Auckland Museum’s Summer Student Programme is open to promising undergraduate students from a range of disciplines. Students will join a cohort-style programme for ten weeks over the summer to gain career-relevant experience and have the opportunity to train alongside Museum professionals and to gain an insight into the culture and heritage sector. Our Summer Studentships provide an opportunity to undertake a project tailored to your interests and aspirations. 

About the programme:  

• Summer studentships will run over 10 weeks from 17 November 2025 to 13 February 2026 (with a 3-week break over the Christmas and New Year period)
• Cohort-style programme, with tours and talks from staff at Tāmaki Paenga Hira
• A wide-range of interesting and unique research projects 
• A stipend of $6,750 will be awarded to each successfully selected student

Project Description:

​​​​ Huruhuru hipi: Use of wool in taonga Māori

This project is to scope the use of wool as a material throughout 19th century taonga Māori in the Auckland Museum collection. Our goal is to capture and interpret the breadth of this use of wool taonga Māori, which will primarily be in kākahu (garments such as cloaks) and kete (bags) but will include non-textile objects such as weaponry and personal adornment. The student will conduct a research survey of the collection to establish types of taonga wool is found on, its incorporation into the taonga and its relationship to other materials. The aim of the project is to gain a greater understanding of the breadth of wool in the collection and to understand the relationships between wool and other materials, and its role as an innovation and adaption in 19th century Māori art. Key tasks include database research, physical study of taonga, spreadsheet building and analytical writing.