An address by Te Pūkenga Council member, UN representative, educator, researcher and writer Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop CNZM opened this week’s ITP Research Symposium 2024.
The five-day symposium showcases the diversity of research undertaken by staff and postgraduate students across Te Pūkenga organisations, including applied and technological research, rangahau Māori, creative practice, and pedagogical research.
It includes two days of Unitec-MIT and Pacific research topics as well as two days of OPSITARA (Otago Polytechnic, Southern Institute of Technology, and Ara Institute of Canterbury) research topics at the Ara campus in Christchurch. A virtual symposium was also held on Wednesday, 4 December.
Tagaloatele Professor Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, who is a pioneering Pasifika academic and an expert in a range of Pacific development issues, has fostered the involvement and achievement of Pasifika students in tertiary institutions for much of her long and illustrious career.
As well as supervising numerous graduate students to successful completions, she helped establish the Pacific Postgraduate Talanoa national seminar series which has been recognised for the quality of research shared, along with its fostering of a support network for Pasifika students and academics around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Professor Fairbairn-Dunlop spoke of the best practice that has come from the Ministry of Education’s Talanoa Ako education programme for Pacific parents, families and communities. For more than a decade, it has helped them navigate the education system and better support their children’s academic achievements, with a supporting study providing a rich description of the changes that occurred for families when they attended the programme.
Professor Fairbairn-Dunlop also spoke of resilience and grit in the face of discrimination and systemic racism experienced by many Pacific people in her book, Shaping Pacific Place in Aotearoa New Zealand Ua alu atu le afi, which she co-edited with her daughter Amanda-Lanuola Dunlop.
The book shares the personal stories of 20 Pacific New Zealanders living and growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand from the 1940’s onwards, and how they have enriched and succeeded in creating new pathways and opportunities for others through their invaluable contributions.
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, executive director of Te Pūkenga Region One, paid tribute to Professor Fairbairn-Dunlop’s trailblazing work in bringing the stories of Pacific people to life, and in giving them a voice.
He acknowledged her work, saying, “Thank you for expressing the journey of our families. It’s very emotional because some of us really relate to how hard it is to grow up Pacific in New Zealand and it’s great non-Pacific are hearing our voices and our stories. Thirty or forty years ago that would not have been possible.”
“There’s a Samoan proverb that says turn your ear to wisdom and apply your understanding with your heart.”
Topics covered in the Unitec-MIT & Pacific research stream included Pacific people’s wellbeing in the Diaspora; climate adaptation and resilience; inequality and justice; teaching and learning; social practice; architecture; gender, identity and empowerment; science in action; and environmental and cultural studies.
The two days featured more than 80 presentations. Winners across the presentations include:
Best Presentation Winner:
Barriers Male Secondary Students encounter when considering counselling at school – Nigel Pizzini (Unitec – School of Social Practice)
Best Presentation:
- The Value of Digitalisation in Aotearoa New Zealand: Perspectives from Focus Group Discussions – Iman Khan (Unitec – School of Architecture)
- Walking Upstream in Kirikiriroa – Becca Wood (Unitec School of Creative Practice)
- Development of learning resources for teaching design of light steel framed houses in New Zealand – Malachy McGarrigle (Unitec – School of Building Construction)
Winner Best Pacific Student Presentation:
- Decolonising play – Lyrck Maiava (Unitec)
Best Pacific Research Presentation (joint winners):
- Tamaitai Samoa: An Autoethnographic Analysis of Cultural Principles Contributing to the Wellbeing of S
amoan Young Women in Aotearoa New Zealand – Flora Apulu-Feausiga (Unitec)
- Intersections of faith and abuse. A study of Samoan Social Work practitioners’ insights into family violence – Genevieve Sang-Yum (Unitec)