Philippa is the recipient of an AUT Contestable PhD Scholarship which she was awarded in 2007. Her doctoral research seeks to determine the impact of the Internet in the construction  of  New Zealand’s national identity.  The thesis will explore the existence of competing discourses on the Internet  based on people’s understanding of nationhood in relation to their ethnicity and/or ties with former homelands,  to their kiwi’ citizenship and to official perspectives on what it means to be a New Zealander.  With New Zealand’s population becoming more culturally diverse the question is raised: is it possible for people to simultaneously have more than one national identity which is promulgated through  Internet  websites and CMCs (computer mediated communication), or are new media technologies  influencing national identity construction to reflect a broader, more multi-cultural society? Jurgen Habermas’ concept of the public sphere forms the theoretical basis of this research.