Let's Learn

University Lecture Series : Rainbow Research in collaboration with Tauranga Moana Rainbow Collective
2026-04-21 18:00 - 20:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | University of Waikato – Tauranga Campus 101 Durham Street Tauranga
To celebrate Tauranga Moana Pride month the University of Waikato is offering a special public lecture. Listen to five University of Waikato academics discuss their latest research with, for and about rainbow communities.
10 minute talks by five researchers:
Regulating Online Harm: Protecting Rainbow Voices in Digital Spaces
Presenter: Dr Rachel Tan
Description: This talk draws on my research into the regulation of online harm, with a focus on how digital platforms can both amplify and suppress rainbow voices. It explores the challenges of addressing harmful content, including hate speech, while maintaining space for participation, identity, and community. The discussion considers how legal and regulatory frameworks can better protect rainbow communities and support safer, more inclusive online environments.
Bio: Rachel Tan is a Lecturer at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, Tauranga Campus. Her research focuses on cyber law, online safety, and the regulation of harmful content, with a particular interest in how law can protect vulnerable communities in digital spaces.
(How) does Aotearoa protect intersex human rights?
Presenter: Professor Katrina Roen
Description: Aotearoa New Zealand is a signatory of international treaties through which we promise to protect human rights. This presentation focuses on research into attempts to ensure that intersex rights are protected.
Bio: Katrina Roen is a Professor of Sociology at University of Waikato. Katrina’s academic work addresses questions about queer well-being. Some of the topics Katrina has researched include youth self-harm, trans healthcare, and intersex well-being.
Restoring Embodied Personhood: Toward Intersex Well-being
Presenter: Dr Rogena Sterling
Description: In the shift from embodied understandings of sex to identity-based frameworks, key dimensions of personhood have been lost or distorted, with significant impacts on intersex lives. The imposition of identity frameworks onto intersex personhood obscures embodied, relational realities. Drawing on non-Western relational worldviews, this presentation offers a vision of restoration grounded in body, ancestry, community, and land—upholding intersex dignity within a human rights framework.
Bio: Dr Rogena Sterling is a leading intersex scholar and the first openly intersex person in Aotearoa New Zealand to receive a PhD and first to get a LLB (degree in Law). Their work centres embodied personhood and understands personal and community life as co-dependent, upholding human rights by advancing frameworks that support flourishing.
How collage creates space for storytelling
Presenter: Firdhan Wijaya
Description: My talk explores my engagement with diverse queer communities in Indonesia through collage-making as a creative and participatory method. I reflect on how sharing personal stories can be challenging, especially when they involve vulnerability, silence, or risk. Through collage, I observe that participants are able to express their experiences in ways that feel safer, more flexible, and deeply meaningful and caring.
Bio: Firdhan Wijaya is a PhD student at the University of Waikato. His doctoral research focuses on the intersection of queer/trans studies and environmental studies, particularly on how Indigenous trans* communities in eastern Indonesia respond to the global climate crisis. He is also actively participating and supporting Indonesian queer communities through facilitating art and educational workshops.
The importance of home and belonging for Rainbow Elders in Tauranga Moana and Thames-Coromandel
Presenter: Professor Lynda Johnston
Description: I report on current research with 30 LGBTQIA+ participants (aged 60 – 85) living in Tauranga Moana and Thames-Coromandel to highlight the importance of home and feelings of (not)belonging.
Bio: Lynda Johnston is a Professor of Geography at the University of Waikato, Tauranga campus and was the founding member and co-chair of Hamilton Pride (2007 – 2015).
PLEASE REGISTER YOUR ATTENDANCE HERE
and present your eticket at the door.
When: Tuesday 21st April 2026
Doors open 6pm. Lecture starts 6.30pm.
Where: The University of Waikato, Tauranga, Durham St, Tauranga. The Spring St parking building is open 24 hours.
Cost: Free
