Dr Leonie Pihama (Te Ātiawa, Ngā Māhanga ā Tairi, Waikato) is Professor of Māori and Indigenous Research at Ngā Wai ā Te Tūī, Māori and Indigenous Research Centre, Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka, Unitec, and Director of Māori and Indigenous Analysis Limited, and is a leading kaupapa Māori educator and researcher. She received the Hohua Tūtengaehe Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (HRC) and the inaugural Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Senior Māori Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Washington. In 2015, she was awarded Te Tohu Pae Tāwhiti Award (NZARE) for excellence in Māori educational research and as Director of Te Kotahi Research Institute accepted Te Tohu Rapuora Award (HRC) for significant contribution to Māori health excellence and leadership. Leonie has published widely and served on the Māori Health Committee for the HRC and a number of boards.
Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou, Tūhourangi) is Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She is a leading indigenous studies scholar, educationalist and kaupapa Māori researcher and has given many addresses and written many publications in these areas. She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013 for her services to Māori and education and received a Prime Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Education in 2017. She was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Puawaitanga Award for Research Excellence in Te Ao Māori and Indigenous Knowledge in 2018, and she received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg Canada in the same year.
