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Cultural reciprocity in deep knowledge co-production
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Hudson, Maui; Tiakiwai, Sarah-Jane; Smith, Linda Tuhiwai; Diaz, Vince
My approach to completing this PhD by publication did not follow a standard process and as such the thesis has a different structure. This is related in part to my circumstances and the length of time to conclude this thesis, the evolving nature of my research projects, and the movement of discourse over that period of time. What this thesis represents is a body of research that I have been fortunate to be a part of over the past ten years. All of the projects were collaborative activities, and all involved the integration of both western and Māori bodies of knowledge. Each project has its own methodological approach and methods although most drew predominantly on kaupapa Māori methodology. The introduction provides a general summary and positionality statement to orient the reader to my background and motivations. Chapter One provides an outline to the structure of the thesis including the research question, methodological approach, and methods for the construction of the thesis. Chapter Two is a literature review exploring the cultural interface between Indigenous knowledge and science, and the challenge of braiding these bodies of knowledge within research projects. Chapter Three describes the foundations of cultural reciprocity and the dimensions and attributes that comprise the Cultural Reciprocity Framework. This represents the primary new output of the thesis, woven together from the literature review and the learnings that emerged from the published papers. Chapters 4 – 15 represent selected papers/project outputs for which a general description is provided as well as a Cultural Reciprocity Framework assessment. These chapters are structured into three parts, locally focused projects (4-6), nationally focused projects (7-12), and internationally focused projects (13-15). Chapter 16 is the discussion section exploring what the use of the Cultural Reciprocity Framework indicates and how it might be used to encourage a deeper and more substantive approach to the braiding of Indigenous knowledge and science in research or what I think of as ‘deep knowledge co-production’.
Leadership styles amongst charge nurse managers
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Woolerton, Christine; Parsons, Matthew
Background: Ward-level leadership plays a critical role in shaping registered nurse (RN) experience, workforce stability and patient safety. Charge Nurse Managers (CNM) occupy a pivotal leadership position within acute healthcare settings; however, limited empirical research has examined how CNM personality traits and leadership behaviours influence both staff experience and measurable organisational outcomes. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CNM leadership style and personality traits, and their association with RN experience, RN retention, and medication-related adverse events at the ward level. Participants: Participants included 15 Charge Nurse Managers employed across inpatient wards and rural facilities within Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) Waikato district. The sample represented 50 percent of CNMs within the district. Ward-level data relating to RN turnover and medication adverse events were included for the corresponding clinical areas. Methods: A sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Phase One involved semi-structured qualitative interviews exploring CNM leadership experiences and role perceptions. Phase Two utilised the ‘Big Five’ personality inventory to assess CNM personality traits. Phase Three involved analysis of routinely collected ward-level key performance indicator data, including RN retention and medication adverse events over a 12-month period. Data were integrated using a triangulation approach to support interpretive depth and methodological rigour. Results: Findings indicated that conscientiousness and emotional stability were the personality traits most strongly associated with positive leadership outcomes. CNMs demonstrating higher levels of these traits were associated with more positive RN experiences, higher retention rates and lower medication adverse event rates. Qualitative findings highlighted psychological safety, emotional regulation and leadership consistency as key mechanisms linking personality and leadership behaviour to outcomes. Leadership effectiveness emerged as a developmental process shaped by personality foundations, experiential growth, and leadership role transition. Conclusion: This study contributes to nursing leadership literature by linking CNM personality traits to both staff and patient outcomes and by proposing a Roadmap to Health Leadership framework that conceptualises leadership effectiveness as an evolving, context-dependent trajectory. The findings support leadership development approaches that are reflective, evidence-informed, and sensitive to the complexity of ward-based healthcare environments.
Why the PISC TC-3 Standards must begin with defining kava
(2026) Aporosa, S. 'Apo'
Context: I am a kava health researcher of iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) ancestry, based at the University of Waikato, and leading a team of 40+ part-time kava health researchers across three countries inclusive of traditional knowledge experts, molecular biologists, toxicologists, ethnopharmacologists, clinical psychologists and more. For eight of the past 10 years, our work has been funded by the Aotearoa New Zealand Government through the Health Research Council Pacific. I (personally) have no financial interests in the kava industry. This is reasoned on an increasing level of unethical practice associated with ‘kava capitalism’ and the threat this poses to another kava ban. A lot our research addresses kava-related health mis- and dis-information, with the aim of safeguarding kava as a Pacific cultural keystone species and protecting smallholder Pacific kava farmer livelihoods and export earnings. Attendees have been invited by the TC3 Committee lead to speak on kava initiatives in our area. For our team, this centres on research: supporting kava as a cultural icon, addressing misinformation and safety concerns through clinical trials, computational analysis and other approaches, all to aid kava’s ongoing availability for cultural purposes and as an income source for Pacific farmers. This also involves challenging cultural appropriation, greed-driven capitalists and ‘culture industry’a activities that threaten kava’s integrity and consumer safety. I will speak to kava initiatives from this research perspective.
Loess studies in Aotearoa New Zealand
(Wiley (for Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi), 2026-04-13) Alloway, Brent V; Lowe, David J; Pillans, Brad J; Almond, Peter C; Palmer, Alan S; Rees, Callum J
Loess in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) has been studied since its first documented recognition (on Banks Peninsula) in 1878 by Julius von Haast. A decade later, John Hardcastle revealed that southern ANZ loess was both glacial in origin and contained signals of past climates. As a fine-grained aeolian deposit dominated by quartz and feldspar (± mica), it is derived mainly from greywacke and schist rocks shattered by frost cracking at high elevations, fluvially comminuted then deflated from aggrading floodplains, and from exposed continental shelves during cold periods. Such quartzo-feldspathic loess predominates in eastern and southern parts of both South and North islands and in Westland and Tasman. In addition, subsurface tephric loess prevails in central-western North Island. Unlike many deposits overseas, ANZ loess generally lacks secondary calcium carbonate, is denser (with lower macro- and mesoporosity, higher clay content) and, although less prone to collapse, is susceptible to accelerated erosion including tunnel gullying and landsliding. Mean rates of accumulation in the Last Glacial Maximum were ~3−25 mm/century; mass accumulation rates were generally 70−150 g cm ⁻² yr ⁻¹ but locally could be as low as 20 g cm ⁻² yr ⁻¹ and as high as 360 g cm ⁻² yr ⁻¹ . Studies mapping and characterizing loess have been driven in part by cognizance of its importance as a widespread parent material (~60%−70% of ANZ’s soils contain loess) for arable/pastoral soils underpinning ANZ’s predominantly agronomy-based economy. A key feature of ANZ loess studies has been the recognition of developmental upbuilding pedogenesis involving syn-depositional alteration of loess as it accumulates in cold and/or cool (stadial) periods, and stronger alteration (forming more-developed soils, which subsequently become recognizable as buried soil stratigraphic units or paleosols) during minimal accumulation in interglacial and/or warm (interstadial) periods. Multisequal loess-paleosol successions are the result. ANZ loess-paleosol successions have been dated and correlated via a range of dating and age-equivalent techniques including tephrochronology and paleomagnetism. Most loess is ≤500 kyrs old, but occurrences as old as Pliocene (Otago) and c. 1.7–1.0 Ma (Waikato, Wairarapa) are recognized. Loess chronostratigraphy has enabled loess and associated buried soils/paleosols to be correlated to the Quaternary marine oxygen isotope records, which, alongside mapping efforts, have revealed landscape responses to climate and tectonic controls particularly along the eastern regions of ANZ bordering the Hikurangi Subduction Margin.
Extremely thermophilic bacteria in New Zealand hot springs
(The University of Waikato, 1984) Patel, B.K.C.; Morgan, Hugh W.; Daniel, Roy M.
Pools in thermal areas were investigated by direct microscopic procedures, by indirect tracer methods and by conventional bacteriological methods of enrichment and isolation, in order to determine the diversity and distribution of extremely thermophilic bacteria. The indirect isotope uptake tracer method was unsuccessful during the earlier part of the project. Although, problems with isotope methodology were largely solved, this did not occur early enough in the investigation to allow use of the method as a means of establishing a biomass activity index for pools. The immunofluorescence method worked well on laboratory grown isolates but was surprisingly unsatisfactory when used in situ. The method was abandoned because of the time required to correct possible problems which may have been due to the choice of the microorganisms used in the study. The implications of these results with regard to ecological studies are discussed in the thesis. Electron microscopy was used to further investigate the morphology and diversity of bacteria in pools. Direct microscopic examination of pool water by phase contrast microscopy showed that over 90% of the pools contained bacteria. Gram staining of slides colonized in situ revealed that Gram negative bacteria were the only types present in most pools. New methods of grid preparation and handling were developed. In situ colonisation of grids showed that practically all the 38 pools over the temperature range of 70°C to 102°C and pH’s from 3.0 to 9.5 contained bacteria. Pools varied as to diversity of species and numbers of cells of the same morphotype in each pool. Some pools contained an apparent monoculture whereas others had a diverse ecosystem. In situ EM technique and subsequent cultural studies revealed that sulphur-respiring archaebacteria were the dominant microorganisms present in springs with temperatures above 90°C with both coccal and rod-shaped forms present. Methanogens, another archaebacterial group, were also isolated but they inhabited pools with lower temperatures (between 65 to 80°C). Isolation and cultivation procedures were also successfully used to obtain cultures of more conventional anaerobes. These were chiefly obtained from neutral springs in the 70 to 85°C range and fermented carbohydrates to a variety of end products but primarily acetate, ethanol or lactate. The diversity of this group of caldoactive glycolytic anaerobes was demonstrated by isolating species which produced quite distinct ratios of the three major end products. Some of these isolates were very similar to glycolytic anaerobes described previously e.g. Thermoanaerobium brockii, Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus. A number of isolates had properties different from the type strains. Investigation of the aerobic flora of thermal springs were not as intensive as those on anaerobes, largely because these organisms have been well described elsewhere. Thermus and Bacillus species were the most dominant aerobic microflora in many of the New Zealand springs. Their distribution and characteristics conformed to expectations of overseas results. Thermothrix and Sulfolobus species were isolated from a few pools but Thermomicrobium species which have been isolated from the Yellowstone National Park thermal springs, USA, have not been detected in the New Zealand thermal springs.