Jacinta is a leading Indigenous scholar, higher education executive leader, and governance director of some of New Zealand’s most significant national entities committed to public education including Te Papa New Zealand’s National Museum. She researches how state legal systems should reconcile with their Indigenous peoples, their laws and knowledges. Her work has advanced options including legal personality of the environment and a bijural legal education recognising Māori legal traditions. Publications include: co-authoring Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies (Oxford University Press, 2010), co-editing Ngā Kete Mātauranga. Māori Scholars at the Research Interface (Otago University Press, 2021) and Books of Mana (Otago University Press, 2025).