Te Pokapū

The work programme of Te Mana Raraunga is overseen by a core working group of volunteers, Te Pokapū. Te Pokapū consists of Te Pae Anamata (who oversee activities day-to-day) and Te Pae Onamata (former active members of Te Pokapū who now act as advisers).

Te Pae Anamata

Kiri West

Dr Kiri West is an Indigenous researcher, kaupapa Māori theoriser, communication lecturer and reluctant storyteller. Her research background includes Māori data sovereignty, tikanga, and technology and research ethics. In an increasingly digitised world, she is interested in the ways in which we can give meaning to the above fields through the telling of our own stories.

Daniel Wilson

Daniel Wilson (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao) teaches in the School of Computer Science at Waipapa Taumata Rau / University of Auckland. He is interested in tools, techniques and frameworks for the safe use of AI, particularly in relation to Māori data sovereignty, equity and culturally safe AI.

LARISSA RENFREW

Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Paoa, Waikato-Tainui. Larissa currently works as a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Science and is a PhD student at Waipapa Taumata Rau. She is interested in Hauora Māori and ethical implications of data sovereignty in research and dissemination.

Lara Greaves

Lara Greaves (Ngāpuhi, Pākehā, Tararā) is an academic and occasional public sector researcher. She works as an associate professor in politics at Victoria University of Wellington and has a part-time role as a senior research fellow in statistics at the University of Auckland. Her current work explores data in elections and voting. It also focuses on Māori data sovereignty around electoral data and other Crown-held sources, like the Integrated Data Infrastructure.

logan hamley

E rere kau mai te awa nui nei. Mai i te kāhui maunga ki Tangaroa, ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au, ko Logan Hamley tōku ingoa. 

Dr Logan Hamley is a descendant of Ngāti Ranga and Whanganui. He is a Senior Researcher at Whakauae Research Services Ltd. a Ngāti Hauiti-owned health research centre. His background is in psychology, completing his PhD at the University of Auckland in 2023. This work explored how rangatahi tāne Māori find identity and belonging in Tāmaki-makaurau. This work with rangatahi is his passion, particularly with tāne and rangatahi takatāpui. He work spans health, identity and wellbeing generally. He previously worked as a Kaupapa Māori psychology lecturer at the University of Waikato. Alongside his work with TMR, he co-chairs Ngā Pou Mana, the Māori Allied Health Workforce association, and is on the Māori Health Committee for the Health Research Council New Zealand.

Ella Pēpi Tarapa-Dewes

Ella Pēpi Tarapa-Dewes (Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Porou) teaches in Te Puna Wānanga at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland and, as an alumna of the University of Waikato, is pursuing her PhD there. Her career in Māori-medium education spans 29 years across teaching, school leadership, and tertiary education. Her current PhD research focuses on hapū data sovereignty, examining the protection, access, and use of whakapapa data to support Indigenous self-determination and intergenerational wellbeing.

Nicole edwards

Nicole (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a neuroscientist and cellular/molecular biologist with an interest in the use of emerging genomic technologies to uncover new insights into neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease. In parallel with this research focus, Nicole is an advocate for the development and implementation of ethical data management practices in genomic research and health, particularly the implementation of Māori data sovereignty frameworks to support community aspirations and approaches to care. Nicole completed her PhD at the Centre for Brain research at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland and was a Fulbright funded research fellow at the Broad institute of MIT & Harvard. Nicole recently returned to New Zealand and is a Pouako | Lecturer at the Faculty of Science.

Paul Brown

Paul Brown (Tainui, Ngāti Hikairo) is a Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Waikato. His research includes computational Bayesian inference, statistical modelling, and Māori data sovereignty. On this front, he has been involved in projects that focus on the use of Māori data in government operational algorithms and findability of Indigenous data in large data systems.

COREY RUHA

He uri whakaheke nō Te Arawa, Tainui me Mātaatua waka
He uri whakatupu nō Te Whenua Moemoeā

Corey currently works as a Data Scientist at Eco-index and also as a Contract Researcher with most of his projects focused on monitoring technology and systems seeking to enhance environmental wellbeing. He has worked across various roles for his Iwi in which time he has tried to use data to tell stories, building bridges for his people to engage with the science of our Taiao. Corey has a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering and also undertook some further study at Goldman's School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley and further study at the School of Energy at the University of Reykjavik. He is passionate in giving his energy to projects and initiatives that invest in the land and water and the connection of people to ancestral places of belonging.

Tihei winiwini, tihei wanawana, tihei mauri ora! 

phil wilcox

Phil is a quantitative geneticist and bioethicist based at the University of Otāgo in Aotearoa/New Zealand. He has worked at the interface of Māori bioethics and gene technologies, and developed tikanga (Māori ethics)-based frameworks and guidelines for researchers. Phil has previously worked in the areas of genetics of tree species and statistical genetics method development. He teaches Māori-related content in graduate and undergraduate science courses, and runs education programmes for Māori tauira (students) and pākeke (adults) on genomics and genetics that are taught in Māori learning environments. Phil has established and leads the post graduate Applied Sciences (Quantitative Genetics) programme in the University of Otago’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Te Pae Onamata

Tahu Kukutai

Tahu Kukutai is Professor of Demography at Te Ngira Institute for Population Research and Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Centre of Research Excellence. Tahu specialises in Māori and Indigenous demography and data sovereignty and has received a number of awards for her contribution to these fields. Her recent publications include Indigenous data sovereignty: Toward an agenda (ANU Press), Indigenous data sovereignty and policy (Routledge), The Oxford handbook of Indigenous sociology (Oxford), Indigenous statistics: From data deficits to data sovereignty (Routledge) and the Māori Data Governance Model (Te Kāhui Raraunga). Tahu has undertaken research for numerous tribes, Māori communities, and Government agencies, and provided strategic advice across a range of sectors. She is a founding member of the Māori Data Sovereignty Network Te Mana Raraunga and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. Tahu is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and a Life Member of the Population Association of New Zealand. Her affiliations are Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāti Kinohaku and Te Aupōuri.

MAUI HUDSON

Maui (Whakatōhea, Ngāruahine, Te Māhurehure) is an interdisciplinary researcher in Indigenous ethics, data sovereignty, mātauranga Māori and science. He is the Director of Te Kotahi Research Institute, where his research focuses on Indigenous trade, benefit sharing, and enhancing research practices with Indigenous communities. Maui is a founding member of Te Mana Raraunga – the Māori Data Sovereignty Network – and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. He is also a co-author of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. In addition, he serves on the Council of Local Contexts and is a co-developer of the Biocultural Labels. He has recently submitted a PhD by Publication that examines cultural reciprocity and the co-production of deep knowledge across Indigenous and Western knowledge systems.

Caleb Moses

Caleb is a Māori mathematician from the Hokianga region whose interests are machine learning, language and automation. He has a bachelor’s degree and a postgraduate diploma in pure mathematics from the University of Auckland. During his studies Caleb researched mathematical physics and fractal geometry, which contributed to his understanding of the latest statistical models. Caleb is passionate about language. He speaks Japanese fluently and is currently learning te reo Māori and Korean.

Andrew Sporle

Andrew (Ngāti Apa, Rangitane, Te Rarawa) is based part-time in the Statistics Department at the University of Auckland, where he teaches in courses on survey methods and official statistics. He has recently returned to academia after several years consulting in the private sector on health service and research development. A sociologist and epidemiologist, his research interests include indigenous statistics, social inequities and the creation of public domain tools for accessing and applying existing data. He was formerly the inaugural Māori health research manager at the Health Research Council. His current research work includes improving the Māori responsiveness of mainstream research, creating longitudinal and quasi-experimental studies with existing data, the social and environmental determinants of stomach cancer in Māori, and the development of improved methods to apply official statistics to inform the prevention of premature death amongst Māori.

Former Te Pokapū Members