Grant a thrill for Northland lecturer

Dr Georgina Stewart has been awarded a $300,000 research grant to study te reo Maori policies in universities. Photo / John Stone

A lecturer at the University of Auckland's Whangarei campus has been awarded a notable research grant.

Dr Georgina Stewart of the Faculty of Education has been granted $300,000 as part of the 2014 Marsden Fund round. The fund is administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand to support academics by "providing grants for investigator-initiated research".

Dr Stewart's research project, titled Maori-Medium Educational Scholarship, will study the results of te reo Maori policies in New Zealand universities.

"I'll be looking at theses that are written in te reo Maori and analysing them carefully, comparing them to theses completed in English to see what advantages and disadvantages there are and what new knowledge is found or lost when completing theses in Maori.

"I would then like to interview the writers of these theses about their experiences."

The inspiration for her study came after marking student theses completed in te reo Maori.

"There are libraries full of studies published in English but nothing in te reo, so there's nothing to compare the ones I'm marking to."

Dr Stewart said having a basis of theses and essays completed in te reo Maori was important to ensure future essays were up to standard.

"Usually when you assess something you compare it with other essays. How do you know you're marking the essay fairly when there's nothing to compare it to?"

Dr Stewart, who is of Ngapuhi descent, said she hoped her research would contribute to the way te reo Maori was handled at universities.

She applied for the 2013 Marsden Fund after hearing about it through a friend. "It was one of those throw-away comments. She told me about it in December 2012, I started working on my application and applied in February 2013."

Although her research was not funded first time around, she applied again this year. "I sent a full proposal which included a detailed budget and timeline and an output plan. I received an email on Monday [saying I'd been awarded it]. It feels unreal."

Dr Stewart's project is funded for three years. She will start her research early in 2015.