
Dr. Tom Elliott is the recipient of a Royal Society Te Apārangi Ngā Puanga Pūtaiao Fellowship, facilitating his work to create open-source data science tools and a state-of-the-art data analytics platform, designed with full te reo Māori capability for use in Māori data environments.
Funded by: Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi
From the Royal Society Te Apārangi: Data has become a crucial resource in modern society, so democratising access to data and the information it contains is a critical role of data science. This involves building and updating data tools and platforms that make it easier for non-technical users to learn about their world.
In Aotearoa, the analytics software ‘iNZight’ has become a core component of not only our statistical education curriculum, but more recently research organisations and government agencies have recognised its value in their own data environments. However, ‘iNZight’ is now facing technical barriers to meeting the increased demands of its users, which presents an opportunity to completely redesign the system for our new and expanding audience. During this redesign, we have the chance to incorporate Māori data sovereignty principles into the core of our framework, ensuring that the platform is suited to diverse Māori data environments.
This project will develop open-source tools for building flexible, data-driven web applications and use them to create a next-generation data analytics platform that rebuilds and extends the existing iNZight software. In partnership with Tūhono Trust, these these tools will be trialled in Māori data environments with te reo Māori capability. It will also provide secure funding to support Dr Elliott’s development as an emerging Māori data science research leader of international significance.
