About the Chair and Centre

Te Ngāpara Centre for Restorative Practice, led by the Diana Unwin Chair in Restorative Justice.

The Centre serves as the focus for collaborative, interdisciplinary research and teaching on restorative justice theory and practice, both within the justice sector and beyond. The holder of the Chair, the Professor of Restorative Practice, provides academic and professional leadership to a team of researchers and practitioners, and facilitates collaborative engagement between public sector agencies and civil society organisations on restorative justice issues.

The Government has expressed support for increasing the reach and quality of restorative interventions, and the practitioner community is set to expand considerably in the coming years. The Chair in Restorative Practice will play a pivotal role in carrying this momentum forward in an academically credible and practice-focused way.

Name

In 2021, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Māori) Office gifted the Centre the name Te Ngāpara with this story:

Ngāpara is a resinous wood of trees such as kahikatea and rimu that is used as a torch or to provide soot for moko (tattooing). We view the name as acting as a shining light, a way forward, for restoring justice and resolving issues. Traditionally, moko was applied to signify events including acts of rebalancing and reciprocity necessary to restore peace.