Vave Lab · University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Assistant Professor in Ocean Governance
& Marine Resource Management
¹Department of Pacific Islands Studies
²Fisheries Graduate Program
Assistant Professor in Ocean Governance & Marine Resource Management
Department of Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
I’m an iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) who was born and raised in Fiji, with paternal and maternal links to Sawana village (Vanua Balavu Island, Lau Province) and Tiliva village (Bua Province) respectively. Prior to starting PhD in 2014, I worked for 14 years at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, including coordination and support for effectiveness assessment across six countries within the Indo-Pacific region as part of the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) network.
My foundational academic background is in Biology & Chemistry, then Marine Biology. This diversified during PhD into interdisciplinary socioecological research, with a focus on the human dimensions of fisheries management and place-based traditional practices of indigenous peoples — spanning human ecology, cultural anthropology, and economics.
Here are direct links to my 1st authored publications in the following journals Ambio, Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, Conservation Biology, Ecosystem Services, and World Development Sustainability. Other co-authored publications can be viewed on the “Publications” tab.
Focus Areas
Diver-operated video (DOV) methodology to assess fish behavioral change in funerary protected areas and culturally managed marine sites.
Ethnographic and participatory research with indigenous and local communities across Oceania, documenting socioecological resilience and traditional knowledge.
14 years working with the Locally Managed Marine Area network across six Indo-Pacific nations — co-producing conservation knowledge with communities.
Mixed-methods quantitative & qualitative analysis using RStudio, QGIS, Qualtrics, NVivo, TATOR, and MAXQDA for ecological and social datasets.
Scholarship
2025
Increasing Pacific Islander research and authorship in the academic literature
Pacific Conservation Biology, 31(4)
2024
Conservation Biology, 38(6), e14403
2024
Ecosystem Services, 69, 101661