Māori and Pacific research

Research interests:

The architectural practice and architectural histories of Pacific peoples within and outside of the Moana, or Pacific Islands; Culturally responsive design methodologies and built outcomes; Pacific wellbeing, Pacific livelihoods and Pacific housing; Applying Indigenous knowledges to solve modern architectural problems.

Research expertise / skills:

• Registered architect services
• Cross-cultural design engagement
• Community and stakeholder engagement
• Indigenising systems and processes of organisations
• Research experience in the Pacific region, including Tonga and Fiji
• Architectural practice and built projects in the Pacific region
• Digitalised and accessible learning tools

Active research projects:

• Tauranga Moana Courthouse: Action research investigating cross-cultural design methods (Jan 2022 - Nov 2026)
  Funded by Industry Partner Guymer Bailey Architects (GBA)
  Role: Principal Investigator of action research & Senior Architect co-leading GBA project team and co-design lead during Project Establishment through to Preliminary Design phases. Technical reviewer from Developed Design phases through to Construction.
  Value: $112,640 NZD
• Translating Pacific Health Research to improve Pacific Housing (Sept 2022 - Feb 2024)
  Funded by Health Research Council (HRC) Role: Principal Investigator
  Co-Investigators: Dr Ruth Faleolo, Dr Dion Enari Research Assistant: Mark Meyers Value: $30,000 NZD
• Examining Tonga’s Architectural Built Heritage – Post-Disaster (Volcano Eruption and Tsunami 2022)
  Funded by Faculty of Creative Arts & Industries Research Development Fund, Large Project Scheme (July 2022 - Feb 2024)
  Role: Principal Investigator
  Value: $25,000 NZD
• Robust and low-damage structural design for housing [in Aotearoa, New Zealand] Funded by Toka Tū Ake Earthquake Commission (EQC)
  Role: Associate Investigator and advisor for architectural and social outcomes. Value: $450,000 NZD
• Digitalised Construction Site Visits and Integrated Online Learning Funded by Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries Teaching and Learning Grant (May 2023 - May 2024) Role: Project Lead and Course Director Project Assistant: Grayson Croucher Value: $11,560 NZD

Research interests:

My research looks at the role and potential futures of the architectural discipline in isolated economies. On one hand it asks for a discussion of the practice of architecture (collective and individual) in Aotearoa. On the other, it asks for a discussion of current and future materials and fabrication processes.

Research expertise / skills:

• Design pedagogy, research and practice
• Fabrication technologies and timber tectonics
• The role and future of the architectural discipline in isolated economies

Active research projects:

• Marmomac with Dr Alessandro Premier and Dr Sarosh Mulla

Research interests:

• Performance art/live art
• Visual art
• Experimental performance and choreography
• Curation
• Ecology (social, environmental, land and sea)
• Mātauranga Māori
• Arts and cultural policy
• Transdisciplinarity

Research expertise / skills:

• Collaboration and co-design
• Community engagement
• Facilitation
• Interdisciplinarity/transdisciplinarity
• Mātauranga Māori perspectives

Active research projects:

• Toi Taiao Whakatairanga (transdisciplinary research, curating Māori artists in relation to forest health, funded by MFA, NRT and the National Science Challenge). See more about the project
• Toitū te Ngahere (transdisciplinary research, with mātauranga Māori, arts, and education in relation to forest health, funded by MFA, NRT and the National Science Challenge).
  
• Mobilising for Action (transdisciplinary research umbrella project, with mātauranga Māori and social dimensions in relation to the environment, funded by NRT and the National Science Challenge). See more about the project
• Whakahoki (transdisciplinary project with arts, ecology and mātauranga Māori with waitī and waitā locations in the Horowhenua with Tu Waituhi ā Nuku: Drawing Ecologies). See more about the project

Research interests:

• Mahi maramataka
• Hautū Waka
  
• Whānau oranga and wellbeing
  

Research expertise / skills:

• Maramataka knowledge
• Kaupapa Māori
• Hautū Waka
• Whānau centred co-design
• Facilitation
• Community whānau engagement

Active research projects:

• Te Rau Ora
• Maramataka ki te tiri o te moana
• Maramataka restoration in Puhinui
• Maramataka oranga in connection to the taiao

Research interests:

• Creative and embodied knowledge, performance, and practice
• Embodied relationality
• Indigenous methodologies
• Indigenous pedagogy
• Decolonisation
• Oceanic arts and wellbeing
• Dance and Dance studies
• Cultural/intercultural/multicultural studies

As a woman, artist, educator, researcher and storyteller, I am drawn to discourse that unearths socio-cultural narratives, pertaining to identity and the sustainability of indigenous ways of knowing, doing, and being. My interests lie in indigenous methodological practices within education, community and creative spaces. I am curious about ideas of embodiment and particularly, how vā might be understood as an embodied concept within diverse fields of creativity. Grounded in Oceanic theories and methodological approaches, I am driven by research that serves and supports Pacific communities in areas of the arts, education, and wellbeing.

Research expertise / skills:

• Pacific dance practices
• Dance choreography and creative practice
• Curriculum and pedagogy development
• Pacific research methodologies
• Community engagement

Active research projects:

• Embodying vā: Relationality within Samoan dance performance practices (PhD).
  
• Cultivating Wellbeing through Dance for Samoan Women with Breast Cancer (Transdisciplinary Ideation Fund Project).

Research interests:

My research has focused on transdisciplinary research that expand my current expertise in Pacific spatialities, research-led creative practices and indigenous research principles. My research interests reflect my academic commitment to bringing up-to-date research, innovative tools, and methods into dialogue with indigenous principles and creative practice for research outcomes advancing Māori and Pacific aspirations for their built environments within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, and Indigenous communities globally.

That architecture and creative practices may positively impact generations of Pacific people underscores my approach to research, teaching and service. Furthermore, as an Indigenous Pacific educator I look to improve architectural outcomes for tangata whenua through my teaching practices in solidarity with Māori aspirations for mana motuhake (self-determination), and as tangata Tiriti. Rising to the challenges facing indigenous communities, either in motherlands, or as diaspora invites creativity. This belief informs my research interests in Pacific Art and Architecture, Māori and Pacific housing, drawing-based research, decolonial theory and kai (food) sovereignty.

I am a regular opinion column writer for Architecture New Zealand, a leading national industry journal which publishes on the country’s built realm, current discourse and award winning projects. My columns discuss issues related to housing, as well as salient issues relevant to the profession and industry.

Research expertise / skills:

• Indigenous research: drawing-as-research, research-led creative practices, co-design, studio-design
• Pacific spatialities
• Māori and Pacific Housing

Active research projects:

• Pacific housing
• Pacific knowledge systems
• Pacific methods
  

Research interests:

• Vocal pedagogy
• Studio pedagogy
• Community music
• Indigenising music education
  

Research expertise / skills:

• Community music education
• Vocal pedagogy
• Applied classical voice studio
• Indigenising music education and the vocal arts curriculum
• Founding member of Decolonising and Indigenising Music Education Special Interest Group (ISME)
• Expert advisor for the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation (CAST)
• Research fellow for Laurier Centre for Music in the Community, Ontario, Canada

Active research projects:

• Decolonising and Indigenising Music Education: First Peoples Leading Research and Practice
• The role of First Nations’ music as a determinant of health (international advisor)
  
• Community music in Canada: Leading music in culturally diverse contexts (international advisor)

Research expertise / skills:

• Community engagement
• Rangatira workshops
• Research methodologies
• Pacific value-based design

Active research projects:

• Pacific housing research with MAU Studio
• PhD

Research interests:

• Contemporary Māori art
• Installation art
• Ngāi Tahutanga

Research expertise / skills:

• Sculpture
• Installation
• Drawing / tuhituhi
• Relational art and community engagement
• Performance art

Active research projects:

• Kā Kaihōpara, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Ōtepoti Dunedin, 22 April to 23 July 2023. See more about the project
  

Research interests:

My research interests include Mana Moana choreography and dance, dance pedagogy, ideas centered around identity and belonging for Māori and Pacific students within the tertiary context. Creative and embodied practice alongside sharing and exchanging knowledge and lived experiences interest me.

Research expertise / skills:

• Pacific contemporary choreography/dance
• Practice-led artistic research
• Dance pedagogy development
• Mentorship of undergraduate Māori and/or Pacific students

Active research projects:

• PhD thesis
• Prime Ministers Scholarship to Colombia

Research interests:

• Pacific architecture
• Tā-Vā theory of reality
• Tauhi Vā
• Architectural theory
• Indigenous knowledges and practices
• Pacific arts
• Sustainability
• Pacific co-design
• Talanoa
  

Research expertise / skills:

• Tongan language speaker
• Talanoa facilitator
• Community engagement
• Mentoring and tutoring

Active research projects:

• Nīmoi ‘i Talafau: Towards an Oceanic Architectural Theory through Tongan Architecture (PhD thesis)