Dr Jessica Hutchings (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa, Gujarati) is a senior kaupapa Māori research leader, author, activist and Hua Parakore grower who lives on a small whānau farm in Kaitoke, north of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. She is the founding trustee of Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust, which works to uplift Indigenous food sovereignty through decolonising research, education and practice, and holds a PhD in environmental studies. She has worked for the past three decades in the Māori research sector, leading and supporting kaupapa Māori research to deliver transformation across diverse Māori communities. She is recognised internationally as a leader in Indigenous food sovereignty and food systems. She is the author of Te Mahi Māra Hua Parakore: A Māori food sovereignty handbook (Te Tākupu, 2016) and (with Jenny Lee-Morgan) Decolonisation in Aotearoa: Education, research and practice (NZCER Press, 2016) — both winners of the Kōrero Pono, Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Book Awards. She has also co-edited (with Jo Smith) Te Mahi Oneone Hua Parakore: A Māori soil sovereignty and wellbeing handbook (Freerange Press, 2020) and (with Jo Smith and Fiona Cram) Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua: Maōri housing realities and aspirations (Bridget Williams Books, 2022).
