Wednesday 4 March 2020 9:59pm
Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl.
Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl has been appointed to the international research board of ORCID – the first time any New Zealander has held such a post.
Dr Ruckstuhl, the Associate Dean Māori in the Otago Business School, is one of 17 board members on the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) board, having been nominated by the New Zealand arm of the organisation, Te Aparangi – The Royal Society of New Zealand.
"Personally, this carries on my research into the use of technology and how, as Māori or as indigenous communities, we need to understand it and then be at the forefront of crafting the rules that govern such technology."
ORCID is a non-profit organisation which acts like a global “driver’s licence”, linking researchers to their research records. There are 8 million users, including some of the world’s largest research organisations and publishers, with 50 million research records.
Dr Ruckstuhl was asked to join the Royal Society ORCID Advisory Committee two years ago to bring a Māori perspective. She says her latest appointment is an opportunity to “contribute at an international level to some of the discussions about the use of ‘big data’ from a Māori and indigenous perspective”.
“This is part of a much wider global conversation about the use of technology to impact on and into people’s lives – for better or worse.
“Personally, this carries on my research into the use of technology and how, as Māori or as indigenous communities, we need to understand it and then be at the forefront of crafting the rules that govern such technology,” she says.
While Dr Ruckstuhl says there will be a lot to learn during her three-year term, she hopes to “come away with insight that can benefit New Zealand more broadly, and bring forward New Zealand-specific understanding and practices particularly in relation to Māori”.