Current Projects

Affordable Homes for Generations

Funded by the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, 2020-2024

This programme of research, co-led by Dr Kay Saville-Smith and Dr Fiona Cram, recognises New Zealand’s severe undersupply of functional, affordable housing and the consequent problems of homelessness and exclusion, the drag imposed on communities and local economies, and the environmental and resilience risks presented by the persistent undersupply of affordable housing. 

In the Māori research we are interested in housing issues for key workers and for young Māori whānau, the impact of repairs and maintenance on making a house a home for whānau, and what supports Māori to build on their own land.

Also visit the programme's website and the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge website.

Publications

Adcock, A., Cram, F., & Lawton, B. (2021). "It feels real good having my own space" - Young Māori mothers in the E Hine study talk about housing. In K. Saville-Smith, & G. Walker (Eds.), Special edition: Housing at the heart of place, people and population - Ko te whare noho kei te iho o te wāhi, te tangata me te taupori. New Zealand Population Review, 47, 171-197. 

Cram, F. (2020). Mahi aroha: Aroha ki te tangata, he tangata. MAI Journal, 9(4), 3-6. doi: 10.20507/MAIJournal.2020.9.4.1

Cram, F. (2021). Mahi Aroha: Māori work in times of trouble and disaster as an expression of a love for the people. Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online. doi: 10.1080/1177083X.2021.187919181.

Cram, F., Berghan, J., Adcock, A., & Fowler, M. (2023). Young Mothers at Te Tipu Whenua o Pa Harakeke talk about what makes a house a home. Report for Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities, Affordable Housing for Generations – Component C, March 2023, Wellington: BBHTC.

Cram, F., Cram, S., Munro, M. & Tawhai, S. (2021). Awhi mai, awhi atu: Giving and receiving support during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Report for Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities, Affordable Housing for Generations, June 2021, Wellington: BBHTC.

James, B.L., Bates, L., Coleman, T.M., Kearns, R. & Cram, F. (2020). Tenure insecurity, precarious housing and hidden homelessness among older renters in New Zealand. Housing Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2020.1813259

James, B.L., Coleman, T.M., Cram, F., Bates, L. & Kearns, R. (2021). Pathways to renting among older former homeowners | Ngā ara ki te rēti whare i waenga i te hunga aātāpuputu i pupuri whare i mua. In K. Saville-Smith, & G. Walker (Eds.), Special edition: Housing at the heart of place, people and population - Ko te whare noho kei te iho o te wāhi, te tangata me te taupori. New Zealand Population Review, 47, 225-261.

Saville-Smith, K., Cram, F., James, B. and Robinson, A. (Eds.), (2022). Reflections on kaumātua, pakeke and seniors’ housing. Ageing Well National Science Challenge.

Poipoia te kākano, Kia Puāwai

Funded by the Kāinga Tahi, Kāuinga Rua funding stream of the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, 2020-2024

Community researchers include: 

The objective of this programme of research, co-led by Dr Fiona Cram and Dr Tepora Emery, Toi Ohomai, is to nurture housing research that is by, with and for whānau (kinship collectives), hapū (subtribes), Iwi (tribes) and Māori communities. This is about mana motuhake, or Māori self-determination over housing research priorities, methodologies, and the utilisation of research findings. In this way the science and mātauranga (knowledge) of Māori housing, homes, places and people can be built and strengthened for Māori vitality and sustainability.

Visit the website for more information. Also visit the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge website.

Publications

Cram, F., Emery, T., Aydon-Pou, V., Makoare, Z., Morrison, K., Munro, M., Pohatu, L., Pohatu, N., Pohatu, T.K. & Te Huia, B. (2021). Poipoia te kākano, kia puāwai: Nurturing the seed of community-based Māori housing research. Scope. Contemporary Research Topics: Kaupapa Kāi Tahu, 6, 22-32. https://doi.org/10.34074/scop.2006001 

Cram, F., Emery, T., Munro, M., Aydon-Pou, V., Makoare, Z., Morrison, K., Pohatu, L. & Te Huia, B. (2023). Poipoia te kākano, kia puāwai: Enabling Māori community researchers to examine the meaning of home. In F. Neuhaus (Ed.), Cultures, Communities and Design: Connecting Planning, Landscapes, Architecture and People. AMPS, University of Calgary, 28-30 June 2022. AMPS: AMPS Proceedings Services 30.

Te Huia, B. with Kairangahau Rangatahi (2021). Waipuka papakāinga. Report for the Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua funding stream of the Building Better Homes, Towns and Communities National Science Challenge.

Munro, Morehu (2021). Te Wairoa, te kāinga tahi. Report for the Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua funding stream of the Building Better Homes, Towns and Communities National Science Challenge.

Whānau Manaaki

Protecting maternal wellbeing - hapū ora

Funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, 2016-2020. This project is being led by Dr Beverley Lawton, alongside Dr Stacie Gellar, Dr Fiona Cram and Dr Liza Edmonds.

Whānau Manaaki is a Kaupapa Māori research programme that builds on our joint work and research findings to address Māori maternal-child health disparities. It puts the woman and her whānau at the centre and explores the health care delivery system and structural determinants of health (e.g. housing, racism, transport, income, education) that impact on the health and well being of Māori women and their babies. This will enable us to understand what needs ‘fixing’ to improve well-being for Māori whānau.

Publications

Adcock, A., Cram, F., Edmonds, L. & Lawton, B. (2023). Culturally safe neonatal care: Talking with health practitioners identified as champions by Indigenous families. Qualitative Health Research. DOI: 10.1177/10497323231164550

Adcock, A., Cram, F., Edmonds, L. & Lawton, B. (2022). He Tamariki Kokoti Tau: Whānau of preterm Māori infants (pēpi) reflect on their journeys from birth to first birthday. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 52 Issue sup1: He Āpiti Supplement: He Pito Mata – Awakening the Potential. Guest Editors: Sarah Moss, Sereana Naepi, Darren Powell and Wendy Larner.

Adcock, A., Cram, F., Edmonds, L. & Lawton, B. (2021). He Tamariki Kokoti Tau: Families of Indigenous infants talk about their experiences of preterm birth and neonatal intensive care. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 9835. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189835.

Adcock, A., Storey, F., Lawton, B., Bennett, M., Lambert, C., Edmonds, L., Stevenson, K., Geller, S. & Cram, F. (2019). He Korowai Manaaki: mapping assets to inform a strength-based, Indigenous-led wrap-around maternity pathway. Australian Journal of Primary Care -  https://doi.org/10.1071/PY19029. Published online: 21 October 2019.

Edmonds, L.K., Sibanda, N., Geller, S., Cram, F., Robson, B., Filoche, S., Storey, F., Gibson-Helm, M. & Lawton, B. (2021). He Tamariki Kokoti Tau: Tackling preterm incidence and outcomes of preterm births by ethnicity in Aotearoa New Zealand 2010-2014. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.13855.

Lawton, B., Storey, F., Sibanda, N., Bennett, M., Lambert, C., Geller, S., Edmonds, L., & Cram, F. (2021). He Korowai Manaaki (Pregnancy Wraparound Care): Protocol for a cluster randomized clinical trial. JMIR Research Protocol, 10(1):e18154 doi: 10.2196/18154 PMID: 33512321

He tapu te whare tangata

Exploration of the cervical screening clinical pathway following offer of HPV self-test

Ministry of Health and Health Research Council of New Zealand project grants to the Centre for Women's Health Research, University of Victoria, Wellington, 2017-2020

Even though cervical cancer is preventable, our current screening programme is failing Māori women. There are unacceptable disparities experienced by Māori women, from access to screening to mortality. Māori women are twice as likely to die from cervical cancer than non- Māori women. 

Our project - He Tapu Te Whare Tangata - aims to increase cervical screening coverage through HPV self-testing, delivered through community-based health practices.  We will use technology that screens women for infection with the types of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) that cause cervical cancer. The project is Māori led and Māori centred. It will improve the detection of pre-cancerous lesions in Māori women and aims ultimately to reduce the unnecessary inequity in mortality from a preventable cancer that disproportionately affects Māori women. If successful, it will inform the National Screening Unit policy on the rollout of HPV screening.

Publications

Adcock, A., Cram, F., Lawton, B., Geller, S., Hibma, M., Sykes, P., MacDonald, E. J., Dallas‐Katoa, W., Rendell, B., Cornell, T., Mataki, T., Rangiwhetu, T., Gifkins, N. and Hart, S. (2019). Acceptability of self‐taken vaginal HPV sample for cervical screening among an under‐screened Indigenous population. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol, 59, 301–307. doi:10.1111/ajo.12933

Adcock, A., Stevenson, K., Cram, F., MacDonald, E.J., Gellar, S., Hermens, J. & Lawton, B. (2021). He Tapu Te Whare Tangata (sacred house of humanity): Under- screened Māori women talk about HPV self-testing cervical screening clinical pathways. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.13873.

Lawton, B., Heffernan, M., Wurtak, G., Steben, M., Lhaki, P., Cram, F., Blas, M., Hibma, M., Adcock, A., Stevenson, K., Whop, L., Brotherton, J. & Garland, S.M. (2020). IPVS Policy Statement addressing the burden of HPV disease for Indigenous peoples. Papillomavirus Research, 9, 100191.

MacDonald, E.J., Geller, S., Sibanda, N., Stevenson, K., Denmead, L., Adcock, A., Cram, F., Hibma, M., Sykes, P. & Lawton, B. (2021). Reaching under-screened/never-screened indigenous peoples with human papilloma virus self-testing: A community-based cluster randomised controlled trial. Aust NZ J Obstet Gynaecol. DOI: 10.1111/ajo.13285

Ngā Tau Tuangahuru

Māori and Pacific Education Initiative 10-year longitudinal evaluation

Funded by Foundation North

The Māori and Pacific Education Initiative (MPEI) was Foundation North's (previously the ASB Community Trust) flagship investment in community-based programmes and services to improve educational outcomes for Māori and Pacific children and young people. This longitudinal study explores what happens to these students in the longer term, after they have stayed with an initiative for some time or moved on to other educational or employment opportunities. We ask whether the gains achieved by students will have a long-lasting impact upon their lives and the lives of those around them. The study is a collaborative endeavour with five of the MPEI initiatives - asking questions that are important to them, and building the capacity of community researchers through their involvement with the study.

Publications

Cram, F., Samu, T., Theodore, R. & Trotman, R. (2020). Māori whānau talk about whānau success: Findings from Round 1 of Ngā Tau Tuangahuru—the Māori and Pacific Education Initiative (MPEI) longitudinal study. Evaluation Matters—He Take Tō Te Aromatawai, 6, first-on-line.

Sharp, T., Samu, T., Trotman, R., Cram, F. & Theodore, M. (2021). Pacific educational success in Aotearoa New Zealand: comparing Ngā Tau Taugnahuru study findings with policy directions and research. Pacific-Asian Education, 32, 59-74.

Trotman, R., Cram, F., Samu, T., Becroft, M., Theodore, R., Trinick, T. with Pt England Primary School, Manaiakalani, Sylvia Park School, Rise UP Trust, He Puna Marama Trust, Oceania Careers Academy & High Tech Youth (2018). Investing in ‘success’ as Māori and Pacific: The collaborative development of Ngā Tau Tuangahuru, a longitudinal study. Evaluation Matters - He Take Tō Te Aromatawai, 4, 87-100.