Tahu Kukutai is Professor of Demography at Te Ngira Institute for Population Research and Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Centre of Research Excellence. Tahu specialises in Māori and Indigenous demography and data sovereignty and has received a number of awards for her contribution to these fields. Her recent publications include Indigenous data sovereignty: Toward an agenda (ANU Press), Indigenous data sovereignty and policy (Routledge), The Oxford handbook of Indigenous sociology (Oxford), Indigenous statistics: From data deficits to data sovereignty (Routledge) and the Māori Data Governance Model (Te Kāhui Raraunga). Tahu has undertaken research for numerous tribes, Māori communities, and Government agencies, and provided strategic advice across a range of sectors. She is a founding member of the Māori Data Sovereignty Network Te Mana Raraunga and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance.
Tahu is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and a Life Member of the Population Association of New Zealand. Her affiliations are Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāti Kinohaku and Te Aupōuri.