Announcing our Borrin Foundation Scholars and Travel and Learning Award Recipients

Borrin Foundation – Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga Postgraduate Scholarship

For the third year, the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence, have joined in partnership to champion the aspirations of Māori scholars in their postgraduate academic pursuits either at a university in Aotearoa New Zealand or an overseas institution.

In an effort to strengthen Māori postgraduate scholarship in law, a total of $160,000 is being allocated in this round for the Borrin Foundation – Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Postgraduate Scholarship to support the academic endeavours of two outstanding Māori scholars as they pursue postgraduate degrees in law.

• Amelia Kendall (Te Rarawa) was selected to receive $80,000 to pursue an LLM in the USA. Amelia will study international constitutional arrangements, the impact and effectiveness of domestic and international human rights instruments, treaties and declarations on indigenous rights around the world.

• Pita Roycroft (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Hāmoa – Moata’a) was selected to receive $80,000 to pursue an LLM in the USA. He hopes to investigate whether and to what extent principles of indigenous or customary law (such as tikanga Māori) can influence the development of tort law in Aotearoa New Zealand and other Western states with indigenous populations.

Borrin Foundation Te Pae Tawhiti Postgraduate Scholarship

The Borrin Foundation Te Pae Tawhiti Postgraduate Scholarship was established in 2023 to assist law graduates in overcoming financial challenges and navigating complex life circumstances while pursuing postgraduate studies in law. This round, a pool of $240,000 is being distributed for Te Pae Tawhiti Postgraduate Scholarships, providing crucial support for scholars seeking to undertake a postgraduate law degree, either at a university in New Zealand or at an overseas institution.

• Sarah Croskery-Hewitt has been selected to receive $30,000 to support her in completing the final year of her PhD in Law at the University of Wollongong. Sarah’s PhD research explores the nature and impact of intoxication evidence in sexual assault trials.

• Wiliame Gucake has been selected to receive $50,000 to pursue an LLM at Harvard Law School. His research focus is on how transitional justice mechanisms can be used or improved to facilitate transformational constitutional change for indigenous peoples in Aotearoa and the Pacific.

• Rebecca McMenamin has been selected to receive $50,000 to undertake a PHD research stay at a university in the United Kingdom. Rebecca is exploring how climate litigation integrates and influences international human rights law.

• Toilolo Leilani Taula has been selected to receive $50,000 to pursue an LLM in the USA. Her studies will focus on customary and common law in the jurisdictions of Samoa and the USA. She intends to examine the relationship between those legal systems and how it differs between jurisdictions.

• Alexander Young has been selected to receive $60,000 to pursue an LLM in the USA. He intends to study indigenous cultural approaches to land use, particularly in relation to wetlands, and assess how indigenous cultural knowledge might be applied to climate change adaptation frameworks.

Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Awards

Travel and Learning Awards are available to assist individual members of the legal community in New Zealand to take up opportunities for learning from peers, establishing networks and relationships, and exploring innovative ideas domestically and/or overseas. Each year, a total of 12 awards are offered, each with a maximum value of $10,000.

In the most recent individual funding cycle, five individuals were chosen to be recipients of Travel and Learning Awards:

• Allan Beever – $9,100 To travel to present the findings of his forthcoming book ‘Freedom under the Private Law’, and to receive feedback on this work, at three events in the UK, including a one-day conference on his work at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

• Erica Burke – $10,000 To travel to Australia, Scotland, Norway and California to visit, learn from and establish relationships with selected organisations, specifically women’s legal clinics that provide targeted legal support and advocacy for women with a particular focus on the legal support provided and strategic processes adopted in respect of family law related issues.

• Susan Lamb – $10,000 To travel to Hamburg, Germany to participate in deliberations and drafting of a new International Anti-Corruption Convention (IACC) and to keep New Zealand institutions, experts, and the wider legal profession abreast of progress.

• Durgeshree Raman – $10,000 To attend International Conferences in India and Canada to present her research in the area of indigenous approaches to freshwater governance, network with experts and expand her understanding of indigenous practices.

• Mele Tupou-Vaitohi – $10,000 To travel to Penn State Dickinson Law to learn its whole-of-organisation approaches, including the critical race theory and the system design approach, that it uses to disrupt systemic racial and intersectional inequities.

Dates for the upcoming Fellowships and Travel and Learning Awards round:

The next round of applications for the Borrin Foundation Justice Fellowship, the Borrin Foundation Women Leaders in Law Fellowship, the Borrin Foundation Community Law Fellowship, and Travel and Learning Awards will open at 12pm on March 1, 2024, and close at 12pm on 2 April, 2024.

Information on eligibility criteria and how to apply can be found here: https://www.borrinfoundation.nz/fellowshipsawards/

ENDS

MORE INFORMATION

The Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation was established in 2018 through a $38 million bequest by the late Judge Ian Borrin. It is a philanthropic organisation which supports legal research, education, and scholarship. The Foundation’s current strategic areas of focus are the criminal justice system, family law and access to civil justice.

Media Contact

Oli Malthus

T: 02108044110

E: oli@borrinfoundation.nz