+64 21 255 4642

Kia ora, ko Una tōku ingoa. My name is Una.

I was born and raised in Waitākere, and spent a year travelling and working overseas before moving to Te Whanganui-a-Tara to pursue my studies. I recently completed a Master of Museum and Heritage Practice at Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington and for my placement worked as a research intern in the Mātauranga Māori Team at Te Papa Tongarewa. I'm driven by collective memory in both of these spaces, and the potential that this work holds to advocate for a sustainable future. The experiences throughout my life, within social movements and at university, have consolidated my interest in museums, advocacy and collective memory. I am strongly attuned to communicative skills and enjoy working with people, self-directed study; creative and critical thinking are equally important to me. I feel comfortable and competent using Excel spreadsheet and website software. My fortnightly slot and occasional live performances through the community radio station 'Mouthfull', 'Full Disclosure' collective and other platforms constantly encourage future work in this space. The potential for exploration within community access, collaborative projects, curatorial and provenance research, digitisation, repatriation and the decentralisation of museums and memory institutions through oral history and moving image are sources of inspiration for me and where I hope to channel my future practice.

experience


Te Arawhiti - Office of Treaty Settlements
March 2023 - Present

Project lead on the archival project for the photographic collection for the TA Whare Taonga
Writing a report for future practice regarding access, resitution and protection of images and co-developing future strategy


Urban Dream Brokerage
February 2023 - Present

- Liaising and communicating with artists to activate vacant spaces around Te Whanganui-a-Tara
- Developing outputs for UDB website, blog and social media
- Facilitating exhibitions as part of WCC's Aho Tini 2030 Strategy


Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
November 2022 - February 2023

- Undergoing provenance research with Dr. Amber Aranui and the Mātauranga Māori team
- Transcribing original museum records and using EMu
- Facilitating exhibition research development alongside Ngākahu and National Services Te Paerangi


Stout Research Centre (VUW), Waikato-Tainui & WSP (Works and Development Services Corporation)
November 2021 - February 2022

- Collating information from academic texts and conducting interviews
- Outlining possible options for Waikato-Tainui iwi to develop a whare taonga/modern Māori museum
- Interpreting this into an annotated bibliography, report and presentation


Whanganui District Council
July - October 2022

- Curating multiple stories into a 1 hour tour of Durie Hill Suburb
- Writing and designing a booklet, hosting the tour


SignDNA, National Deaf Archive of Aotearoa, New Zealand
June - July 2022

- Cataloguing and creating metadata for an online archive
- Managing this project for the St Dominic's School for the Deaf in Aorangi (Fielding)
- Communicating in NZSL


Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand
March - November 2021, Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington

- Initially volunteering for the Living Wage Movement for 2 years before become a paid employee
- Co-ordinating groups of people and organised forum
- Running the campaign to get Victoria University cleaners paid the Living Wage
- Outcome achieved in May 2021


Hello Marseille Hostel (France), Panman Catering Ltd., Mediterranean Foods Ltd. & Maranui Catering Kitchen (Aotearoa/New Zealand) 2017-2021

Research Intern

Summer Research Scholar

Heritage Tour Organiser

Digitisation Project Intern

Tertiary Student Organiser

Hospitality Experience

skills

education


Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington
February 2022 - February 2023
- with Distinction, GPA of 8.0
- Te Papa Scholarships: The Cliff Whiting Memorial Scholarship Award 2023
This 1 year taught Master's degree involves learning practical skills, theoretical knowledge, and sector experience in the museum and heritage field.


Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington
2019 - 2021
- Majors in Art History, Cultural Anthropology & Pacific Studies
- Dean's List '19, '20, '21
- Wellington Graduate Award '21 (recognising academic merit)
- GPA of 8.0
- Summer Research Scholarship (2022-2023)


Living Wage Movement NZ
Community Organising Training, July 2021


Avondale College, Auckland
2013 - 2017
- Excellence endorsement
- Prefect

I am driven by navigating and finding common ground between subjects of interest, analysing texts & structuring my ideas in creative flexible ways. Working with others, in both large groups and small and is incredibly fulfilling to my work. I enjoy taking a self-reflexive, holistic, focussed and flexible approach to projects and responding to the perspectives of those around me.


Meeting deadlines in a work environment and the lives of others is of great importance to my work. I can confidently manage and enjoy working on multiple tasks at once and am able to work well in high intensity environments.


I feel comfortable in communicating with a wide range of people, both in my personal life and my professional career. English is my first language, I thoroughly enjoy writing and feel competent and comfortable with editing and proofreading text. I can communicate conversationally in New Zealand Sign Language and French and am in the process of learning Te Reo Māori.

Critical thinking, research and problem solving

Time management and self-organisation

Communication and interpersonal skills

Master of Museum & Heritage Practice (MMHP)

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation)

NCEA Level 3

Administrative Assistant

© 2023 Una Dubbelt-Leitch

Historian Intern