Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) specialist teaching, supervisory and research interests are in the fields of Māori and Pacific architectural and art history, Māori and Pacific housing and the broader discipline of Indigenous design. She has written several books, including coauthored Toi Te Mana: an Indigenous history of Māori Art (2024), the multi-authored Art in Oceania: A new history (2012) and sole-authored Māori Architecture (2009), and curated a number of exhibitions in galleries around the country. Deidre has belonged to boards of governance for organisations such as Objectspace, The Physics Room and the Christchurch Arts Centre and she has been a Governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand and member of the Humanities Panel of the Marsden Fund (Royal Society of New Zealand). She is a fellow of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects and the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi, and member of the Māori Trademarks Advisory Committee of the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand. She is a member of the Royal Sicety Te Apārangi Council. Her contribution to Māori architecture was recognised with the award of the 2023 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects' Gold Medal, the Institute's highest award.

Distinctions/Honours:
- Apollo Award (London) Best Book Award for Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art

- BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction, Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2025, for Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art

- Gold Medal, Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects, 2023
- Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi, 2021
- Elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects Te Kāhui Whaihanga, 2021
- Pacific Presences Visiting Fellowship, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge/European Research Council, 2016-18
- Wolfson College Visiting Fellowship, University of Cambridge, 2016-17
- Corpus Christi College Visiting Fellowship, University of Cambridge, 2015-16
- Art Book Prize (2014) for Art in Oceania: A new history for the best art or architecture book published in English anywhere in the world in 2013
- New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) Group Award (http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/template/news_item.jsp?cid=533852)(with five other investigators) for the Success for All: Improving Maori and Pasifika Success in Degree Level Studies project, 2012
- Fellowship, International Central Networking Fund (ICNF), to establish collaborative postgraduate teaching linkages with the University of British Columbia and University of Queensland, 2011
- Finalist, New Zealand Post Book Awards (http://www.booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-book-awards/maori-architecture)(Illustrated Non-Fiction category) for Māori Architecture, 2010
- New Zealand Institute of Architects National Awards President’s Award for contribution to the Institute and the profession of architecture, 2010
- Excellence in Equal Opportunity Award (http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/equity-awards-through-the-years), University of Auckland, for Success for All: Improving Maori and Pasifika Success in Degree Level Studies project (with other investigators from NICAI, Education, Medical and Health Sciences, and Career Services), 2010
- Nga Kupu Ora Māori Book Award (http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/maori/maori_book_awards/2009/categories.cfm)(Art, Design and Architecture section) for Māori Architecture; finalist in Nga Kupu Ora Māori Book Award (Book of the Decade) for Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau: Northland Maori Wood Carving, 2009
- Excellence in Equal Opportunity Award, University of Auckland, for NICAI Tuākana Research Assistants Workshop (with Dr Te Oti Rakena from Music, and Mona O’Shea and Matthew Tarawa from the Student Learning Centre), 2008
- Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (http://www.clear.auckland.ac.nz/index.php?p=teaching_excellence_awards), University of Auckland, for Collaboration in Teaching (with Drs Diane Brand and Rosangela Tenorio), 2007.
- Innovation Award (for developing a ground-breaking project involving the arts) for the curation of LightSCAPE and Whare, Art and Industry Trust, 2004
- Montana New Zealand National Book Award (E. H. McCormick Prize, Best First Book by an Author, Non-Fiction) for Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau: Northland Māori Wood Carving, 2004

Responsibilities:
Academic:

Te Tumu (Deputy Dean), Faculty of Engineering and Design Te Herenga Auaha 2025-
Acting Dean, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, 2022-4
Head of the School of Architecture and Planning, 2019-2021
Deputy Head of the School of Architecture and Planning, 2018
Associate Dean Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF), 2014-cont.
Member of National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries Staffing Committee, 2013-cont.

Qualifications:
PhD, MArch (Distn) Auckland, FRSNZ, FNZIA

Areas of Expertise:
- Indigenous architecture
- Architectural history
- Art history
- Cultural and intellectual property rights
- Māori and Pacific studies
- Human-animal studies

- Museum and Biocultural collections