Kai Tahu

Sacha brings a serial entrepreneur’s approach to working with and for Iwi Māori. From instigating United Nations proceedings to architecting a Māori social enterprise fund and leading commercial negotiations, she is known for solution-building that meets Iwi Māori aspirations.
Before coming to UC, Sacha was the director of a boutique consultancy working with Iwi Māori in strategy development, kaupapa Māori asset management and innovation and the General Manager Strategy and influence with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, responsible for government relations on behalf of the Iwi.
Recognised as an emerging New Zealand leader, Sacha won the inaugural Fulbright Harkness Fellowship in 2010. Sacha is a change agent and compliments her varied background with a desire to support and grow the next generation of Māori scholars. Initiatives like the Māui lab are a product of that intent and just one of the many innovations that Sacha intends to bring through Aotahi in the years to come.
Sacha is researching in the areas of:
• Iwi Māori development, innovation and entrepreneurship
• Iwi Māori futures, social and cultural capital
• Comparative approaches to Indigenous peoples
• Public policy

Dr Lynne Russell works as a Senior Research Fellow - Maori Health with the Health Services Research Centre (HSRC) at Victoria University of Wellington. Much of her professional and academic work has centred around the Indigenous knowledge and healing practices used in recovery from trauma associated with mental distress, suicide loss and self-harm. She describes herself as an writer, activist and public speaker stirred by cultural resilience, social justice, Indigenous and LGBTI rights, and the amplification of voices more readily silenced in society.

Donna has been involved in work on the collection and classification of ethnicity data in New Zealand, particularly as it relates to measuring and monitoring disparities. Most recently, Donna has been focused on work examining disparities in cancer outcomes and access to cancer services for Māori. She is involved in the Differential Colon Cancer Survival by Ethnicity in New Zealand project as well as Unequal Treatment: The Role of Health Services with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare.