2020 Cohort Of Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award Grantees

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, 11 February, 2020 --- Fulbright New Zealand is proud to announce the 2020 cohort of Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award Grantees.

Representing six different universities and research institutions in New Zealand, each scholar will travel to the United States as early as July 2020 to pursue independent research and form international connections.

Fulbright New Zealand Executive Director Penelope Borland says, “We are very pleased to announce this year’s Fulbright New Zealand and Fulbright Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholars, and we are excited to be supporting the variety of research areas being pursued, and the institutions this year’s scholars represent.”

The 2020 Fulbright New Zealand Scholars are:

• Dr Karen Barbour from the University of Waikato will investigate somatic dance practices and action competence in responding to environmental change at the University of Southern Mississippi.
• Professor Huia Jahnke (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Hine) from Massey University and a Principal Investigator with Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga will research the nature of Indigenous community/higher education partnerships and resultant strategic initiatives at University of California, Los Angeles and the Salish-Kootenai Tribal College, Montana.
• Dr Tyron Love (Te Ātiawa) from the University of Canterbury and Associate Investigator with Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga will examine the exclusion and exploitation of Indigenous academics in universities at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.
• Dr Shona Munro from the Royal New Zealand Police College in Wellington will research supporting justice reform through police learning and development at the University of North Carolina.
• Dr Ashley Shearar from the New Zealand Department of Corrections in Wellington will conduct research in the emerging field of young adult justice at Columbia University in New York.
• Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu from the University of Otago (Wellington) will continue researching Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease while at Harvard University and the University of Oklahoma.
• Dr Stuart Young from the University of Otago will research issues relating to verbatim performance, specifically approaches to acting, at the Verbatim Performance Lab at New York University.

The 2020 Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar is:

• Dr Haki Tuaupiki (Waikato, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) from the University of Waikato will conduct research at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and the Imiloa Astronomy Center about the record of traditional Māori and Hawai’ian navigation and voyaging embedded in oral arts and literature.

The Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award is for a New Zealand academic, artist or professional to lecture and/or conduct research at a US institution in the field of indigenous development.

The Fulbright programme operates in over 155 countries and is one of the largest and most significant movements of scholars across the globe.

Fulbright Scholar awards are unique in that they are available for research in any field, but are united in their common goal to forge international collaboration.

“Dr Tuaupiki, Professor Jahnke and Dr Love are outstanding Māori scholars who are conducting vital research central to mātauranga Māori knowledge. We are incredibly proud to see these scholars receiving these preeminent awards to further their work in this international comparative manner” says Professor Jacinta Ruru, Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.

“I was inspired to apply for a Fulbright Award because the philosophy of Fulbright focuses on fostering intercultural relationships. It provides an opportunity for academic exchange with other like-minded scholars and their communities. This focus appeals to my indigenous sensibility”, says Huia Jahnke.

“Social and cultural engagement is at the heart of dance practice and aligns well with the Fulbright mission to engage with and develop shared understandings”, says Karen Barbour.

The 2020 Fulbright New Zealand Scholars will be honoured at the annual Award Ceremony in June. 

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