After successfully hosting our final hui for the Kia Puāwai Programme (see related article here), Whakauae kaimahi had a busy month hosting many visitors at our tari and completing work that will stand us in good stead for 2027.
We were delighted to host the new CEO of the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Professor Hannah Buckley, who spent a brief period in Whanganui meeting with both Te Atawhai o Te Ao and us. Hannah is a Professor of Ecology at Auckland University of Technology and enjoyed hearing about our work with our iwi, Ngāti Hauiti, to support their work in climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as environmental and waterway restoration. Senior members of the team enjoyed a free and frank discussion regarding the direction of the science sector reforms and the role independent Māori research organisations will play in a reformed research and science landscape. Hannah left us not just with an armload of recent WRS publications, including our most recent IRO impact report (see report here), but with a better understanding of the work we do, our motivations, and the contribution organisations such as ours can make to transforming Māori lives.
The following week we were host to the members of the Rukua ki te Rētōtanga o te Wai research team, including our own Dr Tanya Allport and Ben Barton, as well as Assoc Prof Clive Aspin, Dr Hector Kaiwai, Aneta Cram and Benjamin Doyle who, along with Dr Amohia Boulton and Tom Johnson (who unfortunately could not attend), comprise the remainder of the research team. We also welcomed Clive’s partner, Terry, to our offices, as he accompanied Clive to enjoy some time in the city during the spring. In this project, we aim to investigate, identify and articulate the barriers and enablers to preventive HIV uptake in Māori, to inform targeted strategies to enable better HIV prevention for Māori (see project update here). A year into the three-year study, the team members spent the day in Whanganui to attend the first analysis hui for the project, where we discussed what we had heard from the study participants, what we thought was significant from those interviews, and how we would honour the voices of those participants in our analysis and write up of results. The team is already working on the first manuscript from the study, which pulls together the literature on this kaupapa, with a view to submitting the paper early in 2027.
Our full Whakauae team then met again in Whanganui for our annual planning day, which was held at HIVE Whanganui (also known as Hive HQ) – a tech incubator, innovation hub, and co-working space located in central Whanganui. Ably facilitated once more by colleague Teresa Taylor, the team spent a full day reflecting on the past year, reviewing our current context, and thinking ahead to 2027 and our goals for the year ahead, based on our 2023-2029 Strategic Plan. Before the annual planning day, our senior leaders met to discuss high-level issues affecting the research ecosystem. They enjoyed a compelling presentation by Board Member Nick Roskruge on how changes to research, science, and technology funding might affect our work. We recorded this presentation and replayed it to the full team at annual planning, and it certainly set the scene for the year ahead.
As a soft-funded research centre, we rely on our reputation and ability to deliver high-quality research that is needed by our community. To that end, team members are spending what remains of this month and part of November developing research grants for submission to several funding bodies in the hope that we can continue to fund the work we do for our people. So a busy month, but that also seems to be business as usual for our team!
After successfully hosting our final hui for the Kia Puāwai Programme (see related article here), Whakauae kaimahi had a busy month hosting many visitors at our tari and completing work that will stand us in good stead for 2027.
We were delighted to host the new CEO of the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Professor Hannah Buckley, who spent a brief period in Whanganui meeting with both Te Atawhai o Te Ao and us. Hannah is a Professor of Ecology at Auckland University of Technology and enjoyed hearing about our work with our iwi, Ngāti Hauiti, to support their work in climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as environmental and waterway restoration. Senior members of the team enjoyed a free and frank discussion regarding the direction of the science sector reforms and the role independent Māori research organisations will play in a reformed research and science landscape. Hannah left us not just with an armload of recent WRS publications, including our most recent IRO impact report (see report here), but with a better understanding of the work we do, our motivations, and the contribution organisations such as ours can make to transforming Māori lives.
The following week we were host to the members of the Rukua ki te Rētōtanga o te Wai research team, including our own Dr Tanya Allport and Ben Barton, as well as Assoc Prof Clive Aspin, Dr Hector Kaiwai, Aneta Cram and Benjamin Doyle who, along with Dr Amohia Boulton and Tom Johnson (who unfortunately could not attend), comprise the remainder of the research team. We also welcomed Clive’s partner, Terry, to our offices, as he accompanied Clive to enjoy some time in the city during the spring. In this project, we aim to investigate, identify and articulate the barriers and enablers to preventive HIV uptake in Māori, to inform targeted strategies to enable better HIV prevention for Māori (see project update here). A year into the three-year study, the team members spent the day in Whanganui to attend the first analysis hui for the project, where we discussed what we had heard from the study participants, what we thought was significant from those interviews, and how we would honour the voices of those participants in our analysis and write up of results. The team is already working on the first manuscript from the study, which pulls together the literature on this kaupapa, with a view to submitting the paper early in 2027.
Our full Whakauae team then met again in Whanganui for our annual planning day, which was held at HIVE Whanganui (also known as Hive HQ) – a tech incubator, innovation hub, and co-working space located in central Whanganui. Ably facilitated once more by colleague Teresa Taylor, the team spent a full day reflecting on the past year, reviewing our current context, and thinking ahead to 2027 and our goals for the year ahead, based on our 2023-2029 Strategic Plan. Before the annual planning day, our senior leaders met to discuss high-level issues affecting the research ecosystem. They enjoyed a compelling presentation by Board Member Nick Roskruge on how changes to research, science, and technology funding might affect our work. We recorded this presentation and replayed it to the full team at annual planning, and it certainly set the scene for the year ahead.
As a soft-funded research centre, we rely on our reputation and ability to deliver high-quality research that is needed by our community. To that end, team members are spending what remains of this month and part of November developing research grants for submission to several funding bodies in the hope that we can continue to fund the work we do for our people. So a busy month, but that also seems to be business as usual for our team!
