Associate Professor Maui Hudson
TE WHAKATOHEA, NGA RUAHINE, TE MAHUReHURE
Associate Professor Maui Hudson is Director of Te Mata Punenga o Te Kotahi | Te Kotahi Research Institute at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato |The University of Waikato. His research is interdisciplinary in nature focusing on the application of mātauranga Māori (indigenous knowledge) to decision-making across a range of contexts from new technologies to health, the environment to innovation. Maui was part of the team that developed Guidelines for Genomic Research with Maori, and is now working on Guidelines for Genomic Research with Taonga Species. Access to data and governance of data are key issues emerging from his research and led to his involvement in establishing the Te Mana Raraunga Maori Data Sovereignty Network.
Dr Kimiora Henare
Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa
Dr Kimiora Henare is an early career researcher and cancer biologist, specialising mainly on the tumour microenvironment and tumour immunology based at the University of Auckland. His primary research focuses on strategies to enhance tumour-directed immunity. Alongside his lab-based biomedical research, Kimiora worked with the NETwork! Project (www.network.ac.nz) to develop a roadmap for Māori engagement for clinical cancer genomics which has served as a scaffold for several other cancer genomics projects have since been built off that scaffold where he remains actively involved as part of a cancer genomics research team led by Professor Cristin Print. In addition to his biomedical research expertise, Kimiora teaches and advises on Responsiveness to Māori and ethics for the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS), University of Auckland, holds advisory and governance roles for clinical genomics research at the University of Auckland and serves as a board member of Hei Āhuru Mōwai (Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa). Kimiora has been involved in SING-Aotearoa since its inception in 2016.
Associate Professor Phillip Wilcox
NGATI RAKAIPAAKA
Dr Phillip Wilcox iwi affiliations are Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, and Rongomaiwahine. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Otago’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, with experience in applied genomics and statistical genetics. He is also an Affiliate of the University of Otago’s Bioethic Centre, and is the current convenor of MapNet, a NZ-wide collective of gene mapping scientists, and led the Virtual Institute for Statistical Genetics from 2008 to 2013. For almost 20 years he has worked in the interface of genetic sciences and Te Ao Māori, and co-leads two genomics-based projects focussing on Māori health. He also spent almost 10 years as technical advisor to his iwi, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, regarding the Rakaipaaka Health and Ancestry Study. Dr Wilcox has also worked on genetics of plant species (particularly forest trees) and human diseases. He teaches tikanga-based frameworks in science courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as statistics and quantitative genetics, and teaches genetics-related content to pre-NCEA high school students in marae-based learning environments in the University of Otago’s Science Wānanga initiative. Along with Maui Hudson and Katharina Ruckstahl, he initiated SING-Aotearoa, and is currently a member of the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s Ethics Committee which oversees institutional and regional ethics committees.