As she steps into the inaugural Te Pou Tiriti role at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, University of Otago, Dr Megan Pōtiki believes working in the bicultural space involves creating good partnerships. Photo: Alan Dove
Dr Megan Pōtiki (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe Waitaha, Te Ātiawa) was brought up on her family’s farm and Ōtākou marae towards the tip of the Otago Peninsula. Just down the road was the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head, where these taoka species step off the whenua for the first time to take flight and start their life journey. At age 16, Megan’s first job was at the Centre.
These early life experiences and learnings accompany Megan as she steps into the inaugural Te Pou Tiriti role at Otago. Her significant appointment has arisen from the agreement of an enduring Te Tiriti-based partnership, Te Kaha Uia Te Kaha, a mana-to-mana agreement signed in 2025 between the University and local mana whenua.
As a new member of the University’s Senior Leadership Team, Megan says this agreement and her Te Pou Tiriti role pave the way to create a Te tiriti-led future at Otago.
“It’s an inaugural journey that I get to be part of and weave the tapestry of tikanga, te reo and strategy into the University,” Megan says. “It’s also full circle for me personally as I get to come back to the place that launched my love for tertiary education and mātauraka Māori.”
Megan was brought up in her bicultural whānau by father, Edward Ellison (Ūpoko o Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou), and Alison, her Pākehā mother. Raised as Māori, she describes the richness of life surrounding her childhood.
“I just thought everyone grew up on their marae, riding horses and in the thick of Māori politics. My upbringing was rich in life, rich in whakapapa, and rich in tikanga. We ate off the fat of the land.”
Through her Kāi Tahu whakapapa, professional careers in politics, law and medicine were considered the norm. On her mother’s side, Megan was the first to attend university.
It wasn’t until she was 18 and in her first year at university when she was asked if she was Māori.
“I was utterly shocked – I remember going home and looking in the mirror and realising I didn’t even look Māori.”
As one of two Māori in her cohort at Teachers College in the early 1990s, Megan experienced others who were not interested in race relations, and who did not try to correctly pronounce the names of Māori tamariki.
"We need to navigate both worlds, to work out how we operate in this space, and how to bring out the best in and for each other.”
These experiences have grown Megan’s awareness of the challenges of existing in a bicultural environment, which to an extent mirrors the kaupapa of the Te Pou Tiriti role centred on cultural relationship building.
“It requires all parties to have a seat at the table for the opportunity to create a healthy marriage and a good partnership. We need to navigate both worlds, to work out how we operate in this space, and how to bring out the best in and for each other.”
Sitting at the starting point of the inaugural Te Pou Tiriti role, what does the distant horizon look like to Megan? Her response refers to paving the way for future generations, and she uses the hypothetical situation of setting up her role to be inherited by her daughter, currently in her second year at Otago.
“It’s about getting it aligned in the right way, and in the right direction and space, where the next person can come in and continue it as the new normal. As Māori we are always thinking a hundred years ahead, to a time that exists beyond you and me.”
For Megan however, the more pressing wero (challenge) is to develop a shared understanding of what Te Tiriti-led looks like.
“We all come from a different lens, so my job is to bring it together. We need to give ourselves permission and space to work out what this means for the University and mana whenua.
“Together with mana whenua, we will define what being a Te Tiriti-led university means in each of our campus contexts and jointly develop our capability to operate effectively as Te Tiriti partners. I’m designing this ship as it sails, but what I really want to do is empower tangata Tiriti (Pākehā) to be great and confident partners in Te Tiriti.”
While Megan’s tipuna have been in Aotearoa New Zealand for centuries, more recent settlers arrived with their own cultures and language. Spoken Gaelic could be heard in Dunedin through to the mid-1900s; words like ‘crib’ have entered the vernacular; and bagpipes regularly reverberate through the city. Further up the road in Central Otago, ice curling takes place under big, blue, winter skies.
Megan describes Ōtepoti Dunedin as holding a unique blend of Māori and Scottish heritage that must be celebrated. She asks how it is possible to lean into tangata Tiriti and an identity that will ultimately benefit all.
“We see that narrative reflected in the local buildings and street names, but how do we bring that to the fore and blend it so that Pākehā feel strong in who they are? Because that’s the difference – when you don’t feel strong in who you are and your identity, that creates a place of fear and resistance.
“To be working in this bicultural space, we need cups to be full for all partners at the table. It’s all about creating a good partnership and how we lift each other up. So that when the water rises, all our ships rise together.”
During her 10 years as a lecturer based in Te Tumu: School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at Otago, Megan grabbed every opportunity to connect with her Māori identity. Her early years raised as Māori gave her the confidence and springboard to embrace all things Māori, including kapa haka and full immersion te reo.
During that time, she also completed her doctorate exploring factors that had contributed to the end of the Māori language at her kaik (village) of Ōtākou. With three infant children, and a husband with ailing health, it was a long research journey completed over 10 years.
In the years following the 2019 death of her husband, Tahu Pōtiki, she describes turning the immense grief and loss into a superpower and a drive to give back. She comes to the Te Pou Tiriti role from her most recent position as the Executive Director at the Otago Polytechnic that she describes gave her yet another valuable lens on the world which she brings to her kaupapa with the University.
Megan says her life has always been driven by the need to give back and was the reason she trained as a teacher.
“I’ve had a very fortunate life and now have three stunning tamariki. Just like all children, they have been raised by the village, and in our case, that includes the bigger village of Ōtepoti Dunedin.
“It’s to that village, and to the tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti who call Dunedin home, that I now feel that strong commitment to give back.”
– Kōrero by Guy Frederick
This story first appeared in Issue 59 of the University of Otago Magazine, released in July 2026. Download the full Magazine here: