Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes (Te Kapotai, Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu) has had a significant international impact in the field of Indigenous peoples' health and wellbeing. Her work is at the forefront of creating new knowledge in the determinants of health, wellbeing and mātauranga Māori, particularly in human and environmental relationships. She co-founded the Whāriki Research Group and has worked tirelessly with allied researchers to shift the research surrounding Māori health to focus on rangatiratanga and hauora rather than what makes them sick. These ideas about Māori advancement rather than development are now widely taken up. She engages with community partners, colleagues and students to build research programmes that emphasise and work with community based mātauranga to determine local to global actions. Throughout her research career, she has made immense contributions to the development of mātauranga Māori, with innovations such as Te Huihuinga, a hui-based methodology, and A Wairua Approach, a methodology for explicitly including wairua as part of the research frame. She has tackled significant issues to Māori communities such as environmental degradation, the importance of spirituality, alcohol harm, and racism. Throughout her research career, Helen has demonstrated strong leadership and sustained contribution to advancing mātauranga in social research.