More Pacific research needed

Transcript

The newly-appointed vice president of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association says there isn't enough research done into the Pacific, considering the geopolitical issues facing the region.

Associate Professor Malakai Koloamatangi, who is the Pasifika director at New Zealand's Massey University, was appointed vice president of the association last week, and says more researchers need to come on board.

Dr Koloamatangi told Jamie Tahana he's honoured to have been elected to such an illustrious role.

MALAKAI KOLOAMATANGI: I feel priviliged, obviously, to have been elected for the position. The association, it's the only one of its kind internationally and regionally, and the office holders have been quite illustrious colleagues. So yeah, I feel privileged to be part of the association.

JAMIE TAHANA: Tell us a bit about the association and what's ahead for you. Is it a daunting challenge?

MK: Yeah. There is a President, and there are two vice presidents and then of course there are other executive office holders. But there is a vision to the association and that's to bring together research on the Pacific related to political science, political studies and it's also to encourage collaboration with regional institutions, regional organisations and researchers internationally. The last conference that was held in June of this year, it was held in French Polynesia in Tahiti, Papeete, and the idea there is to connect with French-speaking colleagues and I think that was done quite well.

JT: So, moving forward what's you vision for it? What needs to happen with PIPSA?

MK: Well I think there is an agreement that there is a need for emerging researchers to come on board, there is also a need to connect with international political science associations. There's also a need, I think, to lift the profile of the association; that's done through the conferences that it holds regularly and there's also, of course, the publication of the proceedings from the conferences, publication of articles and collaborative projects between members. So I think it looks quite positive for the future and we've got a good executive team on board now and yeah, we look forward to a real good future.

JT: A few in New Zealand, a few in Australia, in terms of the political science studying of the Pacific, how much is there and how much more does there need to be?

MK: That's a good question. There isn't enough, is the simple answer. There are Pacific researchers and of course there are non-Pacific researchers, that is to say they are researchers but they are not (from the) Pacific, but do work in the Pacific. But in terms of professional political scientists, there aren't many of us and there needs to be more. Obviously with the geopolitical issues in the Pacific and the look north policy to China and the re-engagement of the US and other issues such as Fiji coming back into the fold of the Pacific Islands Forum, Tonga having elections in November - the second democratic elections. So there is a lot to be done I think we need more researchers who are political scientists.

JT: You chose a big year to go into it didn't you? You've got Tonga elections, Solomon Islands, Fiji. Is it going to be interesting ahead?

MK: That's right and we need to have emerging, upcoming political science researchers. You know, I mean, political science is becoming more and more a specialised field and you need people who have been trained in political science to observe and analyse, perhaps forecast what might happen in the future.