07/05/2026
Told at 15 to lower her ambitions, Abigail McClutchie went on to become a teacher and a doctor.
At high school in Manurewa in 1980, 15-year-old Abigail McClutchie (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou) was awarded the school prize for human biology. Soon after, she visited the careers counsellor to discuss her options.
“I told them, ‘I want to be a teacher or a doctor’. But the response was, ‘Oh, why don't you just become a hairdresser like your friends?’”
Despite the discouragement, she went on to achieve her goals, becoming both a teacher and a doctor, though not the medical kind she initially imagined.
On May 6, 2026, Dr Abigail McClutchie crossed the stage to receive her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Māori entrepreneurship after ten years of effort, during which she split her time between research, whānau, and her full-time Kaiārahi role at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
In a historic first, Abigail was the first ever doctoral candidate to defend her PhD thesis at the University’s Ngā Tauira Marae on the city campus. Breaking from convention, she introduced her work through a whakatau, bringing academia and te ao Māori together.
Abigail joined Waipapa Taumata Rau in 2012 as the He Tuākana manager. Since then, she’s progressed in a range of roles, always with a focus on empowering Māori students and staff to realise tino rangatiratanga (self-determination, independence, sovereignty).
In 2024, alongside a dedicated team, she co-founded the University of Auckland’s ReoSpace in Te Tumu Herenga, Library and Learning Services, where staff and students can practise speaking te reo Māori.
“ReoSpace acknowledges that in the revitalisation of te reo, we have places to learn te reo, but we also need places on campus to practise it and normalise conversational reo in public spaces.”
“It’s for all levels,” she says. “Whether you’re a beginner or fluent.”
Read more here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2026/05/07/abigail-mcclutchie--a-life-of-mahi-rangatira.html
