Integrated Data Infrastructure [IDI]

This project involved building whanaungatanga and capacity amongst members of the research team to establish a group with the skills to conduct future large-scale, Kaupapa Māori autism research using the Statistics New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure [IDI], and conducting exploratory analysis using the IDI to identify autistic tamariki and rangatahi Māori.

Funded by: The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC)
Grant number: HRC 23/642
Hosted by: Victoria University of Wellington

Using data from Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), this research examines life outcomes for autistic Māori across key areas, and seeks to identify associated patterns of government service use and costs.

Hosted by: The University of Otago

It’s a common aspiration for our children to do better in life than we do. This upward social mobility between one generation and the next benefits not only the families but also the country as a whole. Increasing levels of education, skills and income contribute to a more prosperous economy and a wealthier society. Being able to identify the things that support increased education, skills and income is the first step towards investing in actions that will increase the country’s wealth within a single lifetime.

Funded by: Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment
Contract number: ZANAL2501

This research uses New Zealand’s high-quality data resources to look at what things support upward social mobility and what things restrict that mobility. The quality of New Zealand’s data allows this research to look at the national picture as well as focus on specific populations such as Māori and rural communities. The results of this work will help guide investments in policies and programs that create pathways to better economic circumstances for New Zealanders and a more prosperous economy. This work will also support the development of an internationally important research industry based on New Zealand’s world leading data resources.

This project is funded from 2025 - 2028 by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment Smart Ideas grant. It is led by iNZight Managing Director Andrew Sporle and Senior Researcher Nicole Satherley, in collaboration with Barry Milne and Natalia Boven of the COMPASS Research Centre.

IDI Search is a web app that allows researchers to search for variables that are available in the IDI and, in some cases, metadata about these variables. The app uses data from IDI variables and Data Dictionaries shared with us by Stats NZ. The data are stored in a database which can then be searched using the web app.

Funded by: Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Endeavour Fund
Grant number: 62506 ENDRP

This project was initially funded by an MBIE Endeavour Fund grant, with further development carried out by iNZight Analytics. Ongoing resourcing from 2025 is provided by Stats NZ.

Te Rourou Tātaritanga: Informatics for Social Services and Wellbeing aims to address New Zealand's critical need for better linking of data and access to datasets, leveraging administrative and other data resources to advance excellence in the use of social data.

Andrew Sporle is a co-leader on the project, alongside researchers from the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington.

Funded by: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Endeavour Fund
Grant number: 62506 ENDRP

Te Rourou Tātaritanga aims to improve data standards, support secure and ethical access to data, and promote Māori data sovereignty, while addressing privacy, legal, and security considerations surrounding the use of social data. By strengthening how social data is linked, accessed, and analysed, the programme will support more informed decision-making in the development of social policy.

There is an expressed need of Māori providers and communities for high quality, localised information that can be used to inform and monitor interventions to improve key Maori health outcome measures. Te Hao Nui is a longitudinal study that will link together the data from Te Kupenga, the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), and the Longitudinal Census Database to create the world’s largest and most comprehensive indigenous longitudinal study capable of following individual pathways forwards and backward in time.

Funded by: Health Research Council
Grant number: 18/849

The study entirely draws on previously collected administrative data, no new data are collected as part of this project.

Focusing on informing local interventions and policy, this project will transform national statistics into locally accessible information linked into service delivery planning and evaluation at the iwi, rohe as well as at the regional level.

Linking into existing iwi and regional Māori development plans, this project will produce information that will immediately inform the delivery of services and interventions to improve rangatahi wellbeing.

It will additionally create a permanent resource within the official statistics system that can be used for research, evaluation, and monitoring of rangatahi well-being on an on‐going basis.

Pacific peoples are often treated as a single group for the purpose of reporting on health outcomes in New Zealand, but this ignores the diversity between specific Pacific ethnic populations.

This report summarises work conducted using Statistics New Zealand’s (Stats NZ) Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) to better capture this diversity and enable more accurate reporting on cancer outcomes (all cancers and stomach cancer) among those who identify with “Level 2” Pacific ethnicities: Samoan, Cook Islands Māori, Tongan, Niuean, Tokelauan & Fijian.

This work was supported as part of a Health Research Council (HRC) Programme Grant 17/610 led by Professor Parry Guilford at the University of Otago.