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Indigenous biodiscovery wānanga: Summary report
(Te Kotahi Research Insitute, University of Waikato, 2026-03-31) Caddie, Manu; Caddie-Koia, Miria; Oldham-Malcolm, Wallis
The Indigenous Biodiscovery Wānanga held on 30–31 March 2026 at JetPark Hotel, Hamilton, brought together around 60 researchers, Māori representatives, community leaders, government officials, and industry experts to explore the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, biodiversity research, and commercialisation. This two-day event provided a forum for in-depth discussion on key challenges and opportunities in Indigenous-led biodiscovery, with a focus on protecting taonga species, ensuring Māori rights and interests are recognised, and building sustainable pathways for commercialisation that benefit both communities and ecosystems.
He rangahau tauutuutu: Research reciprocity framework
(Te Kotahi Research Institute, University of Waikato, 2026-02) Manukau, Merepaea; Hudson, Maui; Kusabs, Natalie; Mahuta, Nanaia
Research reciprocity represents a deep commitment to partnership with Indigenous communities in research collaborations. It emphasises the need for not only benefit sharing but also power sharing across the broader research lifecycle encompassing both upstream and downstream activities. Research reciprocity is inherently relational with a focus on distributing resources, opportunities, decision-making and control in an equitable manner. Research reciprocity combines the ethics and community engagement that inform equity in ‘International research collaborations’, the issue of trust and social responsibility aligned to ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’, the knowledge translation intent associated with ‘Research Impact’, and the concept of Fair and Equitable Benefit Sharing enshrined in the Nagoya Protocol; and brings them into dialogue with Indigenous aspirations for research partnerships including self-determination, cultural centredness, Indigenous data sovereignty, community wellbeing, and capacity building.
Tīmata whakaora, kickstarting recovery - Using bivalves to bioremediate degraded estuarine sediments
(The University of Waikato, 2025) Prinz, Natalie; Ellis, Joanne I.; Pilditch, Conrad A.; Savage, Candida; Gladstone-Gallagher, Rebecca V.
Estuarine soft sediment ecosystems worldwide are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic, land-derived and marine stressors that compromise their health and functionality with cascading effects on ecosystem services that they provide. Once degraded, natural recovery can take years due to the loss of long-lived, functionally important benthic species. These species are important in maintaining internal feedback loops, thereby facilitating resilient communities that underpin critical ecosystem functions. In this thesis, I evaluated the role of two functionally distinct bivalve species, Austrovenus stutchburyi, a surface-dwelling suspension feeding bioturbator, and Macomona liliana, a deep-burrowing porewater-pressuriser, in supporting recovery of estuarine function following disturbance. Two field experiments in Tauranga Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand were conducted, first a controlled disturbance-recovery translocation trial (after acute disturbance) and second, a large-scale translocation across a gradient of environmental (chronic) stress. In the first experiment bivalves were added to defaunated plots in single and combined species treatments and compared to ambient and defaunated no-addition controls. Measurements were taken over a period of 389 days (one year) and included influence of bivalve additions on sediment properties, nutrient cycling, benthic metabolism (Chapter 2), and community composition recruitment (Chapter 3). Results from the first research chapter (Chapter 2) demonstrate that A. stutchburyi consistently enhanced ecosystem function proxies, reducing sediment mud content, increasing oxygen consumption, and stimulating ammonium flux, even when survival was low, compared to unaided recovery. In contrast, M. liliana showed limited direct effects on the measured ecosystem functions and the co-addition of both species did not yield synergistic effects. The second research chapter (Chapter 3) elucidates that the presence of A. stutchburyi also altered macrofaunal recovery trajectories and moderated the proliferation of opportunistic species, particularly in the absence of M. liliana. In contrast, M. liliana only treatments showed limited impact on functional recovery metrics but contributed to expected post-disturbance recruitment patterns by opportunists. Juveniles of both bivalve species settled in all treatments, M. liliana juveniles were enhanced in all defaunated treatments, whereas A. stutchburyi decreased but approached ambient after one year in all but M. liliana only treatments. While all treatments trended toward ambient community states over the course of one year, differences in recruitment patterns and functional diversity suggest that species additions only subtly altered recovery trajectories. In the third research chapter (Chapter 4), A. stutchburyi was translocated across 9 sites within the Tauranga Harbour. Results showed that translocation success was not dependent on the overall stress-gradient or ambient A. stutchburyi densities. Translocation success did, however, vary with heavy metal (zinc) contamination after three months, even when concentrations were well below guideline thresholds. Effects of translocations on measures of ecosystem productivity could only be discerned in translocation sites with >44% clam retention, showing that increases in benthic metabolism and organic matter degradation are dependent on bivalve survival. The synthesis of these chapters offers insights into the potential of using adult ecosystem engineering bivalves, particularly A. stutchburyi, to facilitate estuarine recovery and places this work in the broader context of restoration ecology with management implications. These findings highlight the importance of early reintroduction of ecosystem engineers to re-establish complex facilitatory feedbacks and support estuarine ecosystem recovery. However, successful restoration depends on environmental context, particularly the extent of stressor reduction needed to ensure translocation survival.
Exploring local food rescue and distribution initiatives as a form of community development
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Thomas, Lucy; Graham, Rebekah Sarah
This thesis explores how community food rescue initiatives in Kirikiriroa Hamilton respond to food insecurity - while fostering empowerment and community wellbeing. Despite Aotearoa New Zealand being a nation of agricultural abundance, approximately one in five children and one in four households experience food insecurity (DPMC, 2021; Child Poverty Action Group, 2019). This statistic reflects systemic inequalities which are rooted in neoliberal policy reforms rather than mere food availability. This research is informed by community psychology values and uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) informed approach. This study employed participatory action research–informed qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis to explore experiences of food rescue among facilitators and recipients in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. The study interviewed seven participants, four recipients of food rescue and three facilitators of community food initiatives – all supported by Go Eco, a local food rescue organisation. The findings from interviews with both recipients and facilitators reveal that food rescue initiatives embody empowerment and provide support that makes a real positive difference in daily life. Yet the research also makes something clear, these initiatives, no matter how well-intentioned or skilfully run cannot fix the systems that create food insecurity in the first place. The food rescue initiatives are not a preventative approach to food security, yet a band-aid problem which provides essential basic needs to community members. This research deepens understanding on how community-driven approaches can protect dignity and foster wellbeing, even amid precarity and food hardship. At the same time, the research makes it clear that this work only exists because structural supports have failed. Meaningful change requires confronting inadequate welfare provisions, living costs that very much outpace incomes and benefits, and the neoliberal framing that positions poverty as personal failure rather than policy failure. The study offers insights for community organisations, policymakers and community psychologists.