Indicators of Esteem and Visiting Positions [a selection]
Member of the International Working Group on Public Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainable Development, Global Ambassadors of Sustainability, 2025 - to date.
The Working Group on Public Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability, under the auspices of the Global Ambassadors of Sustainability, is dedicated to advancing global sustainability through effective policy-making and diplomacy. The group convenes thought leaders, diplomats, policymakers, and experts to tackle the most pressing global challenges related to sustainable development. It aims to create actionable pathways for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by bridging the gap between policy, diplomacy, and on-the-ground implementation.
Member of the International Editorial Board, Small States & Territories Journal, 2025 - 2028.
Member of the Book Reviews Team, Small States & Territories Journal, 2025 - 2028.
Mentor in the Ocean Country Partnership Programme Scholarship Online Training Programme, 2025.
I mentored seven scholars throughout the Module 'Writing winning PhD and postdoc Proposals' co-developed by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACP) and the International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP), funded with UK Aid from the UK government.
Delegate and Lead Speaker at the Fiji 1.5 Dialogue on Enhancing Australia and India Cooperation with Indo-Pacific Island States, 2025.
The Fiji 1.5 Dialogue is a partnership between the Australia India Institute and the University of the South Pacific, and is supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Defence.
Participant Track 2 Pacific Dialogue on Security and Geopolitics in the Pacific, 2024.
This Track 2 Dialogue was hosted by the University of the South Pacific in Suva with the support of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the British Government.
Research Excellence Award, The University of the South Pacific, 2024.
Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Pacific Studies, 2023 - to date.
The Journal of Pacific Studies is a multi-disciplinary journal hosted by The University of the South Pacific and ranked by the Australian Business Deans Council.
Affiliate Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative, 2023-to date.
Delegate 1st Archipelagic & Island States Forum Research and Development Conference: Advancing the Blue Frontier on Innovative Ocean Science, 2023.
The Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum selected me as one of the 30 delegates to attend the first AIS Research and Development Conference in Bali, Indonesia. The AIS Forum is a 51-country multilateral dialogue platform of archipelagic and island countries mandated on four different thematic areas of work: (1) climate change; (2) blue economy; (3) marine pollution and debris; and (4) good maritime governance.
Research Excellence Award, The University of the South Pacific, 2022.
Member of the Editorial Board, Polity, the journal of the Northeastern Political Science Association published by the University of Chicago Press, 2020 - to date.
Polity ranks among the top 15 U.S.-based political science journals and is devoted to the premise that political knowledge advances through scholarly communication across subdiscipline boundaries.
Advisor on the security and political power of small and micro states, Institute of Small and Micro States, 2020 - to date.
Visiting Scholar in the School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University, United Kingdom, 2020-2021.
Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2020.
At Vic, I worked with Professor Tony Angelo who is an expert in the law of small states and the law of small Pacific nations.
Observer at the 25th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP25) in Madrid, 2019.
COP25 was designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland, a key objective was to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalisation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The conference furthermore served to build ambition ahead of 2020, the year in which countries have committed to submit new and updated national climate action plans. I wrote a commentary blog article on the outcome of COP25, which was published by International Affairs, the leading academic journal of international relations.
Knowledge Frontiers Forum Fellow in Australia, appointed by the British Academy, 2019.
The British Academy selected me as one of the 39 early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences to participate in a research collaboration forum on the broad theme of 'the future'. During the Forum, we critically engaged with the futures theme through sessions focusing on: futures of the past, environmental futures and co-designing and co-producing knowledge in the future. Based on my new research on the ontological security of the Pacific island countries and islanders in the context of climate change (OSPICs), the British Academy asked me to provide general remarks on the theme of 'environmental futures' at the start of the session. Following the Forum, the British Academy funded two collaborative projects which enable me to work with excellent colleagues from Australia, Samoa and Fiji. These projects address urgent and complex challenges of our time.
ACTION for Impact Alumni at Newcastle University, United Kingdom, 2019.
ACTION for Impact is a training programme that enables early career researchers to develop the personal, societal and commercial impact of their research.
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK, 2018-to date.
Co-Editor Politics, a United Kingdom refereed Political Studies Association journal published by SAGE, 2018.
I was one of the co-editors for Politics, a UK refereed journal that publishes original research articles that advance debates in politics and international studies and/or challenge boundaries within the field.
Co-Editor Middle East and North Africa Newsletter published by the American Political Science Association, 2018.
I was the co-editor for the APSA MENA Newsletter, a biannual publication that publishes short pieces addressing a variety of methodological, theoretical, empirical, and ethical concerns related to Middle East and North Africa (MENA) political science research.
Middle East and North Africa Fellow in Qatar and Kuwait, appointed by the American Political Science Association - funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2015.
The American Political Science Association selected me as one of the 23 early career researchers, based in the United States, Europe, the Arab Middle East and North Africa, to participate in a year long programme that explored the resource curse in the Arab Middle East and North Africa. We were hosted by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University and the Alsalam Center for Development and Strategic Studies in Kuwait. During the Fellowship, we critically engaged with the rentier state literature to analyse the impact of rent wealth on democracy, state-building, political stability and state-society relations. We closed the Fellowship by presenting a research paper which we prepared as part of the Fellowship.
Research Fellow, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, in Doha (Qatar), 2014.
Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, in Qatar offered me a Research Fellow position in 2014. During this time, I conducted research on how successful Qatari elites are in exercising soft power to achieve their country's foreign policy goals.
Visiting Researcher, National Library of Bhutan, 2009.
The National Library of Bhutan invited me to work with colleagues from the Research and Media Division and the Library and Archives Division to conduct a national literary documentation survey in Eastern Bhutan. We carried out a survey of important and rare texts and documents for the nation in remote temples and monasteries. The survey included digitisation and registration of rare texts, and recording of details of their location and condition for future reference.