Projects & Case Studies

Trails & Tots are a community organisation that provide opportunities for families to experience the outdoors through tramping and nature play. Their research was informed by the experiences of currently participating members, with the goal of demonstrating how new parents might benefit from nature-based programs. By providing free child carrier packs to loan, they created a new way to connect with families who would not usually participate, and identified ways to reduce the barriers to access. 

Ngāti Mutunga embarked on what will be the only known Kōura (freshwater crayfish) monitoring project in Taranaki. They worked with local schools, catchment communities, and freshwater experts to investigate the distribution of Kōura throughout the waterways of their rohe. The data collected by this study will be used to inform initiatives to sustain and grow kōura populations while restoring their freshwater systems.  

Roar Collective engaged with rural women in North Taranaki to explore how different forms of isolation affect wellbeing, with the goal of identifying ways to mitigate negative impacts. They discovered a strong motivation to start new community initiatives to support families in the area.  

This project led by the 800 Trust saw the development of a remote device enables AI-driven monitoring of bird populations. They worked with students from a local private training enterprise to build a wider awareness and capability for the potential of machine learning models to increase the effectiveness of conservation initiatives.  

While surveying kaimoana as part of the Mai te Awa ki te Moana project, Ohu Taiao made the startling discovery that pāua had been almost completely eradicated from a large stretch of the South Taranaki coast. With little explanation as to the cause, Ohu Taiao used two taonga species, pāua and piharau (lamprey), as the basis of a monitoring framework developed alongside freshwater and marine scientists. The framework was tested by hapū and community groups and used to develop an open-source analytics tool intended to empower hapū and community to make a meaningful impact on future activities in the region.

Ōpunakē High School took on the challenge of building a fit-for-purpose organic waste collection system that can produce nutrient dense compost. This compost will be used to support the agriculture and horticulture curriculum, focusing on soil health.    

This student-led research looked at the challenges of waste collection in a school environment. They worked with soil scientists, sustainability experts, and members of the community to learn more about soil biology and how to ensure effective composting can take place. This work will set the stage for a multi-year project to develop an agriculture academy within the school.   

The East Taranaki Environment Collective would like to find the answer to this question, and began managing pest control at Everett Park, near Inglewood. A trap network was laid to target possums in the park with the help of students from Norfolk School, involved setting up cameras to observe possum behaviour and tested four trap designs.

An Alzheimers Taranaki project, was conducted in a previous Curious Minds project in 2020 which revealed the power of VR to trigger complex and detailed memories for people living with dementia. In their follow-up project, local digital technology students and Dr. Linda Jones further explored the effects of these VR triggered memories and evaluate their benefits.

A Taranaki Retreat project, explored how physical support environments impact the wellbeing and recovery of those experiencing emotional distress, aiming to provide information of value to the Retreat and other services supporting people in distress.

Facilitated by Taranaki Mounga Project, a group of coastal Taranaki schools and hapū investigated new methods of monitoring the seabird populations on the Ngā motu islands, using drones to record population numbers, with the aim of minimising human interaction in the process.