Puawai Cairns is of Māori descent from Tauranga Moana and belongs to the Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui tribes. She has worked in the museum and culture sector for twenty years and presently works as the Director of Audience and Insight at Te Papa Tongarewa where she oversees the audience facing work of the national museum. Puawai has a curatorial and research background, and previously was the Head of Mātauranga Māori for Te Papa where she specialised in contemporary social history research and collecting to reflect the stories of Māori communities. Puawai co-wrote a book on the material culture of protest (Gibson, S., Williams, M., & Cairns, P. (2019). Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of resistance, persistence and defiance), which won the 2019 Ockham book award for Best Illustrated Non-fiction and has recently completed co-writing a book about the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa (Cairns, P., Pugsley, C., Keith, M., & Taylor, R. (2022). Gallipoli: The Scale of our War (1st ed.). Te Papa Press.). Puawai serves on numerous boards across Aotearoa, including Heritage New Zealand, Māori Heritage Council, and Atamira Dance Company, among others. She advises nationally and internationally on museum practices, advocating for greater indigenous participation and leadership in the heritage sector. Puawai lives in Wellington with her daughter and partner.