About Us

THIS IQP PROJECT

This project aims to improve students preperation for conducting research with community members in Aotearoa, specifically when partnering with Māori community members. The goal of this IQP was to produce a digital resource, this website, that informs and guides students throughout the entire IQP, both in the preparation term and the IQP term.

Our project highlights the need for a more culturally involved preparation, an increase in self-reflection on the students’ and advisors’ behalf, and an increased effort in understanding and using te reo Māori. We also identified other key words that we recommend all IQP participants think about before and during the research process.

While it is our sincere hope that future students can have an immersive experience and can productively collaborate with Māori individuals, it will be their individual preparation that determines the outcome.

OUR RESEARCH

To complete our project, we read texts about colonialism, effects of irresponsible research, what it means to “decolonize research,” and past IQPs. We also surveyed past IQP students and advisors who had worked on any project that involved partnerships with Indigenous communities to gain a better understanding of what these partnerships looked like, and what preparation was needed to make these partnerships stronger. Finally, we interviewed the NZ project site directors, advisors and students that participated in projects with Indigenous partnerships from other locations, advisors and students who have participated in New Zealand specific projects, Pākehā and Māori scholars of Indigenous and/or Māori studies, and former Māori and Pākehā sponsors.

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