Rate My Professor Manaia Pearmain-Fenton

Manaia Pearmain-Fenton (Ngāti Hokopū, Ngāti Awa, Te Whakatōhea) is a Teaching Fellow in the Ecology Programme within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. As a behavioural ecologist, her research interests encompass avian ecology, applied terrestrial conservation, socioecological relationships, and Kaupapa Māori methodologies. She combines Western ecological approaches with Indigenous environmental knowledge, focusing on taonga species, predator management, translocations, population dynamics, and how cultural values influence environmental decision-making. Pearmain-Fenton serves on the Council for Te Aka Toro, the New Zealand Ecological Society. She also acts as Kaiāwhina providing Māori Support and Liaison, as well as Pacific Island Support, in the Ecology Programme. In addition, she has delivered seminars, including one on the breeding behaviours and dispersal patterns of urban pīwauwau (South Island robins) at the Department of Zoology.

Pearmain-Fenton holds a Master of Science from the University of Otago (2023), a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Environmental Biology from Curtin University (2021), and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Curtin University (2020). She expects to complete a New Zealand Diploma in Te Reo (Rumaki) Level 5 from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in 2025. Her career includes her current teaching position since 2024 and a prior role as Educator at Orokonui Ecosanctuary (2022–2024). Her MSc research examined population dynamics and dispersal in South Island robins (kakaruai), detailed in her thesis "Silver Linings: Understanding Kakaruai/South Island Robin Breeding Behaviour and Dispersal in an Urban Environment" (2023). Key publications include "Capturing the imminent extinction of a kakaruai/South Island robin population" (2024, New Zealand Journal of Ecology; co-authors: Ann-Kathrin V. Schlesselmann, Joanne M. Monks), which won the Best Publication by a New Researcher award from the New Zealand Ecological Society. She co-authored a study on kaka (Nestor meridionalis) investigating and depredating kakaruai nests (Susan Walker, Anne Schlesselmann). Through her teaching, she integrates Te Ao Māori perspectives into environmental science education, fostering connections between communities and ecosystems.