Collaborative panel discussion on Pacific health crisis

University of Auckland researchers, in collaboration with Oxfam in the Pacific, are holding a panel discussion at the 4th UN Small Island Developing States Conference, which takes place in Antigua and Barbuda from 27-30 May.

They’ll take part in a panel discussion titled ‘Advancing Research and Action on the Health Crisis in the Pacific’. This session focuses on addressing health challenges in the Pacific’s small-island developing states, through Pacific-centred research. 

Health challenges in the region are include the direct impact of limited government resources in supporting full access to healthcare for all citizens, as well as the indirect impacts of unfair trade practices that provide cheaper, unhealthy foods.

However, research shows that the resilience of Pacific communities provides opportunities to address these challenges, but they need more visibility and financial support. As the impacts of climate change exacerbate the issues, there is a rationale for directing climate funds to amplify the opportunities.

The panel is made up of Professor Jemaima Tiatia-Siau and Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem from the University of Auckland as well as Ilisapeci Masivesi from Oxfam in the Pacific. The three experts will expand on how Pacific-centred research is addressing interconnected health, development and climate change issues.

This panel of speakers highlights an emerging partnership. Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland is committed to building research capacity in the Pacific, particularly with Pacific researchers, working alongside Pacific communities for their benefit. Oxfam’s vision is for Pacific communities to have the agency to contribute to positive change in their lives, including through research. The panel speakers will consider how these commitments merge to make the differences needed in the region.

Jemaima Tiatia-Siau, Yvonne Underhill-Sem and Ilisapeci Masivesi all have expertise in researching small-island developing states in the Pacific, including climate change, youth mental health and wellbeing, youth engagement, and climate mobility.

The three will discuss their research and offer evidence-based insights into addressing the health crisis in the area in the context of climate change. They make specific reference to supporting young people and communities to build their potential and resilience.

The overall aim of the panel is to contribute to the knowledge exchange on Pacific-centred research to address key issues such as health, and to support the development of recommendations for policy and practice.

Following presentations by the three speakers, there will be an opportunity for attendees at the conference to ask questions. 

Jemaima Tiatia-Siau is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific and a Professor in Pacific Studies, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. She is of Samoan heritage with a community/public health background. She was one of six panellists on the New Zealand government’s 2018 Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry and is a former board member for New Zealand’s inaugural Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Her research specialities include Pacific suicide prevention and postvention, mental health and wellbeing, youth development, Pacific Studies, health inequities and climate change and
mental wellbeing.

Title of paper: The Inextricable Link between Climate Change and Mental Wellbeing for Pacific Peoples

Relevant publications and research:

Tiatia, J., Langridge, F., Newport, C., Underhill-Sem, Y., & Woodward, A. (2023). Climate change, mental health and wellbeing: privileging Pacific peoples’ perspectives–phase one. Climate and Development, 15(8), 655-666.

Newport, C., Tiatia-Siau, J., Aimiti Ma'ia'i, K., Underhill-Sem, Y., & Woodward, A. (2023). Anchored in pacific protocols–climate change, mental health and wellbeing. Climate and Development, 1-11.

Tupou, T., Tiatia-Siau, J., Newport, C., Langridge, F., & Tiatia, S. (2023). Is the concept of solastalgia meaningful to Pacific communities experiencing mental health distress due to climate change? An initial exploration. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(22), 7041.

Palinkas, L. A., O’Donnell, M., Kemp, S., Tiatia, J., Duque, Y., Spencer, M., ...& Wong, M. (2022). Regional research-practice-policy partnerships in response to climate-related disparities: promoting health equity in the Pacific. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(15), 9758.

Tiatia-Seath, J., Tupou, T., & Fookes, I. (2020). Climate change, mental health, and well-being for Pacific peoples. The contemporary Pacific, 32(2), 400-430.

Yvonne Underhill-Sem MNZM is Professor in Pacific Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. She is of Cook Island, Niuean and Pākehā New Zealand heritage.  Yvonne is a feminist development geographer whose research spans critical development issues in the Pacific including the social, economic, political and cultural impacts of climate change; climate and labour mobility; diverse economic practices; and Pacific research methods.  

She was previously the director of the New Zealand Institute of Pacific Research. She was a Fulbright Scholar at City University of New York; a visiting Pacific Island Fellow at Corpus Christi, Cambridge University; and a Visiting Fellow at the International Institute of Social Sciences, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Hague. She has taught at the University of Papua New Guinea and the Australian National University.

Yvonne also sat on a number of research assessments including the Prime Minister’s Chief Scientist Award, and served as the inaugural co-chair of Pacific Panel of PBRF (the NZ process of assessing research excellence for the purpose of allocating funding to universities) in 2018. She was a member of PBRF Review Committee 2019-2020, Review and Sector Advisory Committee 2021-2023, and Te Ara Paerangi (Future Pathways Independent Strategic Panel for National Research Priorities) in 2023. She is co-chair of Oxfam in the Pacific, and a co-chair of the Board of the Pacific Feminist Fund.

Title of Paper: Researching health and wellbeing impacts of climate mobility in the Pacific using Pacific co-design.

Relevant publications and research:

Newport, Christina, Jemaima Tiatia-Siau, KDee Aimiti Ma'ia'i, Yvonne Underhill-Sem, and Alistair Woodward. (2023) Anchored in pacific protocols–climate change, mental health and wellbeing. Climate and Development 1-11.

Tiatia, J., Langridge, F., Newport, C., Underhill-Sem, Y., & Woodward, A. (2022). Climate change, mental health and wellbeing: privileging Pacific peoples’ perspectives–phase one. Climate and Development, 1-12.

Underhill-Sem, Yvonne (2022), Decolonial gender and development: indigeneity, ideology, inequality in Routledge Handbook on Global Development.

Thomas, E., Tukiuha, C., & Underhill-Sem, Y. (2021). Family-tree mapping and gender-based violence (GBV) in Niue: research method and  intervention. Pacific Health Dialog, 21(7), 380-389.

Samuwai, Jale,  Eliala Fihaki and Yvonne Underhill-Sem 2020 Demystifying climate finance impacts in Small Island Developing States: Perspectives of Pacific women in communities, Small States & Territories, 3(2): 283-302.

Underhill-Sem, Yvonne, 2020, The audacity of the ocean: Gendered politics of positionality in the Pacific.  Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 41(3),
314-328.

Underhill-Sem, Y. J. 2018. Mozzie bites in the morning: The UN sustainable development goals in the Pacific, Evaluation Matters

Lacey, Anita, Anke Schwittay, Yvonne Underhill-Sem, and Carmel Williams.
2014. "Integrating Research, Policy and Practice: Integrating Research, Policy and Practice." Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55 (3): 259-261. doi:10.1111/apv.12065.

Underhill-Sem, Y. J. 2016. Gender Research in the Pacific 1994-2014: Beginnings. Suva: Pacific Women Support Unit. Retrieved from www.pacificwomen.org/ (51 pages).

Cave, Jenny, Lynda Johnston, Cary-Ann Morrison, & Yvonne Underhill-Sem, 2012, Community-university collaborations: creating hybrid research and collective identities. Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences, 7:1, 37-50.

Ilisapeci (Ili) Masivesi is the Director of Programmes, Impact and Partnerships with Oxfam in the Pacific. A management professional with more than 15 years’ experience in international development, and deep expertise in disaster risk management, climate change, and environmental resource management, she gained her masters in Climate Change from the Australian National University in 2018. She went on to complete her second masters degree in Diplomacy and International Affairs, with a focus on climate diplomacy, from the University of the South Pacific in 2021.

She has served as technical expert and trusted advisor to government agencies, regional organisations, NGOs, healthcare professionals, academic, non-profit institutions, and grassroots organisations, and worked with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as the Regional Climate and Resilience Manager. She is an accomplished senior project and program manager with focused experience leading strategic planning, research, policy development, and operations to achieve challenging objectives. She has served in a number of boards including the Women in Resilience Development Board with UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office.

Title of paper: Making climate finance work for women: Voices from Polynesian and Micronesian communities.

Relevant publications and research:

Samuwai, J., & Fihaki, E. (2020). Making climate finance work for women: Voices from Polynesian and Micronesian communities. Oxfam in the Pacific. Available at: 2019Pacific-Climate-Gender Report.pdf (unfccc.int)

Unpaid care, Domestic and Communal work: A Synthesis of Rapid Care Analysis in Rural and Maritime Fiji. Available at: qrco.de/oxfampacific.