Hokimate Pamela Harwood is a bicultural science researcher at Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum. She uses a background in biology and traditional MÃÂori knowledge () to research historical MÃÂori textiles.
Harwood attended secondary school at the Catholic Regional College in Traralgon in Victoria, Australia. She then completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences and Physical Anthropology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, graduating in 1998. In 2002, she completed a MasterâÂÂs degree in Environmental and Marine science, also at the University of Auckland. Her thesis research analyzed the tree fruit diet of New ZealandâÂÂs pigeon population (also known as kà «kupa or kererà «) in the urban environment of North Shore.
Harwood's research at Te Papa focuses on the feathers in traditional MÃÂori feather cloaks (). She developed a technique which uses microscopic photography to identify the bird species and geographic origin of feathers used in cloaks. She has identified the feathers in all of the cloaks in Te Papa's collection.
In 2019, Harwood was involved with the study of Te RÃÂ, the sole remaining customary MÃÂori sail, which is held in the collection of the British Museum in London. She was able to identify which species of birds the feathers in the sail were from.
Harwood is a member of the NgÃÂpuhi tribe (iwi).