Deputy vice-chancellor Māori Distinguished Prof Jacinta Ruru MNZM (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui) was in the United Kingdom this week to receive recognition from Newcastle University.
Prof Ruru was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Laws for her significant contribution to decolonising New Zealand’s research sector and legal education in a ceremony at the UK university on Tuesday.
"It is remarkable to be receiving this honour from an English university," Prof Ruru said.
"My whānau and close colleagues and I are moved by this recognition for the work were doing here in Aotearoa."
Newcastle University vice-chancellor and president Prof Chris Day said it gave him great pleasure welcoming such a "dedicated and distinguished" figure into the university’s community.
The honorary degree recognised Prof Ruru’s work on indigenous peoples’ rights and indigenous law, especially in relation to land and water management and legal personality of the environment.
Being awarded this recognition for her research was an incredible honour, she said.
"I’ve always strived to be brave in all I do, to see the possibilities for how our legal system and structures can provide justice and restitution for indigenous peoples.
"With courage, we have the ability to create modern laws that are respectful and empowering of the first indigenous laws of the lands and waters where we now live."
University of Otago vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said the honorary degree showed the depth of Prof Ruru’s commitment to indigenous law.
"She has been a trailblazer in Aotearoa New Zealand for many years, so it is fantastic to see her being recognised internationally."
This week, Prof Ruru was also named in the Professionals in International Education’s 50 Voices of 2024, recognising her role as a new leader in international education.
"Beyond her role as an academic, she is firmly establishing herself as a system-wide leader," Mr Robertson said.
"We are extremely proud of this achievement."
Faculty of law dean Prof Shelley Griffiths acknowledged Prof Ruru’s passion for her research and said indigenous rights had been at the heart of her research and teaching for the past two decades.
"This is amazing recognition from a university which is physically about as far from Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka as it is possible to be.
Since she joined Otago’s Faculty of Law in 1999, Prof Ruru had become New Zealand’s first Māori Professor of Law and one of the first Māori women to be recognised as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Prof Ruru was also a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and the law and a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Supreme Award for Tertiary Teaching.
