Why it’s essential to put culture at the heart of decision-making in New Zealand.
Victoria University of Wellington is the prime location for Enriching national culture, former theme co-chairs Emeritus Professor Lydia Wevers and Dr Maria Bargh explain in this video.
Victoria University of Wellington is the country’s leading institution for vigorous, imaginative and challenging research on our national culture. As such, we attract scholars and students with expertise in these areas from all disciplines and lead thinking that contributes to innovative teaching and policymaking.
The University recognises the foundational importance of Māori culture to New Zealand and views the Treaty of Waitangi as a living organism—a partnership that enables communities to foster dynamic and productive interactions.
Putting national culture at the centre of debate connects many issues of justice, equity, history and place. The multidisciplinary breadth of the University's work produces new and exciting initiatives in teaching, research and analysis, and extends to inter-institutional collaborations.
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, sent a supportive video to the conference Feminist Engagements in Aotearoa: 125 Years of Suffrage and Beyond. The conference was hosted by Victoria University of Wellington’s Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies and attended by more than 150 delegates.
Professor Charlotte Macdonald and Dr Mike Ross chair this forum as part of Victoria University of Wellington’s commitment to further develop ‘Enriching national culture’ as one of its areas of academic distinctiveness. Professor Susy Frankel, Professor Jeff Tatum, Professor Yiyan Wang, Professor Simon Keller, Nan O’Sullivan and Dr Ocean Mercier each speaks about how the Treaty of Waitangi can inform and shape their very different research fields.
The multidisciplinary research centres, institutes and chairs at Victoria University of Wellington provide a platform for our world leading researchers to collaborate and focus on significant research challenges related to Enriching national culture.