Dr Kukutai is Professor of Demography at The University of Waikato in Aotearoa New Zealand. She specialises in Māori and Indigenous population research and has published extensively on Indigenous demography, data sovereignty, official statistics and ethnic classification. She has undertaken research for numerous Māori communities and Government agencies and provided strategic advice across a range of sectors. She has a PhD in Sociology from Stanford University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.