Te Aroha Hohaia - Taranaki, Te Atiawa and Ngāruahine For her doctoral study, Te Aroha is asking civic leaders in Taranaki a deceptively simple question: what do you understand by community? Given that civic leaders are expected to promote and facilitate community involvement and participation in local decisions and communities expect to be involved and have opportunities to participate in decisions that will affect them, having a good understanding of 'who the community is' and 'what it stands for' is fundamental to civic leadership and community governance. Using Robin Hambleton’s (2011) model of civic leadership and Q-Methodology to organise and structure the analysis, the objectives are to map civic leader conceptions of community and to examine their perspectives on community governance and civic leadership. The findings will inform an analysis of past, current and future policy settings surrounding community governance and civic leadership in local communities in New Zealand. The overall aim is a better understanding of the way civic leader conceptions of community shape and influence policy priorities and outcomes. As she lives in Taranaki and has roles and responsibilities in community governance settings, Te Aroha is an embedded participant. Te Aroha is a part-time student and expects to complete her study by the end of 2016.