About responsiveness to Māori

The Office of Tumuaki and Te Kupenga Hauora Māori (TKHM) provide the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS) with strategic direction for Māori health, promote Māori participation in the faculty, and are responsible for Māori responsiveness. The Tumuaki continues the tradition of this office by championing Te Tiriti of Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) and the business of the faculty.

The 'Responsiveness to Māori’ (R2M) team sits within the Office of the Tumuaki (FMHS). Previously, the R2M team provided individual advice to researchers. We now provide resources so that researchers, students, and teams can grow their own expertise and networks. These resources are advice for (not consultation) FMHS staff and students who are submitting both internal and external research and ethics proposals.

The Office of the Tumuaki provides advice to the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences to ensure it contributes to the University's responsibilities to Māori under Te Tīriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi).

Central to these functions are:

• Improving Māori student participation, retention and success. The primary focus for this function is through Vision 20:20.
• Developing and maintaining relationships with Māori communities of interest.
• Integrating Māori into all aspects of University life.
• Improving the knowledge and understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi among faculty staff and students through teaching and learning modules.
• Improving Māori staff recruitment, promotion, reward and retention
  Supporting academic activities for Māori intellectual and cultural development.
• Celebrating Māori success.
• Reviewing faculty activities in respect of Māori responsiveness.
• Contributing to the regular assessment of University progress in meeting these obligations.

The R2M team will:

• Work alongside UoA research support teams to deliver R2M information across FMHS (via presentations, panels, lectures).
• Deliver training and workshops for research support staff (both face-to-face and online).
• Deliver online modules for delivery across FMHS (staff and students).
• May provide recommendations regarding Māori consultation.
• Provide advice on how to better support Māori research capacity and capability within research team.

The purpose

Why do you need to consider the relationship of your research to Māori when proposing research carried out within FMHS and what does this mean in practice?

The aim of R2M is to support you as a researcher in identifying key issues in planning and proposing research in Aotearoa New Zealand. It aims to explain why responsiveness to Māori is critical in health sciences research in the University of Auckland, and the key areas to think about when planning your research. We aim to provide advice and other tools to assist you to carry out the best research possible.

R2M is relevant to you if your research – either quantitative or qualitative - involves:

• Human tissue, body fluids or DNA
• Clinical trials or intervention studies with Māori participants. If Māori are excluded you will need to justify this exclusion to funding agencies.
• Population or community studies
• The representation of Māori ways of knowing or being