Research in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences , Rangahau i Te Kura Pūkenga Tangata

We ask how we can bring together different knowledges and knowledge systems in the Pacific more effectively – to gain a richer and more grounded understanding of social, economic and environmental changes.

Our research will allow for more effective approaches to climate change adaptation across the Pacific.

Trudie is a researcher on the Capturing the Diversity Dividend of Aotearoa NZ (CaDDANZ) programme – a partnership with Waikato University. She looks at older adults’ constructions of home, place and community.

Outputs from the work include:

• policy briefs
• presentations to key stakeholders
• a collaborative workshop with end-users and stakeholders

Stakeholders on the project include Haumaru Housing, Onepoto Whina, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the wider community. Our collaborative workshop was designed to extend the utility and uptake of the research.

Our ongoing pilot project (summer school scholarship) in partnership with Kainga Ora looks at the experiences of larger families living in public housing.

The project titled ‘Rebalancing Army’ considers how gender is embodied, experienced and exemplified in the Army and how gender can constrain or enable the success of personnel.

It aims to theorise how we can ‘regender’ military institutions – institutions typically seen as bastions of hypermasculinity – while also offering practical recommendations to Army leadership on how to best support and develop soldiers and officers.

We are publishing work to help the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service improve its relationship with the public.

Our work also suggests a parliamentary Commissioner for Security would help to restore the public’s trust and confidence in New Zealand’s intelligence and security agencies.

“The agencies won’t like our arguments, but our research is informing the current review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017. Shaun and I hosted the review team, and other New Zealand-based academics with expertise on intelligence, last month for a roundtable discussion at Albany.” – Damien Rogers

We engaged in research for the Ministry of Education called ‘The History Stock Take Project’– looking at resources available in local communities for teachers to use within the Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum.

Findings included the below.

1. The local history landscape is not static. There is a growing awareness and interest in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history. Museums and other history groups know that Aotearoa New Zealand Histories will be compulsory from next year and are planning to adapt and produce new material to support kura.
2. Given the resource issues and the aging volunteer base it is possible that the demands for museums to display history more reflective of Aotearoa Histories themes could led to issues within the sector. This could result in less local history resources being available for kura.
3. History of groups other than Pākehā remain absent or difficult to capture. Part of this is due to the greater focus on nineteenth century history. New Zealand ākonga are increasingly diverse, and those in the classrooms learning Aotearoa New Zealand Histories were mostly born in the second decade of the twenty first century. On the whole the local history landscape does not reflect this reality.

Our Māori researchers and community research partners contribute to a resilient Aotearoa New Zealand.

Our work seeks culturally informed solutions to the effects of climate change and natural disasters.

We use indigenous innovation to minimise the impacts on communities and the wider environment.

Te Toi Whakaruruhau o Aotearoa

Māori disaster risk reduction and emergency management

Funded by Building Better Homes Towns and Cities, the Huritanga Urban Wellbeing programme is developing tools and approaches for transitioning urban spaces for holistic wellbeing in times of socio-ecological crisis.

Recent outputs from a partnership with Life in Vacant Spaces in Christchurch have included a:

• public outdoor exhibition
• incubator space for creatives
• book
• journal article
• radio interview
• piece in The Conversation.

Looking into how housing pressures in Papua New Guinea’s growing towns impact residents’ understandings of security and well-being.

This research is part of a larger conversation on urbanisation in the Melanesian Pacific, interrogating questions around:

• national identity
• land ownership
• the resilience of indigenous social forms.