Alayne Mikahere-Hall

Alayne joins CARP along with her colleagues from Auckland University of Technology (AUT). She is excited about supporting a new generation of young and early career researchers to seek pragmatic localised solutions that respond to disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation. Alayne holds a number of leadership roles and is the current Associate Head of School Māori Advancement with the School of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences (FHES) Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Alayne is co-director of Taupua Waiora Research Centre working to develop a growing team of Indigenous researchers and is Head of Department Te Ara Hauora where she manages the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate Indigenous Māori health studies and Violence and Trauma studies. Improving health and social outcomes for Indigenous Māori is central to Alayne's career. Alayne advocates for Māori health by understanding the dynamic social realities and environmental context of people's lives. She is a qualitative researcher engaging with Indigenous mātauranga (knowledge), methodology and mixed methods. Alayne's research advocates for the advancement of culturally informed interventions for Māori and Indigenous peoples to address inequities in health. This includes advocating for family improvements in social outcomes and reducing the burden of preventable deaths of children and young people. She has expertise in rangatahi (youth) suicide prevention, psychological and emotional trauma, historical trauma, and solutions to overcome the negative impacts of trauma.  

Associate Professor Alayne Mikahere-Hall recently completed a Health Research Council (HRC) funded project as the lead investigator, Tūhono - First We Connect: Promoting Secure Whānau [family] Relationships for Traumatised Mokopuna [Grandchildren]. The project investigated tūhono (attach/bond), tūhonotanga (attachment/connectedness) to recognise the importance of the environment and the places we belong as core Māori concepts of attachment to develop an Indigenous perspective of secure emotional attachment. She is a named investigator on several completed research studies. For further details please see https://academics.aut.ac.nz/alayne.hall.