He Awa Whiria

Melissa Derby (Ngati Ranginui) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Waikato, and co-Director of the Early Years Research Centre. She has received several awards, most recently the Te Kopunui Maori Research Award from the Royal Society Te Aparangi in 2022. Sonja Macfarlane (Ngai Tahu; Ngati Waewae) is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Education at Massey University. In 2021 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Aparangi. Angus Hikairo Macfarlane (Ngati Whakaue; Ngati Rangiwewehi) is Professor (Pouhere) in the Child Well-being Research Institute at the University of Canterbury. In 2021 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education, psychology and Maori.

The concept of a braided river - he awa whiria - inspired the creation by pioneering educational researcher Professor Angus Macfarlane of a framework connecting Indigenous and Western perspectives. The He Awa Whiria framework has been used to support bicultural partnership approaches to policy development, research initiatives and practices in a broad range of sectors, such as tertiary institutions, iwi locations, private corporations and government ministries. Through the 12 chapters in this book, the authors explain their rationale for adopting He Awa Whiria, and detail how they have operationalised it in their respective fields of expertise. They report on the positive impacts that the framework has had at each stage of their work. Providing both an overview of the concept of He Awa Whiria and ' real world' case studies, this new volume illustrates the importance and value of drawing on two rich streams of knowledge - matauranga Maori and Western science.