Community Involvement in Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Research

10th November 2014

Report Highlights Significant Community Involvement at the core of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Research

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) - New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence – recently received a report commissioned from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) to assess the economic, social and other impacts of its research.

A summary of key findings from this research impact evaluation are:
• NPM has established an unprecedented and extensive formal and informal network of cooperation between its partner research institutions;
• 80% of NPM research projects were designed and shaped by communities;
• The majority of the projects reported improving the practices, processes and policies of end-users such as tribal authorities and iwi;
• The impacts of NPM projects are localised and highly relevant to the communities involved;
• NPM researchers are highly engaged with the Māori communities they work amongst;
• Almost half of NPM’s projects received additional direct funding;
• NPM is a unique organisation, with no international benchmark to compare it with.

The NZIER report demonstrates that NPM shapes its research to directly address the concerns of its communities, as well as local and central government, and then applies that research to ultimately improve social, economic and environmental outcomes for Māori and indeed all of New Zealand.

It also notes the development of additional Māori research capability with NPM providing over 670 contested grants to support Māori and indigenous students and researchers, with over 700 students involved in their national post-graduate network, MAI Te Kupenga.

The reports lead author, Nick Allison, Principal Economist at NZIER comments that “Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga’s research portfolio is highly varied, with projects that span a diverse range from language growth and community housing, through to environmental restoration and geothermal development. As a result the social and economic impacts of their work can be seen across many different sectors and communities”.

Two examples which validate the significance of the research undertaken by NPM are the Whare Uku Project, which has the goal of providing a more affordable solution for housing Māori communities in the Far North and the Mātauranga Māori-based fish traps study which demonstrates ways in which Māori knowledge can reduce and even eliminate the issues of bycatch in the commercial fishing industry. This project secured further government funding of $8.9m over 6 years.

Associate Professor Tracey McIntosh, Director of NPM, says “the report provides a solid framework and method on which we can base the ongoing assessment and reporting of our research impacts, but most importantly it has also highlighted the success and positive impacts of NPM’s research portfolio over the past decade”.

A PDF of this press release is available here. A full copy of the NZIER report is available on the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga website.

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) is a Centre of Research Excellence comprising 16 research partners (participating research entities) hosted at the University of Auckland and conducting research of relevance to Māori communities. Our goal is unleash the creative and economic potential of Māori, transform communities and conduct research of relevance that will bring about positive change.

www.maramatanga.ac.nz

ENDS

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