Rate My Professor Chanel Meads

Dr Chanel Meads (née Phillips), affiliated with Ngāti Hine and Ngāpuhi, serves as Kairangahau Māori in the Educational Assessment Research Unit (EARU) of the University of Otago College of Education. She is also the Māori Senior Research Fellow for the Curriculum Insights project and co-directs Te Koronga, the Indigenous Science Research Theme. Her academic background at the University of Otago includes studies in Physical Education, a Master's thesis awarded with distinction on the role of mahinga kai—traditional Māori food gathering practices—in Māori physical education and health, and a PhD assessed as of exceptional quality. The PhD, supported by a Health Research Council Māori Health Scholarship ($82,516 over 36 months from 2016), was titled "Kia maanu, kia ora: examining Māori water safety," employing kaupapa Māori theory and critical discourse analysis to explore Māori connections to water and drowning risks.

Meads specializes in Māori water safety, developing holistic frameworks integrating whakapapa, mātauranga, and tikanga to counter Māori overrepresentation in drowning statistics (17% of population, 31% of drownings). Her seminal Wai Puna model (2020), a pioneering Indigenous framework for Māori water safety and health, has influenced Water Safety New Zealand's Wai Ora Aotearoa strategy, Ministry of Transport policies, search and rescue practices, and ACC-funded initiatives including children's resources. Key publications encompass her doctoral thesis "A Journey to Belonging: Explorations of Māori Perspectives of Water Safety" (2019), "Wai Puna: An Indigenous Model of Māori Water Safety and Health in Aotearoa, New Zealand" (2020), "Mauriora and the environment: a Kaupapa Māori exploration of adventure therapy in Aotearoa, New Zealand" (2022), "Te Papa Tākaro o te Tuakiri: The field of identity in Indigenous Māori rugby" (2023), and "Waka, whanaungatanga and water safety: Using Indigenous knowledge to educate future aquatic educators about Māori water safety in Aotearoa, New Zealand" (2023). Awards include the Sciences Divisional List of Exceptional Doctoral Theses (2019) and Division of Sciences Innovation in Māori or Pasifika Course Content (2020). As principal investigator, she leads an HRC-funded project creating water safety programmes for Māori whānau, collaborating with communities in Otago, Waikato, and Northland for nationwide implementation.