Naomi Simmonds

Image by Naomi Simmonds , CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Dr. Naomi Simmonds, from the Raukawa tribe in Aotearoa New Zealand’s central North Island, is an independent researcher focusing on land-based learning, Indigenous women’s land-based knowledges, Indigenous maternities, and whānau (family) wellbeing. Her recent Royal Society Marsden Fast Start funded project involved re-walking a 378km ancestral journey to explore women’s transformations, knowledges, and rituals embedded in her ancestors’ footprints. Naomi is also a trustee for Te Weu Charitable Trust a climate change research organisation on the East Coast of Aotearoa and has worked within Indigenous environmental and climate advocacy and research for many years. Dr. Simmonds’ work sits at the intersection of place, Indigenous women and land and environment. She seeks to impact understanding of Indigenous practices and support the revitalisation of Indigenous women’s knowledges and praxis. A mother of three, Naomi cherishes time with her children, with her wider family and time at her ancestral home, Pikitū marae.