Rate My Professor Tahu Kukutai

Tahu Kukutai is Professor of Demography at Te Ngira Institute for Population Research at the University of Waikato and Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Centre of Research Excellence. She holds a PhD from Stanford University awarded in 2010. Kukutai is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and a Life Member of the Population Association of New Zealand. Her research focuses on Māori population dynamics, Indigenous data sovereignty, ethnic classification, census methodologies, and issues of identity and inequality. She has published widely in these areas, including as co-editor of the 2016 volume Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda. Prior to her academic career, Kukutai worked as a journalist. She is a founding member of Te Mana Raraunga, the Māori Data Sovereignty Network, and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. In 2025 she received the Royal Society Te Apārangi Te Rangi Hiroa Medal in recognition of her contributions to research in Indigenous data sovereignty and Māori demography.