The Whakauae Research Centre team (from left) Sonja Loveridge, Stacey Ranginui, Gillian Potaka-Osborne, Amohia Boulton, Melody Potaka-Osborne, Lynley Cvitanovic and Tom Johnson will build research and innovation capability with the Health Research Council funding. Photo / Supplied
The Whakauae Research Centre team (from left) Sonja Loveridge, Stacey Ranginui, Gillian Potaka-Osborne, Amohia Boulton, Melody Potaka-Osborne, Lynley Cvitanovic and Tom Johnson will build research and innovation capability with the Health Research Council funding. Photo / Supplied
Two independent Māori health research organisations in Whanganui and Rangitīkei have received significant funding boosts.
They are Whanganui health and environmental research institute Te Atawhai o Te Ao and Ngāti Hauiti-owned Whakauae Research Services which is based in Rangitīkei.
The organisations are two of four independent research organisations (IROs) to receive a share of $38 million of Health Research Council (HRC) funding. The funding recognises research organisations that are undertaking nationally and internationally significant work outside of university and Crown structures.
Te Atawhai o Te Ao has secured funding for a further seven years to support research to end intergenerational trauma.
Director Dr Rāwiri Tinirau said Te Atawhai o Te Ao was "incredibly thankful" to HRC for its continued support of independent research organisations.
"Our team at Te Atawhai o Te Ao, though small, have for a number of years been undertaking important research in relation to intergenerational trauma and healing, and it's great that the Health Research Council have continued to recognise this."
As a kaupapa Māori organisation, Te Atawhai o Te Ao continued to have a focus on reducing inequitable outcomes for Māori. He Kokonga Ngākau: Māori ways of healing, recovery and wellbeing research programme, previously funded by HRC, had contributed to a growing body of work in a space that required ongoing by Māori for Māori voices, in order to effect change.
Te Atawhai o Te Ao director Dr Rāwiri Tinirau said the funding would allow the organisation to continue its work on intergenerational trauma. Photo / Supplied
The HRC funding would support Te Atawhai o Te Ao to work with whānau to understand their histories, develop healthy and resilient strategies for living and for addressing, healing from and preventing intergenerational trauma. Doing this allowed future generations to flourish, exercise their rangatiratanga into the future, whilst honouring the past.
"We also congratulate Whakauae Research Services on their successful application," Tinirau said.
"It really speaks to the calibre of research in Whanganui to have two independent Māori research organisations operating at a nationally funded and recognised level."
Whakauae Research, which is unique as the only research centre in Aotearoa that is directly owned and accountable to an iwi entity, received funding in recognition of the pioneering work it has undertaken to support health equity for Māori.
Director Amohia Boulton said the funds were specifically awarded to build research and innovation capability.
"We're extremely thankful for this funding boost. It gives us the opportunity to further develop our workforce, grow research capacity, ensure that important findings are shared with key decision-makers and ultimately, to make a powerful contribution to improving health outcomes for Māori throughout Aotearoa.
"The pandemic has been a wake-up call for the health system. Making fundamental changes to the way the system does - or doesn't - work for Māori is the most important work we can undertake over the next few years for the benefit of all New Zealanders."
As Aotearoa undergoes a major health restructure, including the pending launch of the Māori Health Authority (MHA) in July, the funding came at an important time for an organisation working to gather critical evidence about how Māori experience the health system, she said.
"We aim to release findings that provide the hard evidence needed to inform policy and strategy in the health sector. We want to unlock the potential of tangata whenua to exercise their mana and enable their mauri to flourish and we want to do it the right way, based on the right data, to ensure this systematic change is a long-term success."
Whakauae Research was established by Ngāti Hauiti in 2005 and has developed a unique Kaupapa Māori research model which blends traditional Western knowledge and mātauranga Māori.
The announcement of the funding caps a significant year for Whakauae Research which received an HRC programme grant in July 2021, while in October Boulton was presented with the prestigious Royal Society Te Tohu Rangahau Award, a medal awarded by the HRC for outstanding Māori health leadership, excellence and contribution.
Boulton said she was particularly pleased two of the four organisations awarded funding were Māori research centres dedicated to Kaupapa Māori research and were based in the same rohe.
"Our congratulations to Te Atawhai o te Ao on receiving this funding. Such significant funding signals a clear commitment to health equity and gives us all encouragement to keep building evidence to support transformational change."
Funding was also awarded to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research for biomedical research in cancer, asthma, allergy and microbiome research, and the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand for improving clinical management, clinical trial translation and implementation.
