Auckland researchers have been awarded almost $800,000 to study pornography.

The $790,000 study by University of Auckland staff will look at the relationship between pornographic movies and people's real lives, examine our views on it, how it reflects and impacts society, and will include studies on young men and women, an art exhibition, an interactive website and a public symposium.

The project is one of 88 nationwide to receive a slice of $53.8 million handed out in Marsden Fund Grants last month.

The fund is regarded as a ''hallmark of excellence'' which allows New Zealand's top researchers to explore their ideas.

When the grants were publicly announced, the pornographic study wasn't among those highlighted and on a full-list of grants it is innocuously described as a project examining ''public engagement towards a more inclusive and equitable society''.

Marsden Fund Council Chairman Professor Peter Hunter said no attempt was made to disguise the study, but admitted the project's working title was changed.

''The publicised title is taken directly from the proposal and was chosen to avoid a prurient response, but all grants are publicly listed so information on the aims of the grant is available,'' he said.

Hunter said about 30 per cent of grant titles are changed each year ''to make them more understandable, so this was not the only one altered''.

He said the study was ''extremely important''.

''I think a scientific study of the impact of pornography on vulnerable members of society in this age of easy availability is extremely important. The study of human sexuality has long been an important area for research.''

Writing about the project in the The University of Auckland News, Associate Professor of Psychology, Nicola Gavey, said after years of researching the ''cultural norms underpinning rape'' and with an ongoing interest in sexual violence prevention ''it has become clear to me that we collectively need to think a lot more carefully about the issue of pornography''.

Gavey, who was overseas and unavailable for comment, wrote despite widespread use, pornography occupies an ''awkward position'' when discussed publicly. She sited revelations in June last year that MP Shane Jones had charged hotel room "blue movies" to his taxpayer-funded credit card as an example.

''The public revelation of this private habit seemed to show a complex intersection of old and new sensibilities,'' she said.

Gavey said pornography's place within society needed to be understood, as did its impacts on behaviour.

''What do we understand between the fantasies played out in these kinds of representations and the possibilities for understanding ourselves and other people? And what might be the relationship between the norms and values expressed in popular pornographic media and those lived out in our daily life?''

Gavey is conducting her research along with psychology colleagues, Ginny Braun and Octavia Calder-Dawe, and Linda Tyler from the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery.

Calder-Dawe will work with groups of young men and women, ''to explore the ethical dilemmas posed by exploitative and aggressive forms of pornography''.

And in a wider collaboration, the group, along with artists and activists, will host an exhibition of artworks ''that call into question the prejudicial gaze of mainstream pornography''.

That will be supported by an interactive website and a public symposium.

Dr Kim McGregor, Director of Rape Prevention Education, said it was ''fabulous'' an academic of Gavey's pedigree would research such a ''complex topic''.

She says given the known links between pornography and sexual violence Gavey's work was very important.