Among New Zealanders to celebrate Waitangi Day tomorrow are nine young researchers awarded Foundation fellowships for projects with the potential to strengthen Māori knowledge, people and resources.

The Foundation provides up to 20 Te Tipu Pūtaiao Fellowships each year to masters, doctorate and postdoctoral researchers with the objective to build a research community capable of unlocking the distinct innovation potential of Māori knowledge.

The Te Tipu Pūtaiao Fellowships are worth between $18,500 and $277,500 each, for research projects of between 1-3 years in duration.

"The fellowships encourage emerging scientists and future science leaders, with particular potential to foster fresh innovative or entrepreneurial prospects involving Māori knowledge and resources," says Dr Richard Templer, Foundation Group Manager, Industry and Environment.

The successful fellowship researchers and their projects are:

Sam Pachal, University of Waikato: A chemistry Masters student, Sam aims to optimise the potential of the Māori-owned Taharoa mine site by adding value to the titanium extracted in the process of mining iron from sand.

Titanium and its dioxide are commercially important commodities (e.g. for use in medical implants and in paint components) but the seven per cent titanium content of the Taharoa iron-sands is currently not being used. Sam proposes to add value to the titanium products derived from the ore by rendering titanium and titanium dioxide to a super-hydrophobic (extremely water repellent) statethus enhancing their commercial applications and the Taharoa mine's opportunities.

Aleise Puketapu, Massey University: Masters student Aleise will study the life-cycle and epidemiology of the psyllid insect on traditional Māori vegetables with the intention to inform growers of kumara, taewa and poroporo of the best ways to manage and control the pest.

The tomato/potato psyllid is a small insect that, as a vector for the bacterial disease Liberibacter, can cause up to 80 per cent reduction in crop yields. The tomato/potato psyllid has led to annual losses of several million dollars in the North American potato cropping industry and there is potential for losses of this scale in New Zealand if the pest is left to its own devices, as well as the threat to unique and declining Māori crop varieties.

Cassidy Moeke, Victoria University of Wellington: An important cultural and economic resource, New Zealand greenshell mussels are at risk of contamination by heavy metals and bio-toxins such as algal blooms.

Cassidy, a Masters of biomedical science student, will use protein sequencing technologies to identify mussel proteins that potentially protect against heavy metal accumulation, and to characterise the possible adverse impacts of at least one bio-toxin on these protective responses.

Ben Drayton, Victoria University of Wellington: A PhD student, Ben is developing advanced control electronics for an imaging system. It will allow the distance to every object in a camera's field of view to be obtained, but with greater reliability, image stability, portability, and the ability to handle moving objects than the current concept designs.

Ben will use the system to digitally profile, in three dimensions, taonga and items of important to Māori culture and heritage preservation.

Stephen Fitzherbert, University of Auckland: Stephen aims to add value to Māori horticultural development with his PhD study of the economic opportunities for Māori groups who wish to cultivate Māori vegetables.

Stephen will connect the different practices of market constitution, diverse economy and post-development to 'rethink' markets and economy, and produce knowledge about practices, connections and opportunities Māori have for cultivating, exchanging and distributing Māori vegetables.

Kylie Reiri, Victoria University of Wellington: An applied statistics Masters student, Kylie is conducting a statistical analysis of temporal and spatial variation in the Ngāti Kahungunu fisheries catch.

Her aim is to provide an improved view of the fisheries data currently collected in the Ngāti Kahungunu rohe (boundaries), including reporting results at a finer geographical scale. Kylie will report back to Ngāti Kahungunu stakeholders, iwi, scientific and industry groups, and to government.

Matthew Wylie, University of Otago: Matthew will study the reproductive physiology and life cycle of the giant kokopua native fish and tāonga species whose juveniles contribute to the annual whitebait run.

A Zoology Masters student, Matthew aims to determine the complete life-cycle of this little-known species with the broader intent to aid diversification within the New Zealand aquaculture industry. Attempts at artificially rearing the more common whitebait species, Galaxias maculates, have met with limited success; Matthew's study focuses on the giant kokopu, Galaxias argenteus, as an alternative species.

Dr Sonja Miller, Victoria University of Wellington: Sonja's postdoctoral study focuses on the sustainability of paua at key Te Atiawa (Taranaki) mahinga kai (customary food) sites.

Her research aims to determine sustainable harvest levels for paua, a highly valued kaimoana species, in Taranaki. She will do so by assessing the current paua stocks, addressing the specific environmental factors responsible for paua in Taranaki, and determining the level of sustainable harvest based on minimum legal harvest size.

Dr Benita Wakefield, Eastern Institute of Technology: Benita's postdoctoral research aims to contribute Māori analytical tools and Māori knowledge of kaitiakitanga principles to the environmental health management of water and people.

Specifically, she will focus on the collaborations formed to co-manage the Tukituki River and the Mohaka River in the Hawkes Bay region. Benita's study builds on her PhD thesis that produced the Kaupapa Māori environmental health framework in 2009.