Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand

Pascale has been working on the political economy of mining in the Global South for over two decades. She looks into how transnational norms around regulations in extractive industries are being promoted, transplanted, adapted and contested, with a specific interest on how these norms and regulations impact local communities’ livelihood and environment.

UC Research Profile

Director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand

Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva, an award-winning political sociologist and global interdisciplinary scholar, is Director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies. His work is transdisciplinary across sociology, anthropology, political science, development studies, economics, philosophy and history.

UC Research Profile
Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies

Director of the Institute of Applied Sciences, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji

Isoa Korovulavula is the Acting Director of the University of the South Pacific Institute of Applied Sciences, where he is also manages the Environment Unit. He holds a PhD in Environmental Management and Master of Natural Resource Economics from the University of Queensland. His areas of expertise include socio-economic assessment of biodiversity, environmental impact assessment, economic valuation, community natural resource management and community based integrated water management. He is currently one of the Trustees of Fiji’s Women and Fisheries Network and the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Area (FLMMA) network. He chairs the National Integrated Coastal Management Committee in Fiji.

USP Research Profile

Arts Digital Lab, Faculty of Arts, University of Canterbury

Geoff is a political scientist working at the intersection of politics, digital methods and linguistics. He has a professional background as a software developer focused on web technologies and uses this experience to collect large data-sets from the web, to apply quantitative and qualitative computer-assisted approaches to analyse texts, and to build web-based interfaces to interact with and analyse data. Geoff is working on the focused on the digital controversy mapping aspects of the project and developing the project’s digital outputs.

UC Research Profile

Department of Political Science and International Relations / Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury

Jhon’s research focuses on social and environmental accounting, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder engagement, and indigenous community around the mining industry. His PhD research operated at the intersection of accounting, economics, anthropology, ethnography, politics, and history. He explored experiences of the indigenous communities in the mining industry, involving issues related to control and exploitation of natural resources and traditional territories of the indigenous communities, cultural imperialism, human rights issues, environmental destructions, and disparity of social and economic development of the indigenous communities.

Department of Political Science and International Relations / Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury

Alex is investigating the political and economic ties between the International Seabed Authority and Pacific Island Countries. She has a vast experience working on issues of human rights, global health, and public policy in the context of global governance. Alex holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRAD) from the University of Canterbury (2023) and a Postgraduate Certificate of Public Health: Public Policy and Health from the University of Otago (2023).

Postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University

Sian’s research focuses on Australian foreign and defence policy, the politics of emerging weapons technologies, and theories of trust in international relations.

Research Collaborator

Iain is completing a Master’s of International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRAD) at the University of Canterbury. He supports the project through data gathering and analysis. His current academic research interests pertain to democratic backsliding and autocratization and political polarization of the judicial branches of government. Iain graduated honorary valedictorian from Capilano University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and an Advanced Diploma in International Business (2015).