never known this degree of collaboration, from building the best teams with talent from across the motu, to working alongside communities, collaborating with government, external collaborators and with the other Challenges.”
Equity in healthcare has been the basis of their mahi and Vision Mātauranga has been central to achieving that, Jim says.
“Researchers in Healthier Lives have gained a new perspective and a confidence in engaging with communities to understand their needs and aspirations, and how we can work together to respond to these.”
Professor Parry Guilford (Photo: Sharron Bennett)
Healthier Lives Deputy Director and Centre for Translational Cancer Research Director Professor Parry Guilford agrees, saying researchers in the Challenge have “become more mindful of the views communities have about our research”.
“In planning for our research, we now spend more time trying to understand what the needs, concerns and fears of the community are.
“It is about their enthusiasm and support for our work, and their view on what barriers might prevent the research being implemented.”
The historical position of researchers as “distant and aloof” should be a notion of the past, he says. Co-design and co-governance are the way forward for research.
“There is this idea that somehow researchers produce more when they stand to one side of society, observing and planning but at arm’s length from the people they want to help.
“This has to change. The distance robs researchers of the energy of communities and the accountability they bring,” Parry says.
“People need to feel a part of things, and need to know that they were in mind when the research plans were being drawn up. Inclusion is a central societal need and a basic right.”
A community’s perspective
CEO of the Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust, Rangimahora Reddy (Raukawa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Rangiwewehi me Rangitane), has worked in partnership with the Ageing Well and Healthier Lives Challenges. She talks with Sandra French about her work with the Challenges and the need for community involvement in research mahi.
How can we support older Māori (kaumātua) to cope with significant life transitions?
This question is at the heart of the Ageing Well-funded Kaumātua Mana Motuhake project, which looked at a peer education - tuakana (older/experienced kaumātua) guiding teina (younger/less experienced kaumātua), as a means to help navigate challenging situation.
From left Trustee Hoki Purcell QSM, Trust Chairman/Founder Owen Purcell QSM, and Rangimahora Reddy, key drivers of the research partnership with the Challenges.
The key to a good partnership is to take a project beyond academic research and make the relationship meaningful, Rangimahora says.
“A meaningful relationship means that your ears are more open for learning and that you are more accommodating to each other’s needs.”
This was the difference between the Trust’s work with other funding organisations and Ageing Well, she says.
“Because the Ageing Well research was more aligned with our values, our engagement was truly transformational.”
The Challenge brought with it a new model to enable kaumātua voices, Rangimahora says.
“Rather than the Government or academic institution setting the boundaries of the project, Ageing Well gave us more of an open envelope to align our needs and cultural practices with the research.”
This went a long way in supporting acceptance of the project and its recommendations, she says.
“It is very hard to miss the mark when the kaumātua you want to help are right at the core of shaping the work that will benefit them.”
Following the success of the programme at the Trust, the scope and reach of the project has been expanded to involve up to 350 Māori kaumātua from across Aotearoa.
As a subject matter expert in the field of health and wellbeing of older people, Rangimahora was also the recipient of an Ageing Well Fellowship with Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health.
Through the Fellowship she was able to attend international events and build networks with national and overseas groups that have worked in this space, she says.
In 2021, Rangimahora was one of a handful of leaders from across the health system invited to participate in a workshop hosted by Healthier Lives to develop recommendations on how to create more effective ways of translating research evidence into policy and practice.
This resulted in the publication of the Pathways between research, policy and practice report in 2022. The report sparked the creation of a new pathway by the Ministry for Primary Industries – the Food Policy Research Forum, for bringing food system researchers and policymakers together to support the development of evidence-informed policy.
“Participating in projects like these shows that when you bring together a wealth of knowledge and networks, there’s always certain to be some impact.”
Rangimahora was also involved in organising the biannual National Kaumātua Service Providers Conference, which was sponsored by Ageing Well and Healthier Lives over several years and featured researchers from both Challenges.
“I am very grateful for the experience of working with the Challenges. Through this kaupapa we have been able to sit in hui with academics and experts we would have never been exposed to.
“They’re not just researchers but a part of our whānau. It’s just made our world a lot bigger.”
~ Kōrero by Sandra French, Adviser, Internal Communications.
*The National Science Challenges were funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) for ten years, with Healthier Lives allocated funding of $31.3 million and Ageing Well allocated funding of $34.9 million over the duration of the Challenges.