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Research Commons is the University of Waikato's open access research repository, housing research publications and theses produced by the University's staff and students.

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IoT in forestry: Human-focused assistive safety technology
(Elsevier, 2024) Konig, Jemma Lynette; Bowen, Judy; Hinze, Annika; Exton, Dylan Tylor
Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are becoming increasingly prevalent in workplace safety. However, some industries are still in their infancy in adopting this technology. The New Zealand forestry industry is one such example. The forestry industry is one of the most dangerous industries in New Zealand (and internationally). Yet, while IoT solutions are being adopted in other industries, human-focused IoT systems for safety in forestry are lacking. The contribution of this paper is to highlight this, investigate whether IoT can be used as assistive safety technology in the New Zealand forestry industry, and highlight the challenges associated with it. To this end, this paper investigates feasible uses of technology for safety and injury prevention in the New Zealand forestry industry by introducing an IoT based system. This includes an outline of the generalised system, a proof-of-concept implementation, and an evaluation of its use within two forestry scenarios. Finally, this paper includes a discussion on how this system could be adapted for use in a variety of scenarios, provides a comparison with other existing approaches, and discusses the challenges involved in developing solutions for use in hazardous industries. This work is part of a larger project centred on the use of technology for safety and injury prevention in the New Zealand forestry industry.
A thematic analysis of Māori mana wāhine knowledges in academic articles: A Pākehā researcher’s journey between worlds
(The University of Waikato, 2025) Wolfe, Victoria; Campbell, Donna
This literature review presents a thematic analysis of mana wāhine knowledges drawn from 93 peer-reviewed articles authored by Māori scholars, explored through the lens of a Pākehā researcher committed to respectful, critically reflective allyship. Prompted by the 2024 NCEA English refresh and its principle of Mana Ōrite mō te Mātauranga Māori (equal status for Māori knowledges), this study asks: How are mana wāhine knowledges represented in academic literature, and what insights does this offer English literature teachers seeking to authentically engage with wāhine Māori perspectives in their teaching practice? Employing a qualitative, systematic review grounded in Kaupapa Māori, Mana Wāhine, and decolonising frameworks, the research compiles a vibrant body of knowledges, organising key quotations into 14 themes and accompanying subthemes that reflect the complex and nuanced realities of wāhine Māori experiences. Alongside producing practical resources, including appendices with article summaries and thematic quotations, this review reflects on the researcher’s reflexive journey and invites Pākehā to transform their perception of themselves and their worldview. The findings highlight mana wāhine scholarship as a rich resource for deepening understanding, supporting Mana Ōrite in English classrooms, and guiding educators in creating respectful, culturally sustaining programmes that honour Māori women’s wisdom and promote equity in Aotearoa New Zealand education.
Identifying strategies that trans and non-binary people use in response to the barriers of mental health care in Aotearoa/ New Zealand
(The University of Waikato, 2026) McKay, Georgia; Veale, Jaimie
Trans and non-binary (TNB) people have significant mental health disparities in comparison to their cisgender peers. These disparities highlight an important need for research in Aotearoa in order to understand them and work towards their mitigation. General healthcare has received some attention within research, as has gender affirming mental health care, with a gap being identified in research on TNB people’s access to general mental health care. The Counting Ourselves Aotearoa New Zealand Trans and Non-binary Health Survey is the only of its kind and the first survey in Aotearoa to have collated data on TNB health and wellbeing. This thesis questioned the strategies TNB people use to navigate the well- documented barriers to mental healthcare (MHC) in Aotearoa. To do so, data were sampled from the Counting Ourselves 2022 dataset, focusing on open-text box responses in relation to sections of the survey that asked about access to MHC services and providers. A qualitative, thematic analysis was completed, chosen due to its positioning of the researcher as a “subjective storyteller” sharing the rich meaning amongst the perspectives and experiences of participants. Guided also by the transformative framework chosen because of its focus on creating equitable outcomes for marginalised communities, transforming oppressive systems and recognising the resilience of the research participants. Control of Disclosure, Provider Selectivity, and For the Future were identified as themes of this study, explaining the overarching patterns of meaning found in the shared experiences of the survey’s participants. In response to barriers, to the lack of competent providers, the long waitlists with the public health systems and the worries of gatekeeping or of being discriminated against, TNB people are creating pockets of reactive self-determination, autonomy and resilience for themselves. This involves TNB people; controlling disclosure and choosing not to tell MHC providers (MHCPs) everything about their gender unless they are confident that the provider is competent and safe, being selective with providers and choosing to only access providers who are trans friendly, affirming, and knowledgeable, and in some situations, choosing to put up with the negative interaction, and challenge them ‘for the future’ aiming to leave the space better for the next TNB person to come. The identified strategies enable further understanding of what aspects of MHC access and MHCP interactions are creating negative experiences for TNB people. Control of disclosure identifies that the worry of, and actual experiences of uncomfortable, unknowledgeable or discriminatory provider reactions to the disclosure of gender identity is a negative experience leading to the development of strategically not disclosing gender to prevent and/or control the exposure to these negative experiences. Provider selectivity shows that experiencing long waitlists to MHC, as well as providers who are not competent in the provision of MHC for TNB people, is a negative experience and has created the need for strategic selectivity with provider access. By conceptualising negative experiences, we can then formulate that a positive experience would be a safe, appropriate, knowledgeable facilitation of and response to the disclosure of gender and increased provider accessibility and competency. This research builds on current understandings of MHC whilst offering a new angle of inquiry, focusing on the voices of TNB people and their shared experiences, and straying from the often-found discourse positioning providers as the experts on all topics. By doing so, it offers a tool for students and MHCPs to use to direct efforts when working towards equitable MHC access and provision for TNB individuals and the community.
The valley of peace- وادي السلام
(The University of Waikato, 2025) Al-Bahar, Sara; Slaughter, Tracey
In 2017 I travelled to Iraq for the first time. I became mesmerised by the culture surrounding death and grief: the Iraqi tradition of grieving for forty days, the roads leading from my hometown of Najaf to Karbala lined with martyrs’ photographs. Najaf is home to Wadi Al Salam: the world’s biggest cemetery, in translation, the Valley of Peace. I became obsessed with the cemetery’s history and couldn’t stop talking about its name, suffused as it was with poetry. It is a name to transfix and enthral, one that proved indelible. The cemetery is impossible to avoid, and looking out either window you’re met with endless stretches of land covered in headstones, some almost completely shattered and all covered in a film of fine sand. There is some comfort in death here and the contrast between the tidy, sterile suburbs of Aotearoa where I now live with the grit and pain-soaked landscape of Najaf is incredible. On my return to Aotearoa, I felt for the first time, a sense of longing for ‘home,’ and the disquiet that neither Iraq nor Aotearoa felt sufficient or fitting for the term, like the knowledge of the existence of another place—a place that I should fight and die for had shattered my perception of home. Home was suddenly ephemeral and impermanent. This collection of poetry, وادي السلام, the Valley of Peace, is an exploration of growing up in Aotearoa as an Iraqi Muslim, wanting to encapsulate the isolation of migrants, and refugees, in diaspora. These two very separate parts of an inseparable whole, dual parts of who I am. The final piece in this collection is written in Arabic, not only as an expression of myself, for myself, but as a gift to my people.
Learning strategies: testing Pask’s conversation theory in a computer environment
(The University of Waikato, 1993) Barbour, Robert H.; Ericksen, Neil; Katterns, Robert
Pask’s “Conversation Theory”, is an influential view of the nature of conversations between people, especially in learning situations. The theory provided a predictive framework within which to extend Pask’s laboratory work. Existing work used participant human observers to study the learning process. This technique may be unsuited to the normal classroom context. Software extensions to a geographical image library, map and data store, the BBC Domesday System, were used to extend Pask’s work. In carrying out this research, the three main principles from Conversation Theory were examined: 1) that people learn in different ways; 2) that the degree of matching between the learning strategies of teachers and learners strongly influences the rate of learning; and 3) that learning takes place as a conversation between participants whose essential features can be successfully automated. This thesis examined and evaluated three questions derived from Pask’s Conversation Theory in the light of empirical results collected in Phase 1 of a two phase research design. These questions were: 1) whether differences in learning preferences were detectable in modified versions of Ford’s (1985) questionnaire; 2) whether preferences for learning strategies were reflected in individual differences in learning behaviour; 3) whether matching learning preferences with learning experiences enhanced the learning process. Methods of investigation in Phase 1 included: a modified questionnaire; and using the BBC Domesday System to capture learning behaviour with a series of software tools. Findings show: that differences in learning preferences were detectable in questionnaire responses; that differences in learning behaviour were detected also in learning performances; that differences in preferences and behaviour were minimally correlated. Questions emerged from the lack of expected strength of agreement between findings of Phase 1. These questions are discussed in Phase 2 in relation to recent developments in both epistemology and the theory of computer science. The two further questions guiding the research in Phase 2 were: 4) whether matching learning and teaching strategies enhances learning; 5) whether a computer can act as a conversation participant in a teaching-learning context. Methods employed in Phase 2 include an examination of the findings of Phase 1 in the light of recent philosophical literature. Findings from Phase 2 show why matching is undecidable and why a computer cannot contribute to a conversation in the way a person does. Results in Phase 2 uphold Pask’s first principle, leave the second undecided and cast serious theoretical doubt on the third. The implications of the findings for educators, geographers and computer scientists are discussed.