Pauline Harris is a New Zealand academic, currently Associate Professor at Te Pūtahi a Toi School of Māori Knowledge at

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

. She is a central figure in the incorporation of Mātauranga Māori with scientific research in New Zealand, through her roles as Deputy Director (Māori) with the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and as Associate Vision Mātauranga Theme Leader with the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge. In 2022 she was part of the Matariki Governance Board reporting to the Ministers of Māori Crown Relations, Workplace Relations and Safety, Culture and Heritage and the Prime Minister on the establishment of the

Matariki In Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar. Historically, Matariki was usually celebr ...

holiday. She is also a leader in developing an Aerospace strategy in Aotearoa that integrates the aims and aspirations of Māori. She was previously a senior lecturer at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

Academic career

After an undergraduate career at

, Harris completed a MSc and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

titled ''' A search for gamma ray burst neutrinos using the

Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) was an experiment designed to detect the Cherenkov emission in the radio regime of the electromagnetic spectrum from the interaction of high energy neutrinos (greater than 1 P eV, so-called ultra-high e ...

at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

, before returning to the

. Harris established the Society for Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART) in 2009 with the International year of Astronomy, but has chaired it since 2011. SMART was formed to preserve and revitalise Māori astronomical knowledge, through research and publication. The group consists of scientists and experts in

Mātauranga Māori Mātauranga (literally ''Māori knowledge'') is a modern term for the traditional knowledge of the Māori people of New Zealand. Māori traditional knowledge is Interdisciplinarity, multi-disciplinary and Logical holism, holistic, and there is c ...

, Tatai Arorangi,

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

and Celestial Navigation who are passionate about Māori astronomical knowledge, its preservation and revitalisation. This is a trust that has been established to regain the long-neglected knowledge of New Zealand Māori astronomy. Harris has led many externally funded research projects, including ''A Matauranga Maori Scientific Investigation of Traditional Maori Calendars'', ''Nga Takahuringa o te ao – The effect of Climate Change on Traditional Maori Calendars'' looking at calendars in

and ''High-magnetic-field Plasma Propulsion Systems Enabling Next Generation Small Satellite Missions'' with

Nick Long Nicholas Alexander Long is an American songwriter and singer. He is best known as the founder and frontman of indie pop band Dark Waves, and for co-writing Machine Gun Kelly (musician), Machine Gun Kelly's ''Tickets to My Downfall'' and ''Mainstrea ...

developing satellite propulsion systems. As a consequence she is an acknowledged leader in the New Zealand research system at the interface of Mātauranga Māori, astrophysics, and environmental science. The connection to environmental science is made through the importance of the lunar and stellar calendars to Māori communities, with the lunar calendar being known as the Maramataka. Harris has played a key role in the revitalisation of Maramataka, creating space and opportunity for the

Tohunga In the culture of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, ...

who are involved in it, creating resources, and

wānanga In the education in New Zealand, education system of New Zealand, a wānanga is a state sector organisations in New Zealand, publicly-owned Tertiary education, tertiary institution or Māori people, Māori university that provides education in a ...

during the early stages of the revitalisation. The impacts of this work in building awareness of climate change in local communities is highly significant, and can be linked to her role in supporting work on environmental remediation with Māori communities.

Awards

In 2024 Harris was awarded the Murray Geddis Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, in recognition of her far reaching contributions to astronomy in New Zealand, especially in regard to her involvement in creating educational resources and appropriate new channels for dissemination. This includes having created and initiated the planetarium dome programmes for Māori astronomy, training and teaching young navigators to run the programmes and carry on the programmes, then having grown these to a number of domes that run across the country. Her longstanding work contributing to the revitalisation of traditional knowledge around Matariki, and the popularisation of this amongst the wider community, has been widely recognised.

Selected works

* Harris, Pauline, Rangi Matamua, Takirirangi Smith, Hoturoa Kerr, and Toa Waaka. "A review of Māori astronomy in Aotearoa-New Zealand." Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 16, no. 3 (2013): 325–336. * Hēmi Whaanga, Pauline Harris, Rangi Matamua. "The science and practice of Māori astronomy and Matariki" New Zealand Science Review Vol 76 (1–2) 2020

Personal life

Harris is of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

Rongomaiwahine Rongomaiwahine was a Māori chieftainess and chief ancestress of the Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki ''iwi''. She lived on the Māhia Peninsula, probably in the late fifteenth century. Life Rongomaiwahine was ...

Ngāti Rakaipaka Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

and

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi (tribe) located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The Kahungunu iwi also comprises 86 hapū (sub-tribes ...

descent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Pauline Living people New Zealand women academics Year of birth missing (living people) Ngāti Rongomaiwahine people Ngāti Kahungunu people 21st-century New Zealand astronomers New Zealand Māori women academics New Zealand Māori academics University of Canterbury alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington