The TUI team (Translation, Uptake, and Impact) has dedicated its first year of research to operationalising a TUI model for research uptake and impact with its internal research team. Taking a systems perspective and using an emerging Whakauae systems change model, we identified a need to secure entry points for aspiring Kaupapa Māori researchers where our current capacity to do research is limited. The TUI team is testing a new way of working with upcoming tauira, current undergraduate Māori students, as part of the Whakauae Winter Studentship in 2023. The opportunity was open for current tertiary students to gain real research experience while working with senior Māori health researchers for three months to develop the content, strategy, and delivery of a dissemination that is focused on election issues as they pertain to Māori wellbeing. There is a specific focus on housing, primary care, governance, and leadership to align with the Kia Puāwai programme of research.
We recruited four rangatahi who were excited by the idea of working collectively, all with backgrounds in Māori development and wellbeing and a high level of self-awareness and the ability to be reflective. Four unique perspectives bring a valuable and diverse understanding of what it means to “be Māori” in a contemporary world. With varying backgrounds and academic interests, each from a different academic institution, the students are working within the framework and aspirations of TUI. This studentship aims to create a prototype of co-design, engagement, and working beyond our “business as usual” studentship formats.
Our teina are meeting every week in self-led wānanga with fortnightly tuakana-teina hui with supervisors. A range of Māori academics working in the field have dropped in as guest speakers. Monthly, the whole team meet a-kānohi in Tāmaki Makaurau for wānanga to go over the project brief, performing'mahi-a-roopu’ (Boulton & Gifford, 2010) for data synthesis and analysis. We have found that mahi-a-roopu is a uniquely beneficial approach to qualitative data analysis, for it allows greater reliability and rigour when a team of Māori researchers is able to work collectively reviewing data instead of in isolation.
This initiative supports our studentship team to:
- Mobilise our new knowledge from the three Kia Puawai projects.
- Draw attention to the health and wellbeing issues of Māori and how these are being talked about or not talked about in the pre-election rhetoric of the five main political parties in Aotearoa.
- Engage rangatahi in pre-election issues for Māori health and wellbeing.
Thus far, the team has surveyed, gathered, and reviewed political party websites, media, and social media to produce an insights document on the central messages of political parties on Māori issues, specifically housing, primary care (health), governance, and leadership. These insights, which Whakauae Research presented to our team, served as the foundation for an insights campaign focused on the election year priorities for political parties and how they represent to address issues of concern to Mori health and wellbeing.
We are fortunate to have Health Research Council of New Zealand funding and the subsequent internal flexibility to adapt to immediate need, producing a pathway to a career in Kaupapa Māori research for four tauira Māori. Whakauae with the Kia Puāwai research programme is already supporting four PhD students, and the Winter Studentship was an opportunity to continue their commitment to developing and enabling a Māori research workforce with experience of working on a kaupapa Māori project. This is especially important given the current shortage of Māori researchers.
The approach marks a shift from fixed thinking and planning of student support to developing a project that wraps around the unique strengths of Tauira Māori, is responsive and needs-based, and has enough flexibility to fit around students university and other commitments. At the same time, the approach maintains strict enough parameters to allow the project to flourish and produce a unique, bespoke research output designed to help rangatahi make educated decisions about voting in New Zealand's upcoming elections in October 2023. The project will be evaluated by a current rangatahi student at Whakauae Ema Tu'akoi, where we will identify what worked, what needs tweaking, and how we could amplify this studentship approach in other research areas. We are looking forward to sharing the prototype of this capacity building approach.
Boulton, A., & Gifford, H. (2010, December). Making work pay: Policymakers perspectives on ‘Working for Families'. In Māori Association of Social Science Conference, Auckland.
