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
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 is Professor of Demography at the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato. She affiliates to Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Kinohaku, Ngāti Māhanga and Te Aupōuri. Tahu specialises in Māori and Indigenous demographic research and has written extensively on issues of Indigenous population change, Indigenous identity and official statistics. She is a founding member of Te Mana Raraunga and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. Tahu co-edited the landmark book Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda (ANU Press) and the forthcoming book Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy (Routledge). Tahu has degrees in History, Demography and Sociology from the University of Waikato and Stanford University. She was previously a journalist.
MAUI HUDSON
Maui affiliates to Te Whakatohea, Nga Ruahine, and Te Mahurehure. He is a member of the Whakatohea Māori Trust Board and Director on a number of its companies including Eastern Seafarms Ltd. Maui is an Associate Professor at the University of Waikato and Director of Te Kotahi Research Institute. His research is interdisciplinary in nature focusing on the application of mātauranga Māori (indigenous knowledge) to decision-making across a range of contexts from new technologies to health, the environment to innovation. He is a founding member of Te Mana Raraunga and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA), and a co-author of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance.
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
Donna Cormack
Donna (Kāti Mamoe, Kai Tahu) is a researcher with joint positions at Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pomare, University of Otago (Wellington), and Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, University of Auckland. She has been involved over a number of years in work on the conceptualisation, collection and classification of ethnicity data in Aotearoa, particularly as it relates to measuring and monitoring Māori health and health inequity. Her research and teaching interests include racism as a determinant of Indigenous health, critical approaches to Māori health and health equity, and data sovereignty.
James Hudson
Of the Ngāti Awa, Tuhoe, Ngāti Pukeko and Ngaitai tribes, James’s early career was in resource management, public and commercial law working with Māori tribes and organisations. His focus then shifted towards researching with universities and whare wānanga (tribal universities) focussing on Māori and indigenous governance and development. During this time, he led several significant research collaborations amongst Māori and Crown research institutes while completing his doctorate in outcomes measures to quantify progress for iwi (tribes). More recently, James has led data innovations in a local government context for Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). These included developing an integrated Māori data strategy, implementing a Māori-specific evaluation and monitoring framework, and reporting data on Māori wellbeing and contribution in Tamaki Makaurau.
VANESSA CLARK
Vanessa (Ngaati Tiipa, Ngaati Tahinga, Ngaati Aamaru) is Principal of Vanessa Clark Consulting Ltd. Vanessa has more than 18 years of business and management experience in the ICT sector internationally (Hong Kong, London, Sydney, San Francisco) and locally. She worked at Cisco Systems Inc. in Silicon Valley for 11 years and returned to Aotearoa NZ in 2011. Vanessa is keen to share and leverage her global management experience and encourages collaboration and partnering in order to challenge the status quo and advance innovation, research and development and Māori economic imperatives. Vanessa was appointed to the Māori ICT Development Fund Expert Advisory Group in October 2015 and in December of the same year, appointed to the Board of Te Māngai Pāho.
Wikuki Kingi
Wikuki Kingi is a Tohunga Toi Ake; Master Carver, and Cultural Symbologist; a culmination of 26 generations of the ancient arts and first language of Indigenous technology and communication. A Native Scientist/Technologist he has an extensive history of creating artistic and cultural treasures for local and global communities including the world’s largest Maori / Pacific totem Pou Kapua. Wikuki is a founding trustee of Pou Kapua Creations Trust and the HAKAMANA Virtual Reality Collective; convenor and founding member of Planet Maori and TE HA Global Alliance who continue to support Indigenous technological sovereignty, 21st century productions, and business development. He is on the board of Seattle-based Indigenous Education Institute (IEI) whose work includes the NSF / NASA supported Cosmic Serpent programme. He is a member of the Native Science Academy based in San Francisco, working with the National Science Foundation Washington bringing native science values and methodologies alongside western science technology into their national programmes. A creative leader, visionary and strategist, Wikuki “seeks to unleash the taniwha of transformation upon the universe, and unshackle the power of creativity and innovation encoded in our DNA.”