About 40 undergraduate science students have gained Te Ngaru Paewhenua: The Landward Wave Science and The Riddet Institute and University of Otago partnership summer scholarships to conduct research projects.
The funding aims to support Maori and Pacific Island students who are interested in research and are considering postgraduate degrees in science.
Twenty Maori and 19 Pasifika students are involved.
Department of psychology associate professor Gareth Treharne said one of the great things about this year’s programme was the increase in Pasifika students.
Ten were involved last year and fewer than five the year before.
Division of sciences Pacific support and strategy co-ordinator Sonya Xavier said there was a push to promote the programme to suitable students.
It was an excellent opportunity for them to gain insight into what postgraduate studies were like as it was relatively self-directed, she said.
The 10-week research projects would be completed between the end of semester 2 and the start of semester 1 next year.
"The idea is that you’re not non-stop working the whole time," Prof Treharne said.
Students are involved in a range of science departments, including surveying, food science and ecology.
Psychology student Susana Jones is researching the experience of minority groups in the clinical psychology programme.
"It is quite a competitive, restrictive-entry programme ... so there are obviously under-represented groups in that," Ms Jones said.
"It can be quite hard for those groups of people to feel seen and heard in the programme."
A similar foundational study about 30 years ago found cultural competence was not as good as it should have been and it seemed like nothing had changed since then, she said.
When it came to mental health issues in New Zealand, it was important to have practitioners who did clinical psychology studies and could relate to different people, she said.
Physics student Maia Dean is researching climate modelling.
"I really enjoyed the environmental physics that we did in my lectures this semester, so when I was offered this it was kind of a good reason to go out there and just give it a go," Ms Dean said.
It was not an area she had thought about studying, but she was enjoying it.
"This is just a good taster of what I could do in the future."
