This project examined current practices for measuring Māori participation and achievement in science and mathematics, investigated student experiences of science and mathematics in English medium and Māori medium schools and investigated the views of whānau, parents, caregivers and teachers of Māori students regarding science and mathematics education.
Dr Shaun Ogilvie explores new frontiers of knowledge in this seminar by posing a new approach for the relationship between what are often considered to be two distinct bodies of knowledge: mātauranga Māori and applied ecology.
Professor Michael Walker (Whakatōhea) is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Royal Institute of Navigation in London. He is best known for his research on the existence, capacities and use of the magnetic sense in navigation over long distances. Recently, he has developed research investigating the mechanisms of the lunar and tidal rhythms in marine organisms. Over the last 20 years, Professor Walker has also worked to increase participation of Māori and Pacific Island people in all aspects of the sciences and research.
Dr Ocean Ripeka Mercier (Ngāti Porou) is a Lecturer in Te Kawa a Māui (School of Māori Studies) at Victoria University of Wellington. In 2002 she became the first Māori woman to gain a PhD in Physics. Dr Mercier’s current teaching and research explores the interface between Māori and indigenous knowledge and science in tertiary and secondary educational contexts. She is the presenter of Project Mātauranga, a 13-part science series commissioned for Māori Television.
Born and raised in Te Arawa, the entrepreneur Wetini Mitai-Ngatai started his career teaching at Rotorua Boys and Western Heights High School, before lecturing at Waiariki Institute of Technology.
An internationally renowned kapa haka exponent, Wetini’s first culture group was Ngāti Whakaue, followed by Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao. In 1994 Wetini and Irirangi Tiakiawa Tahuriorangi started the group Te Mātārae i Ōrehu. Led by Wetini, who has won the male leadership title at four Matatini Festivals, Te Mātārae has won the national kapa haka title twice.
Professor Ngāhuia Te Awekotuku is Professor of Research at Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao (School of Māori and Pacific Development) at the University of Waikato. With other degrees in Art History and English, her PhD (1981) was in psychology. This experience contributed to her writing an early (1991) monograph on Māori research ethics. For years she worked in the heritage and creative sectors, as a curator, governor, and activist/advocate. Her research interests include gender issues, museums, body modification, power and powerlessness, spirituality and ritual.
