In this online panel event, Maima Koro, William Waqavakatoga, and Professor Joanne Wallis of the University of Adelaide will give three twenty-minute presentations on topics connected to “Geopolitics, order, and influence in the Pacific Islands”, followed by an audience QnA.
Maima Koro is a Pacific Research Fellow for the Regional Perspectives Project, a research collaboration between the University of Adelaide with Pacific partners, funded by the Defence, Science and Technology Group. She is also pursuing PhD studies, focusing on the intersection of security and justice in Pacific communities. She has a particular interest in whole of country processes, grounded theories and applied research approaches. Her research interests include, international relations, global security, geopolitics, development studies, ethics and capacity development. Maima has over 20 years of international development experience in the Pacific at national and regional levels.
William Waqavakatoga is an international student from Fiji and second year PhD candidate in Politics and International Relations at the University of Adelaide. William’s current PhD research project is titled, “Pacific Island Countries in International Relations: a case study of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga”. He is a former tutor at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and has worked as a broadcasting journalist. William also served in the British Army with the 1st Bn Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) and completed three tours to Iraq.
Joanne Wallis is Professor of International Security in the Department of Politics and International Relations and Research Director of the ‘Security in the Pacific Islands’ program in the Stretton Institute at the University of Adelaide, and a Non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution. Before moving to Adelaide, she worked for more than eight years in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
