Stout Research Centre

The Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit

The Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit (TOWRU) was established in January 1999 to:

  • provide independent, high quality research on Treaty of Waitangi matters;
  • support Waitangi Tribunal hearings and Treaty negotiation and settlement processes;
  • contribute to the eventual resolution of Treaty claims, and to equitable and harmonious ethnic relationships within Aotearoa/New Zealand;
  • join the resources of Victoria University with those of the wider research community, in order to meet the needs of clients for timely and rigorous research;
  • extend its research and scholarship to the wider community through consultancy and training programmes; and
  • provide mentoring assistance to new researchers, including Māori historians, so as to develop their contract research abilities.

Many independent and scholarly research and policy advice outputs have been provided on commission to Treaty funding agencies, Treaty claimants and Crown agencies. The unit also seeks major funding for non-contracted scholarship on those Treaty matters, past, present and future, which have been identified as priorities.

TOWRU has access to a range of specialist researchers who can be drawn upon to address the specific requirements of each research project. Researchers are supervised by the Director or, where appropriate, by other experienced senior researchers.

The unit is interdisciplinary and capitalises on the special location, communities and resources of Wellington, including the holdings of the National and Alexander Turnbull Libraries and Archives New Zealand.

Disciplines drawn on include history, law and tikanga Māori, and researchers available to TOWRU cover many other disciplines: sociology, anthropology, resource management, commerce and science, including specialist areas such as ethnobotany.

TOWRU is based at the Stout Research Centre.

Director: Professor Richard Hill

Email: richard.hill@vuw.ac.nz

 

Mailing address:

TOWRU
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Street address:

12 Waiteata Road
VUW Kelburn Campus
Wellington