Professor Denise Wilson wins HRC medal for whānau violence research

Professor Denise Wilson of Auckland University of Technology has received the Health Research Council (HRC) 2026 Te Tohu Rapuora Medal at the Royal Society Te Apārangi Research Honours in Auckland.

The medal recognises her lifetime contribution to changing how mainstream systems understand and respond to violence affecting Māori whānau. HRC Chief Executive Professor Hannah Buckley says Wilson’s research on family violence prevention and cultural safety has shown how those systems can unintentionally harm Māori.

Wilson is a registered nurse. The HRC describes her as a world-leading authority on Māori and Indigenous health.

Her work includes E Tū Wāhine, E Tū Whānau, a Marsden-funded study of Māori women keeping safe in unsafe relationships. Wilson says the research showed how Māori women actively navigate and resist violence while being constrained by systemic and institutional entrapment.

Her recent HRC-funded project, Kei Roto Tō Tātou Rongoā, involved 214 whānau and kaimahi across seven kaupapa Māori service providers. It identified solutions, informed government agencies and produced practical resources for whānau and service providers.

Wilson’s work has also helped bring the concept of culture as cure to the forefront. It shows that strengthening cultural identity is central to violence prevention and healing.