Dan Hikuroa

Dr. Daniel (Dan) Hikuroa

Since 2005, starting as a Research Fellow, Dan Hikuroa has been employed at the University of Auckland. From July 2011 to December 2015, he was the Research Director for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM), where he led and contributed to multiple NPM projects, including securing another 6 year $30 million contract. At the beginning of 2016, he became a Senior Lecturer in the Māori Studies Department, where he lectured in multiple areas such as Sustainability, Anthropology, Geology, Environmental Engineering, and Business Studies. In the same year, he also became a member of the Environmental Protection Authority (in Māori: Te Mana Rauhī Taiao), which is a New Zealand government agency, and within that, the Māori Advisory Panel for the Environmental Protection Authority. He has been UNESCO New Zealand Commissioner for Culture since May 2020 and Associate Professor at the University of Auckland since February 2023.

Dan Hikuroa combines his expertise in Earth Systems Science with Mātauranga Māori (Māori indigenous knowledge) and promotes new ways of evaluating sustainability. In this regard, he has contributed to several projects such as environmental management plans, natural resource use and management, natural hazards, disaster risk reduction, marine spatial planning, and industrial waste-site rehabilitation. He is also the Co-Deputy Director at Te Pūnaha Matatini.

As part of the event “Think like a Fish” on 4 May 2026, Dan Hikuroa gave a lecture titled “Think like a Fish? Introduction of a More-than-Human Perspective within Māori Thinking” and took part in the so-called “Fishbowl” debate as one of four participants.