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Back to main menuWe've awarded scholarships to two emerging Māori researchers
Nov 4, 2026
Ngā mihi and congratulations to Tiria Pehi and Awatea Moxon, winners of our Āheitanga Thesis Scholarship this year.
Every year, Motu Research offers a one-year $5,000 scholarship to up to two candidates to enhance research capacity in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Māori community.
Through our Āheitanga Thesis scholarship, we hope to help enhance research capacity in Aotearoa’s Māori community and help students of Māori descent research topics relevant to public policy development.
Tīria Pehi (Ngāpuhi and Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi) is a passionate and emerging Māori researcher, and a Research Fellow with He Kainga Oranga - Housing and Health Research Programme.
She comes from Whangarei and has worked supporting whanau in the community with serious housing needs through emergency and transitional housing. Working in the face of homelessness has fuelled her passion for creating better housing outcomes, not only for Māori but for all people of Aotearoa.
With a BA in social science from Auckland University of Technology, and a BA Hons (First Class) at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University, she is also currently pursuing her PhD at Waipapa Taumata Rau - University of Auckland. Her research interests are in homelessness, mental health, Māori identity, institutional racism, the environment, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its applications to wider society.
Tiria's PhD thesis focuses on the impacts of severe housing deprivation or homelessness on tamariki / children, identifying pathways in and out of homelessness to provide effective solutions to an issue that is critically under studied in Aotearoa.
As part of this scholarship, Tiria will connect with our Fellow Jaimie Monk, whose areas of research interest include child poverty, family wellbeing, housing, children’s technology use and behavioural economics for public policy.
Awatea Waimārie Moxon is a Māori doctoral researcher at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and a clinical psychology intern. Her PhD explores the relationship between whakapapa knowledge and Māori mental wellbeing, examining how knowing who we are, where we come from, and who we belong to contributes to wellness.
Using both qualitative and quantitative research grounded in Kaupapa Māori methodologies, her work highlights the power of whakapapa knowledge to promote wellbeing.
As part of this scholarship, Awatea will connect with our Senior Fellow Arthur Grimes, one of Aotearoa New Zealand's preeminent wellbeing researchers.
Congratulations, Tiria and Awatea!
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