New horizon beckons with Maori institute

By SIMON COLLINS

The new National Institute of Research Excellence for Maori Development and Advancement aims for nothing less than "to transform the Maori community to full participation in society and the economy".

The institute, based at Auckland University, will pursue research that will "bring together Maori and Western intellectual traditions" in education, health and science.

It will aim to help Maori people achieve their goals of both "living as Maori" and deciding "the extent and rate of adaptation required to participate fully in society".

"As a country, I think we have to try something new," said Auckland University's Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Maori), Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith.

"Conventional research investment does not make an adequate return in terms of the transformation of Maori in New Zealand. We need new ways of doing this. This is a pretty radical initiative in that sense."

The proposal for the institute - its Maori name will be Nga Pae o te Maramatanga (Horizons of Insight) - says explanations for issues that affect Maori society have been largely sought by non-Maori researchers until now.

"All too often the products of these research endeavours (for example, books, articles, etc) benefit the researcher and not the community."

The new institute will "ground research in the Maori perspective" and "define research problems explicitly from the Maori experience of them". Its initial projects will include:

Research by Auckland University engineer Kepa Morgan into new building materials to produce cheaper and warmer housing.

Research in the university education department into young people's views of schooling and society.

A project led by Associate Professor Jane McKendrick and Dr Pamela Bennett on "transforming clinical practices in the treatment of Maori with mental health problems".

Fundamental studies of the processes underlying diseases, such as diabetes, to which Maori are genetically disposed.

The institute will be run on the basis of "positive gender relations", with co-directors Professor Linda Smith, an educationist, and Associate Professor Michael Walker, a biologist.

As well as Auckland University, it will include research at Waikato, Victoria and Otago Universities, Landcare Research and the "houses of learning" Te Wananga o Aotearoa in Te Awamutu and Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi in Whakatane.

"The institute takes as its transformative example the kohanga reo model, where a single piece of research led to a major social and educational innovation that has averted the death of Maori language and become a world-leading model of language recovery," the proposal says.

"The goal of the institute will be to achieve the same, if not higher, multipliers on investment in research."

Herald features

Catching the knowledge wave

Global Kiwis

Proud to be a Kiwi