Welcome to the inaugural issue of ITP Hauora Research.

Kia ora koutou, 

As we come together under the umbrella of Te Pūkenga, the national NZIST Research Futures: Health and Wellbeing workstream identified the importance of showcasing research across New Zealand's Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP). We have started the process by producing this pānui, ITP Hauora Research.

In our first issue, we feature eight outstanding contributions to health and wellbeing in Aotearoa. The research projects are very much connected with our learners, our communities, our regions, and our country. By collating these stories, we hope to strengthen the sector by stimulating connections and collaborations between subsidiaries.

We are thrilled to feature Professor David Tipene-Leach’s long-term wahakura (flax bassinet) research project and relate its role in creating a safer sleep environment for the prevention of SUDI in at risk Māori babies. David has recently been awarded the inaugural Tahunui-a-Rangi Award from the Royal Society Te Apārangi. We are able to share with you his new ‘Te Whare Pora O Hineteiwaiwa’ (House of weaving) clinics that engage Māori mothers through weaving items for their unborn pēpi (baby), thereby encouraging access to antenatal services earlier in pregnancy.

Our other featured researchers bring diverse subjects illustrating the breadth and depth of ITP health and wellbeing research across the country, including:

• how end-of-life prostate cancer treatment affects quality of life,
• the features of a sustainable rural midwifery service,
• the impact of wild game shot with lead ammunition on human blood lead levels,
• an innovative child-to-child vision testing toolkit to improve eye health,
• an evaluation of a long-term partnership to improve health graduates’ capability to serve Pasifika communities,
• the best way to integrate te reo into a Bachelor of Nursing Māori programme, and
• practice-education partnership to improve uptake of new graduates working in mental health and addictions.

Please share this pānui with your colleagues and external stakeholders and encourage them to subscribe.

Mere Kirihimete.

Ngā manaakitanga,
Lotta Bryant
Co-ordinator, NZIST Research Futures: Health and Wellbeing workstream.

About ITP Hauora Research

The ITP Hauora Research pānui is an initiative of the NZIST Research Futures: Health and Wellbeing workstream. The workstream represents health and wellbeing research across all of Aotearoa's 16 ITPs. 

The workstream consists of:

• Lotta Bryant, Wintec – Workstream co-ordinator
• Prof. Sally Baddock, Otago Polytechnic – Pānui editor
• Megan Allardice, Eastern Institute of Technology
• Dr Anita Jagroop-Dearing, Eastern Institute of Technology
• Dr Lee Smith, Weltec and Whitireia Institutes of Technology
• Dr John Stanfield, NorthTec
• Dr Lorna Davies, Ara Institute of Canterbury

Contact the NZIST Research Futures: Health and Wellbeing workstream

Content in this issue of ITP Hauora Research was produced by freelance writer Heather Wilson.

Thank you to Te Urikore Biddle from Wintec and Ron Bull from Otago Polytechnic for providing consultation.

Call for submissions

Are you a health and wellbeing researcher at one of the 16 subsidiaries of Te Pūkenga New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology? If you have a research project you would like to see featured in a future issue of ITP Hauora Research, you can request a submission form.