Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Whakaarahia anō te rā kaihau! Raise up again the billowing sail! Revitalising cultural knowledge through analysis of Te Rā
Recipient(s): Dr CA Smith | PI | University of Otago
Ms DL Campbell | PI | University of Waikato
Public Summary: Despite the centrality of sailing in New Zealand history, only one customary Māori sail survives. The sail (Te Rā), probably collected by Cook (c.1768-79), is in closed storage at the British Museum, London. Te Rā has been exhibited once, but has not been experienced in New Zealand since collection. Little information exists about customary Māori sails, despite revitalisation of ocean-voyaging waka and related knowledge systems which have had demonstrated benefits for Māori cultural health. This collaborative and interdisciplinary project, connecting Mātauranga Māori and science, brings experienced weavers and scientists together to unlock the cultural knowledge only available through study of Te Rā. Enquiry into Te Rā provides a vehicle for all New Zealanders to engage with the story of an unparalleled journey that brought people to the last unexplored landmass, and the birth of Aotearoa. As the physical embodiment of cultural knowledge of voyaging, Te Rā also shows evidence of the emergence of a distinctively Māori response to new plants, animals and sailing. This project is at the nexus of Mātauranga Māori and Western science, providing a model for robust knowledge development beneficial to iwi, practitioners and academics through comprehensive research on the sole remaining Māori sail, Te Rā.
Total Awarded: $845,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr CA Smith
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 17-UOO-061
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Whāngai and the adoption of Māori: healing the past, transforming the future
Recipient(s): Dr HM Potter | PI | Te Wananga o Raukawa
Ms M Haenga-Collins | PI | Australian National University
Ms AL Mikaere | PI | Te Wananga o Raukawa
Ms ALM Ahuriri-Driscoll | AI | University of Canterbury
Dr DD Blake | AI | Massey University
Dr JV Hutchings | AI | Tiaho Ltd
Dr K McBreen | AI | Te Wananga o Raukawa
Mrs J Tupu | AI | Auckland University of Technology
Public Summary: The project brings the adoption of Māori and the tikanga of whāngai together in a comprehensive study for the first time. It proposes to generate a greater understanding of the colonising histories that have shaped their practice and the impacts they have had on inter-generational whānau wellbeing. Bringing these learnings together, the study will explore ways to heal the cultural violence of adoption and the potential of whāngai to contribute to and strengthen whānau, hapū, and iwi wellbeing. A key objective is to examine a role for iwi in healing the violence of adoption and supporting the practice of whāngai into the future. The study will advance understandings of key questions about belonging and identity, trauma and healing, and colonisation and the resilience and adaptability of tikanga. These advancements will be developed using historical research methods and in-depth interviews and hui with key informants, Māori adoptees and whāngai and their whānau, and with iwi. Indeed, a key objective is to substantially broaden the voices in the literature to include the children and grandchildren of adoptees and whāngai and their wider whānau. The project is a collaboration between Te Wānanga o Raukawa and foremost scholars in the field of Māori adoption.
Total Awarded: $845,000
Duration: 3
Host: Te Wananga o Raukawa
Contact Person: Dr HM Potter
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 17-TWR-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: What are the correct boundary conditions for fluid dynamics?
Recipient(s): Dr SC Hendy | PI | Industrial Research Ltd
Dr G Willmott | AI | Industrial Research Ltd
Dr C Ybert | AI | Universite Claude-Bernard Lyon
Public Summary: Since the early 20th century, the no-slip boundary condition has been regarded as one of the fundamental tenets of fluid dynamics. However, new measurement techniques with nanoscale resolution and large-scale computer simulations have shown that the no-slip boundary condition can be violated in simple liquids at the microscale. In this proposal, we will extend our theoretical understanding of the slip boundary condition using a new mathematical approach to develop a microscopic theory of intrinsic slip, and by obtaining approximate solutions of the Stokes equations to describe the effective slip measured in most experiments.
Total Awarded: $416,000
Duration: 3
Host: Industrial Research Ltd
Contact Person: Dr SC Hendy
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 08-IRL-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: What counts as consent? Sexuality and ethical deliberation in residential aged care
Recipient(s): Associate Professor M Henrickson | PI | Massey University Auckland
Dr CM Cook | AI | Massey University Auckland
Mrs SM McDonald | AI | Northland District Health Board
Dr V Schouten | AI | Massey University Auckland
Public Summary: This project will contribute to ethical theory in practice by interrogating and informing conceptualisations of consent in the domain of sexuality and intimacy in residential aged care (RAC), and identifying practice implications. The dominant position in the literature is that consent is of fundamental importance: that non-consensual sex is morally wrong, and that in order to give morally valid consent, a person must meet standards of cognitive competence. The context of RAC is an ideal context to test these claims. In this context, there are people who may be both cognitively compromised and who also may desire intimate relationships. This two-arm mixed-methods project will survey 300 RAC staff in RAC around New Zealand to assess their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about ageing, sexuality, and the importance of consent. Interviews with 50 residents, family and staff will explore the experiences of these groups about intimacy and sexuality in care, with the aim of using these insights and experiences to challenge the theoretical claims made in the literature. As the large baby-boomer population generation enters RAC, with different expectations of sexuality and intimacy, findings will contribute to increasingly urgent debates shaping ethics and ageing, and discourses on consent and wellbeing.
Total Awarded: $845,000
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University Auckland
Contact Person: Associate Professor M Henrickson
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 17-MAU-028
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2009
Title: What counts as healthy food? Balancing organisational tensions between private and public agendas
Recipient(s): Dr AM Henderson | PI | University of Waikato
Professor LL Putnam | AI | University of California, Santa Barbara
Public Summary: With public concern about the social and health consequences of current patterns of western food consumption, debates have intensified between food producers, lobby groups, medical professionals, and government agencies about what counts as healthy food. At the same time, the boundaries between foods and medicines are simultaneously becoming blurred and being reconstructed. This novel research examines how key food-producing organizations balance public and private agendas as they negotiate the tensions created by contradictory approaches to what is considered to be healthy food. The study will also consider the implications of these organizational decisions for health promotion and sustainable business.
Total Awarded: $266,667
Duration: 3
Host: University of Waikato
Contact Person: Dr AM Henderson
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 09-UOW-035
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: What determines the size of the c ring in a nanomolecular machine?
Recipient(s): Assoc Prof GM Cook | PI | University of Otago
Dr T Meier | PI | Max Planck Institute of Biophysics
Public Summary: ATP is the universal energy currency of every living cell and is synthesized by the F1Fo-ATP synthase, a nano-sized rotary engine embedded within the membranes of mitochondria, chloroplasts, or bacteria. The enzyme is a complex of two motors: a soluble F1 domain and a membrane-bound Fo. The Fo motor is a molecular turbine consisting of an oligomeric c ring; a cylindrical assembly of multiple c subunits that varies between 10-15 subunits depending on the organism. The goal of this study is to determine what factors determine the size of the c ring and elucidate the molecular mechanism and physiological rationale for this variability in size.
Total Awarded: $742,222
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Assoc Prof GM Cook
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 08-UOO-059
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: What do the claimants say? Reconceptualising the treaty claims settlement process
Recipient(s): Professor MS Mutu | PI | The University of Auckland
Dr T McDowell | AI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: Little is known about Maori views of the treaty settlements process and outcomes. The settlements are hugely important and desperately needed to contribute towards building new futures for impoverished Maori communities. More than 60 historical treaty claims against the Crown have been settled. There are more than 50 still to be settled and many of these groups are struggling with the process. The government paints a positive picture for both Maori and the Crown: millions of dollars paid, apologies for past wrongs and grievances removed. But how do claimants see it? What are their stories?
This project aims to tackle the absence of claimant voices in the discourse on the treaty claims settlement process. A large number of claimants throughout the country have agreed to tell their stories in order to provide important and urgently needed information for those still to settle. Richly documented, reliable and inspirational accounts of Maori experiences, insights and analyses of the settlement process and its outcomes will be produced. The project will draw on all of the evidence currently available using Maori theoretical and methodological approaches. In addition, an international symposium will be organised that incorporates the experiences of other indigenous peoples seeking reconciliation.
Total Awarded: $710,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Professor MS Mutu
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 14-UOA-064
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: What drives the evolution of extreme male weaponry?
Recipient(s): Dr GI Holwell | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor G Giribet | AI | Harvard University
Professor G Machado | AI | University of Sao Paolo
Public Summary: The weapons males use when competing for mates are among the most elaborate and diverse structures in the animal kingdom, yet we are surprisingly ignorant of the mechanisms driving their evolution. While studies focusing on single species can tell us a great deal about the fitness consequences of exaggerated weapons, broader comparative research is necessary to understand why weapons are so diverse. One possibility is that exaggerated weapons reliably signal an individual's strength or fighting prowess to their rivals, and such signals may take multiple forms. Here, species displaying the largest weaponry are more likely to resolve conflict by mutual assessment, before it escalates into dangerous combat. Alternatively, as with ornaments, weapons may signal male quality to females and diversify due to selection via female mate choice. We will combine comparative and behavioural ecological approaches to test these hypotheses using a group of endemic New Zealand arachnids, the monoscutid harvestmen, which possess perhaps the most extreme weaponry in the animal kingdom.
Total Awarded: $840,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr GI Holwell
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 15-UOA-241
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: What is happening in the brain during micro-sleeps?
Recipient(s): Assoc Prof RD Jones | PI | Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research
Dr L Astolfi | AI | University of Rome La Sapienza"
Assoc Prof F Babiloni | AI | University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Prof PJ Bones | AI | University of Canterbury
Assoc Prof JC Dalrymple-Alford | AI | University of Canterbury
Dr CR Innes | AI | Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research"
Public Summary: Our research aims to determine what happens in the brain during brief (0.5-15 s) lapses of responsiveness due to microsleeps and attention lapses. We will do this via studies in which subjects will perform a continuous 2-D tracking task for 1 hour while fMRI, 64-channel EEG, and a video of eyes are recorded. Our experience is that most of these subjects will lapse and do so many times. We will explore questions and hypotheses concerned with regions and information flow in the brain involved in the initiation and recovery from lapses, and the underlying differences between microsleeps and lapses of attention.
Total Awarded: $683,556
Duration: 3
Host: Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research
Contact Person: Assoc Prof RD Jones
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 08-VDV-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: What is the Southland accent?
Recipient(s): Dr L Clark | PI | University of Canterbury
Professor JB Hay | AI | University of Canterbury
Dr KD Watson | AI | University of Canterbury
Public Summary: Linguists and lay New Zealanders alike agree that the variety of speech found in Southland is the main, and perhaps the only, regional accent in New Zealand. And yet surprisingly little is actually known about the Southland accent because it has never been thoroughly studied. This project is the first large-scale, comprehensive study to ask: what is the Southland accent? By pooling existing recordings of Southland speakers over a 100-year time frame, we will conduct systematic linguistic and statistical analyses of the evolution of Southland English and the features that distinguish it from contemporary General New Zealand English. This project will achieve two simultaneous aims: (1) it will plug a gaping hole in the New Zealand dialectology literature by providing a robust understanding of our main regional dialect and (2) it will present a unique opportunity to contribute to fundamental theoretical issues about the very nature of sound change, and the mechanisms through which it spreads.
Total Awarded: $530,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Dr L Clark
Panel: HUM
Project ID: 16-UOC-058