Maui Brennan

Maui (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) joined Motu in November 2019 on a summer internship. He finished his last year of a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance and Economics, and a minor in Te Reo Māori at University of Canterbury in 2019. He intends to pursue an Honours degree in Economics in 2020. He is excited to engage in challenging topics in the world of economics and gain insight into how Motu’s research methods can be applied to indigenous communities.

At Motu, he is working with Arthur Grimes to expand the results of a previous Motu study using data from the World Values Survey to investigate whether the beliefs of Māori about the causes of wealth or poverty, and the extent to which people are responsible for their own fate differ from non-Māori.

In his spare time, Maui is an active member of the University community. He was previously the Treasurer at Te Akatoki (University of Canterbury Māori Students Association) and is now the editor at the university’s Political Society. He also has a passion for music, occasionally performing in public on the piano or the saxophone.