Linda Tuhiwai Smith is Professor of Education and Māori Development, Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori and Dean of the School of Māori and Pacific Development as well as the founding Director for Te Kotahi Research Institute at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
She is the President of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education, is a member of the Marsden Fund Council and Convener of the Social Sciences Assessment Panel, and is also a member of The Royal Society of New Zealand. Linda was also recently a member of the New Zealand’s Health Research Council and Chair of the Māori Health Research Committee.
This year Linda was made an American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow and in 2013 was honoured in the New Zealand New Year’s Honours List – (CNZM) Companion of the Said Order for services to Māori and education. She has worked in the field of Māori Education and Health for many years as an educator and researcher and is well known for her work in Kaupapa Māori Research.
Professor Smith has published widely in journals and books. Her book Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples has been an international best seller in the indigenous world since its publication in 1998. Professor Smith was a founding Joint Director of New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence from 2002-2007 and a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland. She is well known internationally as a public speaker. Professor Smith is from two tribes or iwi in New Zealand, Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Porou.
