CELEBRATE Photo Scott Hammond/Stuff
Generation Y-ine Inspiring Māori STEM scholars SOPHIE PREECE
WHEN ANNALEISE Faint looks ahead at the opportunities of science, she also looks back to the perspective of her Māori ancestors. “I want to learn as much as I can about science but also want to learn, what was our ancestors’ point of view and how does that influence our knowledge? It can open new doors that might not even be considered.” This year Annaleise will undertake her second year at Massey University, where she is majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry. But she has has spent the past three months on an internship at the Bragato Research Institute (BRI), through a Pūhoro STEM summer internship. The scholarship – part of Pūhoro’s drive to support young Māori in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – saw her working with the BRI and Plant & Food Research in Marlborough, both in the research winery and out in the field. It then took her to Lincoln University, where she worked with Dr Darrell Lizamore, the BRI’s Principal Research Scientist for grapevine improvement. Covid-19 meant much of Annaleise’s first year at university was remote, with little of the hands-on lab work she’d expected. She’s made up for that in recent months, getting plenty of experience in the lab and vineyard to help progress wine research, despite knowing very little about the industry when she arrived. Meanwhile, the BRI has Launched in 2016, Pūhoro is a complete science, technology, engineering and mathematics pipeline for young Māori that supports engagement from secondary school, through tertiary education and into employment. Today, the academy fosters the development of over 800 Māori students, representing more than 80 iwi throughout the nation, and is focussed on revitalizing Mātauranga Māori within STEM.
22 / Winepress February 2021
“These resources try to focus on how we can teach ideas based on what our ancestors used to do.” Annaleise Faint welcomed the insights Annaleise brings to the research team, which is in the early stages of progressing Vision Mātauranga, the Government’s science policy framework, designed to unlock the science and innovation potential of Māori knowledge. BRI Chief Executive MJ Loza says Annaleise’s internship reinforced the “untapped opportunity” for Mātauranga Māori to contribute to science in the wine industry. “As a new organisation, we are beginning our first wave programmes and projects that collaborate with Māori wineries and growers.” Annaleise’s intrigue with the knowledge of her Māori ancestors began when she started to learn te reo Māori at high school, beginning a journey that would entwine her love of science with curiosity around her people’s traditions. That journey accelerated when she joined Pūhoro, and connected her lifelong love of science with her emerging engagement with Māori culture. Meanwhile, Annaleise was also forging a name as a squash player, captaining the Trans-Tasman Secondary Schools competition for 2018 and 2019, and competing in the 2018 Junior Worlds Championship in Chennai India, where she placed top 50 in the world for under 19. The same year, her relationship with Pūhoro saw Annaleise travel to NASA in the United States, meeting with astronauts and Native Americans, on a trip that fuelled her aspirations for a career in STEM careers “and enriched me culturally”, she says.
