Mark Ronald Laws

Mark Laws was born in Kawerau and was educated at Kawerau North Primary School, Kawerau Intermediate School and Kawerau College. In 1976 he attended Regular Force Cadet School Education Wing at Waiouru and was a trainee with the New Zealand Army. From 1977-81 he worked as a technician for the New Zealand Army Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Corp. He studied part-time from 1977-78 at Wellington Polytechnic and at Wellington Central Institute of Technology in 1980. He graduated with a Radio Technicians Certificate (RTC), Radio Technicians Supplementary Certificate and Radio Electronic Serviceman’s Registration Certificate. From 1981-82 he was a technician for Fisher and Paykel Electronic Division in Auckland and a technician for Radio Engineering Ltd, Dunedin. In 1984 he worked for Independent TV Services Ltd, Dunedin, and worked as a Technician for Plessey Business Systems, Dunedin. From 1985-86 Laws was Sound Engineer for an English band touring New Zealand and from 1986-87 was Sound Engineer for a Scottish band touring New Zealand. He was an Access Co-ordinator at the Otakou Trust Training Branch of the Te Kohanga Reo movement from 1988-90 and in 1990 he was Access Manager for Te Mana Toroa Tino Rangātiratanga Akonga Wahanga, Dunedin. In 1991 he became Administrator for Te Tai Manaaki Tauira Fees Assistance Scheme at the Māori Studies/Māori Centre at the University of Otago. In 1991-92 he was Research Assistant at the Department of Māori Studies, University of Otago. In 1992 he began a Diploma for Graduates in Information Science at the University of Otago. He was the Organising Tutor at the Māori Studies Department at the University of Otago until 1996. He graduated with a MSc (Distinction) in 1998 and PhD (Otago) in information science. He was the recipient of two Foundation of Research, Science and Technology Tuāpapa Putaiao Māori Fellowships for his MSc in 1997 and PhD in 1998. He was the South Island winner of the FIRST Awards in 1999 and in 2002 won the Computing and Mathematics Section of the National Māori Academic Excellence Awards. He lectured at the University of Otago and also in Hawaii.

Laws went on to work in the Royal Society of New Zealand and the National Association of Māori Mathematicians, Scientists and Technologists and in 2002 he began Post-Doctoral Research with FRST Fellowship from the Auckland University of Technology’s Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Resarch Institute. He was founding Head of Faculty for the Computer Information Science and Technology at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane in 2004 and became Associate Professor at the wānanga. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Tokorau Indigenous Innovation Institute in 2009 and was appointed to the Whakatane District Council's iwi liaison committee representing Ngati Awa. He also assisted in the development of a community-based diabetes online programme in conjunction with Bay of Plenty District Health Board.

Biographical sources

• <p>CV and interview with Mark Laws 24 March 1993.</p> <p>Phone conversation and email CV and interview with Mark Laws 24 March 1993.</p> <p>Phone conversation and email correspondence 24 July and 20 Aug. 1998.</p> <p>"Dr. Mark R. Laws." http://web.its.auckland.ac.nz/maitk/mark_laws 7 Oct. 2010.</p> <p>Shanks, Katee. “Huge crowd turns up for academic’s tangi.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=11014829.</p> <p>“Senior Whakatane Maori academic drowns.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10697260.</p>