Ngāi Tūhoe

Mr Danny Poa is the Te Koronga Kaitiaki Kaupapa Manager at the University of Otago.

Danny is also a member of the Coastal People: Southern Skies collaboration that connects communities with world-leading, cross-discipline research to rebuild coastal ecosystems.

Rawiri is a graduate of Massey University and Co-Director of Te Atawhai o te Ao. He was previously Project Manager for MANU AO with the responsibility of implementing key projects, such as the Leadership Course and Academic Forums. 

Rawiri has expertise in Project management; Māori event management; Māori business and organisations; and Māori oral history. He has tribal affiliations to Te Āti Haunui-ā-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu me Ngāi Tūhoe.

Dr Kāretu, of Tūhoe and Ngāti Kahungunu descent, is one of three Directors of Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo Māori (School of Māori Language Excellence) at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.  He is considered a master of te reo Māori (the Māori language) and is recognised nationally and internationally for his knowledge and work in the language. 

In 1992, he received the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) for services to the Māori language. In 1970, he was appointed as the first Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Waikato. In 1987 he became the first Māori Language Commissioner at Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission). He continued in the role until 1999. From 2003, Dr Kāretu was the Head of Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust (Māori language and culture preschools).

He has been involved in numerous Māori performing arts competitions as a tutor, a composer, a judge and an organiser. He was the head of the national Māori performing arts competition for many years. He is also one of the three New Zealand Fellows of the International Centre for Language Revitalisation. 

Associate Professor Matamua of Tūhoe, is a senior lecturer based in the School of Māori and Pacific Development at Waikato University. He has undertaken significant research in the areas of Māori language revitalisation, Māori culture, Māori astronomy and broadcasting. In his MA thesis Rangi focused on traditional Tūhoe weaponary, and his PhD examined the role of Māori radio in Māori language revitalisation. In addition, Dr Matamua has produced a number of publications in his specialist areas, and sits on a number of related boards including Society for Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART).

Dr. Jason Turuwhenua is a Research Fellow who works between The University of Auckland’s Auckland Bioengineering Institute and the Department of Optometry and Vision Science. He is the principal investigator on the project Whatukura: A bioengineered model of the human eye. Jason is interested in how engineering methods might be applied to problems in vision. At present he is working on developing 'the virtual eye', a physics-based system for investigating eye disease. In 2003 he won the National Māori Academic Excellence Award.