Our mātauranga Māori cluster highlights groups that show leadership in bringing indigenous knowledge and practice to their research with a commitment to advancing Māori aspirations.
Research consultation with Māori is integral to the development of all University of Otago research proposals.
Visit the listings of our research groups or our featured projects:
Many of our researchers also excel in teaching and have been recognised in national teaching awards.
Coastal People: Southern Skies
A Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE)
Responding to climate change
Coastal People: Southern Skies is a Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) based at the University of Otago.
Our vision is flourishing wellness (mauri ora), of coastal social-ecological systems and communities.
The collaboration connects communities with world-leading, cross-discipline research to support transformative change to rebuild coastal ecosystems.
The focus is on the changes resulting from ocean warming and acidification, sea-level rise, and climate change. Research includes responding to the decline in culture, local economy, and well-being of coastal people in New Zealand and across the Pacific.
Email cpss@otago.ac.nz
Website otago.ac.nz/sciences/research/coastal-people.html
Department of Māori Indigenous Health Innovation (MIHI)
University of Otago, Christchurch
Research, teaching and community service to support Māori health advancement
The Department of Māori Indigenous Health Innovation (MIHI) undertakes and supports research that explores Māori health inequities and building excellence in research evidence that contributes to Māori health advancement.
Tel: +64 3 364 3688
Website: otago.ac.nz/christchurch/departments/mihi/
He Kaupapa Hononga - Otago's Climate Change Research Network
A University of Otago Research Network
Fostering climate change research using interdisciplinary and co-created knowledge
He Kaupapa Hononga is a network of researchers committed to climate action including assessment, mitigation, adaptation and restoration. We are also committed to supporting collaborations between mātauranga Māori / mātauranga Kāi Tahu and western scientific knowledge.
Our network also works collaboratively with established research groups, He Kaupapa Hononga also supports postgraduate students studying climate change and the Otago Climate Change Postgraduate Network (OCCPN).
Email: hekaupapa.hononga@otago.ac.nz
Website: otago.ac.nz/he-kaupapa-hononga
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
A Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE)
Māori leading New Zealand into the future
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga is New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence, hosted by the University of Auckland in partnership with the University of Otago and other leading New Zealand research organisations.
Established in 2002, we have a focus on producing transformative research that produces real outcomes and results for Māori communities and the nation. Much of the emphasis has been on nurturing and increasing Māori participation and success in tertiary education and research training.
Our three themes support a central strategy of Te Reo me Ngā Tikanga Māori, and articulate a vision of Māori leading New Zealand into the future.
- Whai Rawa – Research for Māori Economies
- Te Tai Ao – Research into the Natural Environment
- Mauri Ora – Research into Human Flourishing
Recent collaborative publications:
- Ngā Kete Mātauranga: Maōri Scholars at the research interface
- Te Pūtahitanga: A Tiriti-led science-policy approach for Aotearoa New Zealand: Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Email: info@maramatanga.ac.nz
Website: maramatanga.ac.nz
Ngāi Tahu Māori Health Research Unit | Te Rōpū Rakahau Hauora Māori o Kāi Tahu
Improving Māori health outcomes and addressing health inequities
The Ngāi Tahu Māori Health Research Unit (NTMHRU) contributes to a wide range of Māori health research projects and initiatives within the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, the University of Otago and our communities to ensure important and beneficial outcomes for Māori are attained.
Email: ntmhru@otago.ac.nz
Website: otago.ac.nz/maori-health-research/index.html
Poutama Ara Rau
A University of Otago Research Theme
How mātauranga Māori can transform tertiary teaching and learning
Poutama Ara Rau brings researchers together to stimulate new research collaborations and practices that lead to more mātauranga, tikanga and reo in tertiary teaching and learning.
We are a multidisciplinary research collaboration that is:
- Developing and encouraging translational Māori research embedded in theory and methods for application across research, supervision and teaching
- Offering unique opportunities for Otago's staff and students
- Building on significant disciplinary-specific Māori successes in ako at Otago to create new knowledge in curricula, leadership and innovation aligned with national strategies and positioned for external funding possibilities:
Indigenising legal education
Email: poutama.ararau@otago.ac.nz
Website: otago.ac.nz/poutama-ara-rau
Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare
Improving Māori health outcomes and eliminating inequalities through quality science and ongoing theoretical development
Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare strives to create a Kaupapa Māori space committed to improving Māori health outcomes and eliminating inequalities through quality science and ongoing theoretical development. We takes a rights-based approach consistent with the Treaty of Waitangi, and are engaged with community through a spectrum of influence from community development, policy advocacy, research dissemination and Māori health research workforce development.
Email: bridget.robson@otago.ac.nz
Website: otago.ac.nz/wellington/departments/publichealth/research/erupomare/
Mātauranga Māori featured projects | Rangahau Mātauranga Māori
Learning in the dark
The revival of an ancient Māori method of teaching in the dark has had spectacular results for Dr Karyn Paringatai and her students.
Sovereign rights to health and wellbeing
Dr Paula Toko King completed a medical degree at the University of Auckland and was on track to become a paediatrician before switching to public health, a move prompted by seeing children return again and again with preventable illnesses.
Ako Aotearoa teaching excellence awards
Many of Otago's leading researchers excel as teachers and mentors to aspiring researchers.
Ako Aotearoa Kaupapa Māori Award
- 2021 Associate Professor Diane Ruwhiu, Otago Business School, Department of Management
- 2020 Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson, School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences
- 2018 Professor Michelle Thompson-Fawcett, School of Geography
- 2016 Professor Jacinta Ruru, Faculty of Law
- 2015 Professor Suzanna Pitama, Maōri Indigenous Health Institute (MIHI)
- 2014 Dr Karyn Paringatai, Te Tumu, School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies
Ako Aotearoa Prime Minister's Supreme Award
- 2021 Dr Latika Samalia, School of Biomedical Sciences
- 2018 Faumuina Associate Professor Fa'afetai Sopoaga, Va'a o Tautai
- 2016 Professor Jacinta Ruru, Faculty of Law
- 2015 Professor Suzanna Pitama, Maōri Indigenous Health Institute (MIHI)
- 2014 Dr Karyn Paringatai, Te Tumu, School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies
Research in our four academic divisions | Te rangahau ki ō mātou whare mātauranga e whā
View more research activity in our academic divisions: