In winter 2025, Whakauae Research Services Limited welcomed AUT student Lucy de Young Hakaraia (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) as part of our Visualising Systems Change - Winter Studentship. Over three months, Lucy took on a creative challenge rarely offered in the research world: turning an Indigenous systems-change framework into a comic book.
The goal was simple but ambitious: to create a visual story that helps people see what systems change looks like, and understand how Te Ruru, Whakauae Research Services Limited Kaupapa Māori systems-change framework, works in practice.
Why Create a comic about systems change?
Systems change can be difficult to explain. It involves relationships, values, power, interconnection, and ripple effects - things that don’t fit neatly into a diagram or bullet points. For many communities, students, and whānau, systems language can feel abstract or inaccessible.
At the same time, systems thinking is essential for improving Māori health and wellbeing. We need tools that help people understand complexity in ways that feel grounded in culture, place, and lived experience.
That’s where Lucy’s project came in.
The studentship offered a unique opportunity to bring together creativity, mātauranga Māori, and research. As Lucy described it:
“Systems change is an important kōrero, but it can be hard to understand. Our goal was to create something relatable - a story that speaks to communities, students, institutes, and whānau, and helps spark understanding, curiosity, and action.”
About Te Ruru
Te Ruru is a Kaupapa Māori systems-change framework developed by Whakauae Research Services Limited. Rooted in the mātauranga of Ngāti Hauiti, it offers a relational, non-linear, and locally grounded way of understanding change.
Conventional evaluation tools often struggle to account for complexity, culture, and interdependence - especially in Indigenous contexts. Te Ruru helps researchers and communities recognise these connections and use them to influence change meaningfully and ethically.
The creative process
Over the 10 week studentship, Lucy worked closely with project mentors, content advisors, and the Te Ruru developers to transform key concepts into an engaging, visual narrative.
For Lucy, who is majoring in Animation with a minor in Motion Capture and Film, it was a chance to build a portfolio piece with real-world impact and to work deeply with Kaupapa Māori content.
What the comic achieves
The final comic strip acts as a bridge between research and community, theory and practice, complexity and clarity. The comic makes abstract ideas visual and memorable, showing how systems change works in real-life situations. It offers a culturally grounded way to teach and communicate Te Ruru, helping students, researchers, and whānau engage with systems thinking in an accessible way. By using visual storytelling, it also expands access to Te Ruru for people who learn best through images and narrative.
Most importantly, it demonstrates that mātauranga and creativity can work together to open up new ways of seeing the world.
By presenting Te Ruru through a comic format, we’ve created a tool that is not only educational but also joyful, innovative, and deeply grounded in kaupapa Māori values.
It shows that systems change doesn’t only live in reports and frameworks, but it lives in stories.
To view the comic online go to: https://interactives.whakauae.co.nz/Te-Ruru/
In winter 2025, Whakauae Research Services Limited welcomed AUT student Lucy de Young Hakaraia (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) as part of our Visualising Systems Change - Winter Studentship. Over three months, Lucy took on a creative challenge rarely offered in the research world: turning an Indigenous systems-change framework into a comic book.
The goal was simple but ambitious: to create a visual story that helps people see what systems change looks like, and understand how Te Ruru, Whakauae Research Services Limited Kaupapa Māori systems-change framework, works in practice.
Why Create a comic about systems change?
Systems change can be difficult to explain. It involves relationships, values, power, interconnection, and ripple effects - things that don’t fit neatly into a diagram or bullet points. For many communities, students, and whānau, systems language can feel abstract or inaccessible.
At the same time, systems thinking is essential for improving Māori health and wellbeing. We need tools that help people understand complexity in ways that feel grounded in culture, place, and lived experience.
That’s where Lucy’s project came in.
The studentship offered a unique opportunity to bring together creativity, mātauranga Māori, and research. As Lucy described it:
“Systems change is an important kōrero, but it can be hard to understand. Our goal was to create something relatable - a story that speaks to communities, students, institutes, and whānau, and helps spark understanding, curiosity, and action.”
About Te Ruru
Te Ruru is a Kaupapa Māori systems-change framework developed by Whakauae Research Services Limited. Rooted in the mātauranga of Ngāti Hauiti, it offers a relational, non-linear, and locally grounded way of understanding change.
Conventional evaluation tools often struggle to account for complexity, culture, and interdependence - especially in Indigenous contexts. Te Ruru helps researchers and communities recognise these connections and use them to influence change meaningfully and ethically.
The creative process
Over the 10 week studentship, Lucy worked closely with project mentors, content advisors, and the Te Ruru developers to transform key concepts into an engaging, visual narrative.
For Lucy, who is majoring in Animation with a minor in Motion Capture and Film, it was a chance to build a portfolio piece with real-world impact and to work deeply with Kaupapa Māori content.
What the comic achieves
The final comic strip acts as a bridge between research and community, theory and practice, complexity and clarity. The comic makes abstract ideas visual and memorable, showing how systems change works in real-life situations. It offers a culturally grounded way to teach and communicate Te Ruru, helping students, researchers, and whānau engage with systems thinking in an accessible way. By using visual storytelling, it also expands access to Te Ruru for people who learn best through images and narrative.
Most importantly, it demonstrates that mātauranga and creativity can work together to open up new ways of seeing the world.
By presenting Te Ruru through a comic format, we’ve created a tool that is not only educational but also joyful, innovative, and deeply grounded in kaupapa Māori values.
It shows that systems change doesn’t only live in reports and frameworks, but it lives in stories.
To view the comic online go to: https://interactives.whakauae.co.nz/Te-Ruru/
