November 24, 2022
Unitec celebrates top researchers
How pakeha can manage leadership roles in Māori organisations and developing a landscape architecture framework for Te Awa Tupua, the Whanganui River, are among the project to receive post-graduate research awards from Unitec.
Research director Marcus Williams says the work was blind refereed with two examiners, one external to the organisation.
For his Master of Applied Practice thesis, Martin Steinmann held focus groups on the value and risks of Pākehā taking leadership roles in Māori organisations.
He found understanding of and commitment to kaupapa Māori vision and process, and being part of Māori community hui and other cultural activities not specifically written into the job description is the key to pākehā acceptance and success.
Ahlia-Mei Ta’ala’s research project for her Master of Landscape Architecture qualification looked at the Pākaitore site in Whanganui and the way it could be developed to reflect its people and its history, through the rebuilding of the indigenous knowledge that resides within the landscape.
Another architecture student, Matthew Reilly, combined his love of tramping in K the Southern Alps with his passion for architecture to come up plans for three huts along the trail found by Taureka through Kā Tiritiri o te Moana which opened the way for Ngāi Tahu to access pounamu.