<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:12px"><em>Left to right: Gill Potaka-Osborne, Valdine Flaming, Sonja Loveridge, Dr Heather Gifford and Lynley Cvitanovic</em></span></p>

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<p>During November, the Whakauae team welcomed a week-long return visit from Valdine Flaming of Thompson, Northern Manitoba. Valdine, a M&eacute;tis woman, spent three months with the team during the winter of 2017 following the award of her Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship. She worked closely with Whakauae on the HRC-funded Preventing Chronic Conditions: Learnings from Participatory Research with M&#257;ori project that has now concluded. Following Valdine&rsquo;s return to Thompson she has continued work on her Master of Arts (Disability Studies) degree through the University of Manitoba. She is awaiting ethics review and approval for her thesis research which will focus on M&eacute;tis Northern women with chronic illness. Valdine juggles postgraduate study with her full-time employment at the University College of the North.</p>

<p>So, what brought Valdine back to Aotearoa New Zealand and to Whanganui this year? She says that, amongst other things, &lsquo;it was the sea&rsquo; with Castlecliff Beach in Whanganui being a major drawcard and one of the things she most enjoyed about her 2017 stay. The opportunity to participate in this year&rsquo;s International Indigenous Research Conference (IIRC), hosted in T&#257;maki Makaurau by Ng&#257; Pae o te M&#257;ramatanga, was also too good to miss. With the support of the Prairie Indigenous Knowledge Exchange Network (PIKE-Net) Mentorship Program, Valdine was able to accept an invitation to present at the IIRC. Whakauae colleagues, Dr Heather Gifford, Dr Amohia Boulton, Dr Lewis Williams and Gill Potaka-Osborne joined her at the IIRC along with other Aotearoa New Zealand colleagues including Dr Rachel Brown, Kiri Parata and Teresa Taylor.</p>

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