The Māori Knowledge and Development Research output class
Description
The Māori Knowledge and Development Research output class (MKDOC) is a specific portion of funds within Vote Research, Science and Technology (Vote RS&T). It provides funding to develop Māori research capability, evolve Māori knowledge and develop knowledge for the benefit of the nation.
Supporting researchers
The MKDOC is a recent innovation within Vote RS&T. Since its inception in 2000, it has supported Māori researchers and thought leaders of the calibre of Professor Mason Durie of Massey University, Professor Michael Brown of Waikato University and Dr Charlotte Severne of NIWA. Additionally, non-Māori researchers such as Dr Roger Miller of Industrial Research Ltd have also received support through their innovative and thoughtful approaches to research issues arising in the Māori community.
A wide variety of projects
The MKDOC has and continues to support a wide array of research projects into topics such as resource harvesting, hapū development, traditional usages of harakeke (flax), growing Māori capacity in a range of business enterprises and Massey University’s celebrated project Te Hoe-nuku-roa, a longitudinal study of Māori households. As such, the MKDOC has opened up new avenues of inquiry and research and has supported research projects that otherwise would not have proceeded. These research projects have expanded thinking relating to how research is conducted, who conducts research and how benefits are disseminated and to whom.
A growing interest
The MKDOC offers a glimpse into the creative potential of research conducted by Māori and/or of relevance to Māori. The interest of Māori in conducting research is growing dramatically and the potential of this dimension of New Zealand’s research sector to contribute to the Government’s goals for research, science and technology is exciting.
Administering the fund
The MKDOC is administered by:
- the Foundation of Research, Science and Technology (FRST)
- the Health Research Council (HRC)
The entire fund is split three ways. One portion is administered by FRST only and another by HRC only. Finally, there is also a joint fund which is administered by both the HRC and FRST jointly.
The current value of the Māori Knowledge and Development Research output class is $5.475m for the 2005/2006 financial year.