Distinguished Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Keynote Speaker — Education systems and practices
Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou, Tuhourangi
Linda is a Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane, New Zealand. She is known internationally for her work on decolonising research methodologies, Indigenous education and kaupapa Māori (Māori causes). She was founding Co-Director of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga the Māori Centre of Research Excellence and has held several senior academic roles at the University of Auckland and Waikato University.
Dr Smith has served on the Health Research Council, the Marsden Fund Council, the Royal Society of New Zealand Council and is currently Deputy Chair of Council of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She is a Fellow of the American Education Research Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Honorary International Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2023 she was elected to the US National Academy of Science as an International member. Linda is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Her publications include Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples and coediting The International Handbook of Indigenous and A Civilising Mission? The Making of New Zealand’s Native School System 1867-1969. She has recently published five children’s picture books inspired by her research on Māori strategies for healing from trauma.
Eru Kapa-Kingi
Keynote Speaker - Youth
He Aupōuri, he Ngāpuhi, he pānga hoki ki Waikato me Te Whānau a Apanui
Eru grew up in Te Tai Tokerau, the birthplace of He Whakaputanga (Declaration of Independence) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi). Raised to be political and critical of our existence as tangata whenua (people of the land) by passionate parents also on their own journey of reclamation. Eru studied te reo Māori (the Māori language) and Pākehā (European New Zealander) law at Te Herenga Waka and has worked in a variety of legal roles. He now works as a legal academic, teaching about He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti, tangata whenua rights, as well as the intersection between Māori and Pākehā jurisprudence. He also thinks deeply about the constitutional relationship in Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Furthermore, Eru has worked for his iwi Te Aupōuri and is a staunch supporter of the political party Te Pāti Māori. He is on a mission to empower te whakareanga hou (the new generation) through basic knowledge on tangata whenua rights to build confidence in holding and defending our truth that we never ceded our mana, and that we are still sovereign.
Professor Jason De Santolo
Keynote Speaker — Science and technology
Garrwa and Barunggam
Jason is Professor of First Nations Land Justice in Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney and Associate Dean (Indigenous Research) in that university’s Office of the PVC Indigenous Leadership and Engagement. As a research scholar and filmmaker, Dr De Santolo combines legal training with creative methodologies and practice-led approaches to advance Indigenous self-determination and land justice.
ANI MIKAERE
Keynote Speaker — Politics, law and decolonisation
Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Porou
In her role as Pou Whakatupu Mātauranga at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Ani Mikaere is responsible for leading and promoting activity that nurtures and grows the mātauranga continuum—the constantly evolving body of knowledge that has been produced by successive generations of Māori theorists and practitioners.
In 2016 she was awarded Te Kāurutanga, a degree conferred by the founding iwi of Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Her thesis, entitled Like Moths to the Flame? A History of Ngāti Raukawa Resistance and Recovery, investigates the impact of colonisation on Ngāti Raukawa thought. Other publications include He Rukuruku Whakaaro: Colonising Myths, Māori Realities and The Balance Destroyed.
Teina Rongo
Keynote Speaker — Environment and climate
Cook Island Māori
Dr Teina Rongo is the Chairperson and Co-Founder for environmental NGO, Kōrero o te `Ōrau, based on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. He obtained his PhD in marine biology from the Florida Institute of Technology. Teina’s area of research has been around coral reef ecology, ciguatera poisoning, and climate change. His field of study has cultivated his passion for improving the well-being of Indigenous Cook Islanders and their environment. Through the delivery of the NGO’s ‘Ātui’anga ki te Tango programme that uses a ridge-to-reef approach to teach environmental science, climate change, traditional knowledge and cultural practices, young Indigenous Cook Islanders learn the value of this knowledge and the role it plays in conservation, climate resilience, and the sustainable use of our natural resources.
Jeffrey Ansloos
Keynote Speaker — Health and wellbeing
Fisher River Cree Nation
Jeffrey Ansloos is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Health and Social Policy and the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies in Health, Suicide Studies, and Environmental Justice at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His areas of scholarship focus on affective, socioecological and political dimensions of health; suicide prevention; youth and community mental health; feminist, queer, anticolonial and abolitionist methodologies; and land and community education. He is the founding director of the Critical Health and Social Action Lab, an innovation and research centre working to advance health justice with communities. Ansloos is Cree and English, and a citizen of Fisher River Cree Nation (Ochekwi-Sipi; Treaty 5). He was born and raised in the heart of Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba and currently lives in Toronto.