Māori approaches needed in NZ science policy, report says

Five-point “agenda for change” calls for Māori chief scientific advisers and improved research funding guidelines

Scientists and researchers in New Zealand have called for Māori-led ways of using science to be better incorporated into policymaking.

A five-point plan delivered in a joint paper published on 28 April calls for the introduction of research funding guidelines based on the Treaty of Waitangi, for all main government departments to have Māori chief science advisers and for an independent body to be set up to promote mātauranga Māori, or the Māori way of knowledge. The Treaty of Waitangi, first signed in 1840, contains principles for the protection of Māori culture.