Professor Tahu Kukutai has been awarded the prestigious Royal Society Te Rangi Hiroa Medal. Tahu (Ngāti Tīpā, Ngāti Mahanga, Ngāti Kinohaku, Ngāti Ngawaero, Te Aupōuri), has been awarded the medal for her world-leading research on Indigenous data sovereignty and Indigenous demography, as well as for distinguished contributions to these disciplines globally.

In her research Tahu uses large datasets to explore social and economic issues, including wellbeing for Māori communities. However, she says that her research mahi is much more than data points on a page and lines on a graph, it’s about people. “The data systems that underpin that are fundamentally about people. It’s about making people count.”

She says that her two areas of research – Māori demography and population research, and Māori data sovereignty – fit together well. “One of them is about understanding the drivers and the impacts of Māori population change for hapu, for iwi, and for Māori as a whole.”

“The other is about understanding how can we restore mana Māori over Māori data? What are the ways that we can do that? What are the tools that we can build? What are the processes that we need? What is the future workforce we want to grow in this space?”

She says it is a huge honour to receive the Te Rangi Hiroa Medal. “He was the first Māori Fellow of the New Zealand Institute, which later became the Royal Society. His work on Māori health is an important resource for Māori demography, and I’ve referred to it many times in my own research. In 2018, I was fortunate to be able to attend Te Rā o Te Rangi Hiroa at Urenui marae. So, receiving this award, in his name, is a huge honour.”

Tahu is a co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga alongside Professor Melinda Webber.

“Tahu has an impeccable record of academic service and research leadership. She leads with a rare combination of sharp intellectual acumen, relationality and street smarts. NPM stands proudly alongside her whānau and friends in celebrating this timely acknowledgement of her research contributions. E te hoe urungi – e poho kūkupa ana mātou I a koe,” says Melinda Webber.

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