Vā Moana is a Research Centre which engages Moananui thought to study notions of space. Formed in 2012 by Lealiʻifano Albert Refiti and Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, and based at Auckland University of Technology’s School of Art and Design, Vā Moana has a far-reaching network of international scholars. Our research transforms ways of thinking about contemporary and customary Moananui understandings of the world, by examining Indigenous modes of producing space, objects, rituals, and performance. We develop new research in this area and promote discussion and publications from Moananui perspectives. We focus on how Moananui concepts affect the production of space and the use of the built environment, re-exploring and extending customary knowledge alongside academic discourse. Moananui people have always produced new and novel ways of understanding the world, based on and extending tradition.

Vā Moana has a strong focus on building intellectual communities and supporting emerging researchers to find their feet in the academy. We run a number of events and programmes which bring together our postgraduate students, international networks, and local Moananui communities. The research cluster is connected to Moanaroa Pacific Research Network and Te Ranga Tukutuku Māori Research Network.

Vā Moana are experienced in gaining external research grants, and have received two from the Marsden Fund, Royal Society Te Apārangi: Vā Moana: Space and Relationality in Pacific Thought and Identity (2019-2023); Artefacts of Relations: Building in Te Moananui (2022-2025).

For more information on upcoming events and programmes please see Kawepūrongo/News/Talafou.

Core Research Team‍

Prof. Albert L. Refiti (School of Art & Design) – Spatial & architectural theory; Pacific cultural studies and anthropology

‍Prof. Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul (School of Art & Design) – Spatial and cultural theories and practices; transcultural, non-traditional postgraduate research supervision; alternative ontologies and epistemologies

‍Dr. Emily Parr (Post-Doc; School of Art & Design) – Moving-image practice; museums

Cait Puatama Johnson (Research Assistant; UoA) – Pacific Studies

‍Associate Researchers

Rau Hoskins (designTRIBE) – Māori architecture; kaupapa Māori, cultural landscape, and urban design; papakāinga environments.
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Prof. Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa (UH Mānoa) – Hawaiian cultural traditions and sovereignty movement

Dr. Billie Lythberg (UoA) – Visual anthropology

Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Prof. ʻŌkusitino Māhina (Vavaʻu Academy) – Tonga, Pacific theoretical anthropology

Prof. Ty P. Kāwika Tengan (UH Mānoa) – Indigeneity, masculinity, Hawaiʻi

Dr. Brett Graham (artist) – Indigenous histories, politics, and philosophies

Our affiliates are positioned in academic and professional environments in Aotearoa, Moananui, the USA, and Europe.

‍Affiliates (AUT)

Sibyl Bloomfield (SOFE) – architecture, landscape architecture, urban design

Dr. Carl Douglas (School of Art & Design) – architectural drawing, speculative design, technologically-mediated environments, distributed/networked spaces

Dr. Cecelia Faumuina (School of Art & Design) – Pacific design and material culture in education

Jenni Hohepa-Tupu (School of Art & Design) – Whāngai, identity journeys of Māori

Dr. Fleur Palmer (SOFE) – Architecture, community activism, participatory action research, self-determination of Indigenous peoples

Dr. Rafik Patel (School of Art & Design) – Architecture, drawing, ethnography and cultural studies, Oriental spaces in the Pacific

Assoc. Prof. Maibritt Pedersen Zari (SOFE) – regenerative architecture and urban design

Assoc. Prof. Natalie Robertson (School of Art & Design) – lens-based practice, mātauranga Māori

S. Ata Siulua (Moanaroa) – Pacific anthropology and ethnomusicology

Dr. Valance Smith (AUT) – te reo Māori, waiata, haka; Māori and Indigenous spirituality and performance; traditional ecological knowledge; mātauranga Māori implementation

Dr. Nooroa Tapuni (School of Art & Design) – Mangaian Cybernetic continuum, Media arts, Emerging technologies (VR), creativity and innovation, contemporary art (Asia/Pacific)

Dr. I'uogafa Tuagalu – Pacific History, Samoan Thought, Vā studies, ethnography and ontology

Dr. Layne Waerea (AUT Law School) – Contemporary visual art, socio-legal performance, action as knowledge, photography and video-based documentation, Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Dr. Arielle Walker (School of Art & Design; SOFE) – textile processes, ancestral narratives; whakapapa, whatuora, and storywork methodologies

Assoc. Prof. Amanda Yates (SOFE) – place-based, Indigenous-led urban transformation; regenerative urbanism

‍Affiliates (external)

Dr. Lana Lopesi (University of Oregon) – Moana Cosmopolitanism; contemporary Pacific art; critical theory

Prof. Deirdre Brown (UoA) – History of Māori architecture

Assist. Prof. Jake Culbertson (Haverford College) – Anthropology of architecture

Assoc. Prof. Vicente Diaz (Uo Minnesota) – Comparative and global Indigenous Studies, Critical Indigenous Theory

Dr. Azadeh Emadi (University of Glasgow, School of Culture & Creative Arts) – Transnational, intercultural cinema, media and performance arts

Elisapeta Heta (Jasmax) – Architecture

Dr. Ross Jenner (UoA) – Architecture and architectural history & theory

Prof. Tevita Kaʻili (BYU Hawaiʻi) – Pacific cultural history, anthropology

Marilyn Kohlhase (Pacific arts and community consultant)

Prof. Saʻiliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor (Uo Hawaiʻi) – Cultural geography

Prof. Malama Meleisea (NUS, Sāmoa) – Pacific history

Prof. Carl Mika (Uo Canterbury) – Philosophy of education, mātauranga Māori

Prof. Sally Jane Norman (VuW) – Music theory and performance, transdisciplinarity

Dr. Maia Nuku (The MET) – Oceania CuratorLemi Ponifasio (MAU dance theatre) – Choreography, dramaturgy

Dr. Robert Pouwhare (UoA) – Māori media, digital media and video production, te reo Māori, mātauranga and tikanga Māori

Dr. Amiria Salmond (Düsseldorf, Germany) – Theoretical material anthropology

Benita Kumar Simati (MIT, Learning Advisor) – Spatial design, Pacific communities and identities

Rameka Tuʻinukuafe (Jasmax) – Architecture

Prof. Matori Yamamoto (Hosei University, Tokyo) – Anthropology, economy

Our advisors include Prof. Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop and Prof. Robert Jahnke.

Current postgraduate researchers

Raymond Sagapolutele (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Albert L Refiti, Natalie Robertson.

Terje Koloamatangi (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Billie Lythberg, Tēvita Kaʻili.

Nova Paul (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Layne Waerea.

ʻUhila Nai (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Monique Redmond, Natalie Robertson. Advisor: Albert L. Refiti.

Marina McCartney (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Shuchi Kothari.

Previous postgraduate researchers

See more about previous postgraduate researchers and their theses here.