Huia Monro

Research

Awards/distinctions

• SUAS 2025 Indigenous Award
• Dean's List for Academic Excellence Victoria University (2021–2023)

Current projects

Wakahauora: Co-designing whānau stories to reduce opioid use for chronic pain in Aotearoa Te Hekenga Whaiora: An applied co-design research project aiming to support the wellbeing of rangatahi experiencing psychosis.

Tēnā koe, ko Huia Farrar Taite Monro tōku ingoa. I am of Tainui and Ngāpuhi descent. I also whakapapa to Scotland, Irland, and Poschiavo, Switzerland. I have a background in Māori Studies and Philosophy.

My interest in the role of wairua within healthcare was what drew me into research. I am passionate about the role of connection, sense-making, and the expansion of how we understand the role of the spiritual in the face of illness or distress, particularly when chronic. Mental health and chronic pain have been the central topics of my research. I am interested in the ways that lived experience, Mātauranga Māori, and holistic understandings of health can guide more meaningful research and reshape how we orient to the care of mental distress and chronic illness.

Currently, I work as an Assistant Research Fellow across the Departments of Medicine and Psychological Medicine in Wellington, and as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine.