Governance
As a University of Auckland Research Platform, the Health Data Platform is governed by the University of Auckland Research Platforms Policy, and therefore ultimately the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research (DVC-R), Professor Frank Bloomfield, via the University of Auckland Human Health Research Governance Committee.
As the Health Data Platform is hosted by the Faculty of Medical Health Sciences (FMHS), it reports to the DVC-R via the FMHS Faculty Platform Oversight Group (chaired by the Dean, FMHS or their delegate), which reports to the FMHS Faculty Executive Committee (chaired by the Dean, FMHS, Professor Warwick Bagg).
A Health Data Platform Reference Group has been established to inform our strategy and good practice (chaired by the Deputy Dean, FMHS, Associate Professor Matire Harwood (Ngāpuhi)). Members of the Reference Group are listed below
Health Data Platform Reference Group
Chair
Associate Professor Matire Harwood (Ngāpuhi) (Manukura Rua |Deputy Dean, FMHS)
Formerly Head of Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, Associate Professor Matire Harwood (Ngāpuhi) is the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. A practicing GP, Matire has a passion for delivering interprofessional, evidenced-based primary care in Papakura and leads clinical and qualitative research with a focus on managing long term conditions in the community.
Members
Distinguished Professor Ian Reid (Director, Human Health Research)
Professor Papaarangi Reid (Te Rarawa) (Tumuaki, Deputy Dean (Māori))
Associate Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga (Manupiri Te Moananui-a-Kiwa)(Associate Dean (Pacific))
Megan Putterill, Strategic Development Manager, FMHS
Associate Professor Barry Milne
Associate Professor Katrina Poppe
Associate Professor Vanessa Selak
Māori data, Māori data sovereignty, Māori data governance
Data from the national health collections includes Māori data, which “refers to digital or digitizable information or knowledge that is about or from Māori people, our language, culture, resources or environments”[1]. Māori data are “subject to the rights articulated in the Treaty of Waitangi and the UN’s Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, to which Aotearoa New Zealand is a signatory”.[2]
As such, we seek to support Māori data sovereignty (“the inherent rights and interests that Māori have in relation to the collection, ownership, and application of Māori data”[3]) and implement Māori data governance (“the principles, structures, accountability mechanisms, legal instruments and policies through which Māori exercise control over Māori data”[4]). Similar concepts of Pacific data sovereignty and Pacific data governance are emerging for Pacific Peoples in Aotearoa regarding Pacific data.
Anti-racist approaches are needed to avoid harm caused to Māori and Pacific peoples through “BADDR” data practices (Blaming, Aggregate, Decontextualised, Deficit [focusing on the 5Ds: disadvantage, disparity, dysfunction, difference, deficit], restricted)[5].
[1] Te Mana Raraunga. Principles of Māori Data Sovereignty. Brief #1. October 2018.
[2] Te Mana Raraunga. Māori Data Sovereignty Network Charter
[3] Te Mana Raraunga. Principles of Māori Data Sovereignty. Brief #1. October 2018.
[4] Te Mana Raraunga. Principles of Māori Data Sovereignty. Brief #1. October 2018.
[5] Walter M et al. Indigenous data sovereignty in the era of big data and open data. Aust J Soc Issues. 2021;56(2):143–56.