Vā Moana is a research cluster 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 (albert.refiti@aut.ac.nz)

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

‍Dr. Emily Parr (Post-Doc; School of Art & Design) – Moving-image practice; museums (emily.parr@aut.ac.nz)

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

‍Associate Researchers

Rau Hoskins (designTRIBE) – Māori architecture; kaupapa Māori, cultural landscape, and urban design; papakāinga environments. – Moana Cosmopolitanism; contemporary Pacific art; critical theory.
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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 (sculptor) – 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. Lana Lopesi (University of Oregon) – Moana Cosmopolitanism; contemporary Pacific art; critical theory

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)
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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.

Rosanna Raymond (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Albert L Refiti.

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.

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

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

Paul Janman (Doctoral Candidate). Supervisors: Dafydd Sills-Jones, Albert L. Refiti.

‍Tuputau Lelaulu (PhD completed 2024). Maumoana: An Indigenous Design Framework for Regenerating Moananui Living Systems. Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Fleur Palmer, Janine Randerson.

Emily Parr (PhD completed 2024). ʻOli ʻUla: Housing the Kronfeld Collection through Moving-Image Practice. Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Natalie Robertson, Layne Waerea.

Iʻuogafa Tuagalu (PhD completed 2023). Tāla’iga o le gafa o le vā: Storying the Ontology, Genealogy, and the Energetics of Vā: The Development of Samoan Worldview c.1000AD-1914. Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Billie Lythberg, Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul.

Rafik Patel (PhD completed 2022). KAABA: The Heart's Centre: Kashf Al-Makān/Unveiling Spaces of Being. Supervisors: Albert L Refiti, Maria O’Connor.

Cecelia Faumuina (PhD completed 2022). 'Asi: the presence of the unseen. Supervisors: Welby Ings, Jani Wilson, Albert L. Refiti.

Tukai Jioviliti Tawake Nayacakalou (MArch completed 2022). Viti: The Bridge of Moana-Nui. Supervisors: Fleur Palmer, Albert L. Refiti.

Vena Latu (MArch completed 2022). Binding Lalava: Unravelling the Functionality of Pattern. Supervisors: Fleur Palmer, Albert L. Refiti.Ansgar Jarouch Sateki Pale (MArch completed 2022). Timelessness Tuʻunga. Supervisors: Fleur Palmer, Albert L. Refiti.

Lana Lopesi (PhD completed 2021). Moana Cosmopolitan Imaginaries: Toward an Emerging Theory of Moana Art. Supervisors: Albert L Refiti, Layne Waerea, Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul.

John Vea (PhD completed 2021). Exploring Pacific Talanoa Research Methods in Visual Arts Installation and Performance Art Practices. Supervisors: Chris Braddock, Layne Waerea, Andy Thomson.

Rosanna Raymond (MPhil completed 2021). Conser.VĀ.tion|Acti.VĀ.tion Museums, the Body and Indigenous Moana Art Practice. Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Billie Lythberg, Layne Waerea.

Kate Nalesu (MDes completed 2018). Na Bure Kalou I Degei – The Spirit House of Degei. Supervisors: Albert L. Refiti, Rafik Patel.Aanoalii

Rowena Fuluifaga (MPhil completed 2017). O feosofa'iga o le vā: Samoan Women Negotiating vā Relations in and Around an Art Centre in Rural Samoa. Supervisors:  Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, Albert L Refiti.

Amy Jane Tielu (MCT completed 2016). Searching for the Digital Fāgogo: A Study of Indigenous Samoan Storytelling in Contemporary Aotearoa Digital Media. Supervisors: Anna Jackson, Albert L. Refiti.

Fleur Palmer (PhD completed 2016). Building Sustainable Papakāinga to Support Māori Aspirations for Self-Determination. Supervisors: Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, Carl Mika, Tania Kaʻai.

Juliana Satchell Deo (MDes completed 2014). Adorning Shared Spaces. Supervisors: Susan Hedges, Albert L. Refiti.

Azadeh Emadi (PhD completed 2014). Motion within motion: investigating digital video in light of substantial motion. Supervisors: Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, Laura U.Marks, Geraldene Peters.

Moana Nepia (PhD completed 2012). Te Kore – Exploring the Māori concept of void. Supervisors: Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, Welby Ings, Wiremu Kaa.‍‍