Tohu Rangahau Award

NZSTA would like to recognise research in speech-language therapy celebrating mātauranga and kaupapa Māori.
Mātauranga Māori speaks to the combined knowledge systems developed by our ancestors who travelled across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa and Māori living within the environment of Aotearoa.

Kaupapa Māori research and evaluation is done by Māori, with Māori and for Māori. It is informed by tikanga Māori or Māori ways of doing things.

This award will recognise practice-based projects and formal research through a tertiary institution or wānanga.

Value: $1,000
Each nominee will receive a certificate recognising their commitment to rangahau.

Selection Criteria:

Applicants will have completed research or a project in the last 12 months.
The research / practice-based project benefits Māori whānau, hapū and iwi.

Evidence:

Evidence will take the form of reference/nomination detailing how the individual has demonstrated rangahau.

Award Process:

The winner of the Tohu Rangahau Award will be determined by the Māori rōpū and will be announced in September.

Applications close at 5pm on 30 June annually.

Any queries, please contact culturaldevelopment@speechtherapy.org.nz

Awarded in 2025 to Mershen Pillay

Associate Professor Mershen Pillay is the Programme Leader for Speech and Language Therapy at Massey University's Institute of Education. Bringing over three decades of global experience in clinical practice, research, and education spanning South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates. Mershen has been a visionary leader in decolonising speech-language therapy practice since the turn of the century. He has demonstrated a remarkable consistency and depth of commitment to rangahau that directly aligns with principles that are valued in kaupapa Māori, such as the emancipatory potential of community-based research.

His 2003 doctoral thesis reveals he was developing sophisticated frameworks for challenging Western dominance in the profession long before such work became mainstream. His early work critiqued how normative data regarding speech, language, and hearing milestones based on white, American middle-class populations was universally applied, and advocated for understanding the social, cultural, and political positioning of practice. It’s easy to take for granted that concepts such as these were not widely talked about at this time.

His professional work has been profoundly shaped by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation process, informing his approach to healthcare equity and social justice. This foundational work from South Africa's post-apartheid context continues in his current leadership in Aotearoa since 2021, where he has developed a kaupapa that challenges the status quo in speech therapy education. The Massey programme now has over 20 tauira Māori enrolled, which motivates him to commit to learning te reo Māori and continually adapt the curriculum to include Mātauranga Māori.

In the past year alone Mershen has collaborated with respected local and international researchers and published extensively on initiatives informed by tikanga Māori and Tiriti responsiveness, including;

• Honourable kāwanatanga: A prerequisite for constitutional transformation (2024). Co-authored with Heather Came, Clive Aspin, and Tim McCreanor, examining Te Tiriti o Waitangi and constitutional transformation.
• Working in the Gorse: Criticality in Rehabilitation Healthcare Education in Aotearoa New Zealand (2024). Published in Pacific Health, addressing healthcare education in New Zealand.

Mershen has fostered relationships with Ngāti Te Ata for a unique project involving community lead dysphagia support out of Tāhuna marae and we are excited to watch this initiative evolve.

His journey from critiquing apartheid-era healthcare inequities to now advancing Te Tiriti-based practice shows he is not merely following contemporary trends, but has been a pioneering advocate for Indigenous communities' rights within speech-language therapy throughout his entire career.