Reimagining Pacific Futures: Transformative Leadership, Regional Solidarity, and the Role of Universities in a Changing World

Annual Pacific lecture brought to you by Pacific Thought Network (PacTNet)

Speaker: Professor Transform Aqorau, Vice-Chancellor of Solomon Islands National University

This lecture will explore the transformative potential of Pacific leadership and the vital role universities play in navigating the region's future amidst intensifying global challenges. Drawing from my experiences in international law, fisheries governance, and higher education reform in the Solomon Islands and beyond, I will reflect on the importance of reimagining leadership paradigms rooted in Pacific values — values of vanua, wantokism, and collective responsibility.

In an era marked by climate change, geopolitical competition, economic precarity, and technological disruption, Pacific Island nations must chart their own futures through a new form of regionalism that is assertive, inclusive, and grounded in local knowledge systems. I will argue that universities, particularly national and regional institutions like SINU, USP, and Otago, are critical sites for decolonising development thinking, fostering ethical leadership, and generating context-specific solutions. By centring Pacific-led scholarship and community engagement, universities can help shape a new generation of leaders who are not only technically competent, but also ethically grounded and culturally anchored.

The lecture will also reflect on the responsibilities of academic institutions in supporting post-colonial statecraft and regional solidarity. Through the prism of Solomon Islands’ own journey — from nation-building to institutional reform — I will suggest pathways for how Pacific nations and their institutions can reclaim agency over their development trajectories.

About Professor Transform Aqorau

Professor Transform Aqorau (PhD) is Vice-Chancellor of the Solomon Islands National University. He is a leading international expert in fisheries law, regional governance, and development, and has worked extensively across the Pacific with the Solomon Islands Government, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and as the inaugural CEO of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) Office. A pioneering Pacific scholar and practitioner, he has been central to reshaping the political economy of tuna fisheries through the design and implementation of the Vessel Day Scheme, and the successful global branding of Pacifical tuna. He played a major role in establishing the Fisheries Information Management System (FIMS), a transformative digital innovation in fisheries monitoring. Professor Aqorau is the author of Fishing for Success: Lessons in Pacific Regionalism (ANU, 2019), which chronicles the PNA’s rise as a world-leading fisheries management bloc, and Development and Governance Challenges of a Small Island State (USP, 2011), a collection of reflective essays on leadership, governance, and the future of Solomon Islands. His work draws from the intersection of indigenous Pacific values, international law, and development policy, championing greater self-determination and innovative leadership for the Blue Pacific Continent.

Event followed by refreshments.

Live streaming TBC