Wantok Pasifika: Celebrating real impact in our region

Monday, 28 August 2023

The University of Newcastle’s Pacific students were in the spotlight at this year’s Wantok Pasifika event as they demonstrated how their work is having real world impact in Pacific communities.

From climate change resilience, waste management and pollution control, to invasive species management and inclusive education, the event put a spotlight on how the research and capacity development projects undertaken through the University’s Pacific Node are addressing issues of critical concern for Pacific Island nations.

Two women dance wearing traditional Pacific dress in front of a bowl of purple grapes Pacific Node PhD student Carrol Chan is researching how to tackle invasive species in the Pacific.

Hoping to make a difference back home in Fiji once she graduates, Carrol said that invasive species are threatening native biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and human livelihoods and food security across the Pacific.

“These impacts have the potential to devastate Pacific Island economies and our fragile ecosystems which are further threatened by the impacts of climate change,” Carrol said.

“My research uses remote sensing as a monitoring tool to detect and map the distribution of these invasive weeds and assess the role of climate change, particularly cyclones and their impact at the national level, in the Pacific Island country, Samoa.”

The Hon. Pat Conroy, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, joined University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky, University staff, students, and members of the Pacific community at the event to celebrate the continued friendship and collaboration between the University of Newcastle and communities in the Pacific region.

A man wearing a green floral Pacific shirt hands another man wearing a suit a flower lei. A woman with a lei stands in the middle and two men can be seen in the background taking photos The  Hon. Pat Conroy, Minister for International Development and the Pacific takes part in a lei ceremony.

Pacific Engagement coordinator Dr Sascha Fuller said that through research partnerships and student mobility programs, the Pacific community at The University of Newcastle is growing.

“Through our Pacific Node initiative, we work with partners from government, industry, academia, and community, to deliver solutions to critical environmental, social, and economic challenges,” Dr Fuller said.

“Led by the Pacific, for the Pacific, we are working together to provide greatest impact.”

A woman in a blue dress stands next to two men wearing suits. The man in the middle has a flower lei and wears glasses. The man on the right has a purple tie. There are two men sitting on the ground behind them and a portrait of the Chancellor in the background Dr Sascha Fuller with the Hon. Pat Conroy and University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky

The Pacific Node is a strategic initiative of the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) at the University of Newcastle, in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

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