Reo Māori me te Ao Rorohiko

07 July 2026 - 07 July 2026

Region(s): Waikato

Type(s): presentations

This free 45- minute public lecture by Professor Te Taka Keegan is a reflection of 30+ years of research enabling te reo Māori in computing environments.

Professor Te Taka Keegan has been at the University of Waikato since 1992. He began as a student, then worked as an Assistant Lecturer with the Department of Māori, before spending almost 30 years with the Computer Science Department. Throughout that time, one question has followed him regularly: what exactly does he do at the University of Waikato, and why is he still there? The purpose of this professorial lecture is to answer both of those questions with humility and honesty.

Professor Keegan will take you on a journey through three decades of research investigating how te reo Māori can not just survive, but truly thrive, in modern computing environments and technologies. He will walk through some of the key earlier projects that shaped his career, share the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into this work, and reflect on his significant collaborations with global technology companies Microsoft and Google. He will also share his vision for where the future of te reo Māori in technology is heading.

As part of the lecture, Professor Keegan will give a live demonstration of the Waikato-Maniapoto speech synthesizer, discussing the broader implications of this tool and exploring the exciting possibilities of te reo Māori AI that operates within a mana motuhake environment, one where Māori communities hold genuine authority and ownership over their own language and data.

Location: The Pā, Gate 1/Knighton Road, Hillcrest, University of Waikato, Hamilton

For more information and to register: www.waikato.ac.nz/news-events/events/find-event/hamilton.