Rate My Professor Summer Wright

Dr. Summer Wright is an Assistant Research Fellow and Research Fellow in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Otago. A registered dietitian affiliated with Ngāti Maniapoto, she completed her PhD at Massey University. Her doctoral research, titled 'Māori value propositions for plant-based foods,' investigates key factors influencing Māori participation in the plant-based food sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. Food is fundamental to life, representing networks of meaning, relationships, nature, culture, and sustenance. Current food systems drive ecological degradation and diet-related illnesses, transforming food into a global commodity abstracted from nature. Māori maintain a relational worldview, with food production driven by aspirations for environmental wellbeing, kinship, and sovereignty. Plant-based foods, surging in popularity due to consumer values around health, sustainability, and animal welfare, offer lower resource use and health benefits. This project describes a Māori value proposition for plant-based foods, addressing challenges like colonial legacies, protection of mātauranga Māori, and resource scarcity, while leveraging relational enterprise and values alignment with non-exploitation of whakapapa relations.

Wright's research integrates climate justice, health equity, and food sovereignty. She is a co-convenor of OraTaiao: Aotearoa NZ Climate and Health Council and affiliated with Climate Health Aotearoa at the University of Otago. Her publications include 'Climate change and mātauranga Māori: making sense of a western environmental construct' (2024, co-authored with Kenneth Taiapa and Helen Moewaka Barnes) and 'SDG2 Zero Hunger and the need to re-think food production in Aotearoa: viewpoint' (2025, co-authored with Alex Macmillan and others). These works critique Western environmental constructs and advocate rethinking food production for sustainability. Previously, she worked in disability support as a youth worker and support worker. Her contributions advance public health discussions on sustainable food systems and Māori health outcomes in the context of climate change.