Vision Statement

My academic background spans multiple sub-disciplines in social sciences, including political science, international relations, cultural anthropology and development sociology. My current research combines these fields. A central theme running through my work is how state and non-state actors in small and island states can develop and utilise material and ideational resources, including identities, to achieve their objectives. This theme emerged during my undergraduate study in cultural anthropology and development sociology when I specialised in the social construction of ethnic and national identities, nation building, state formation and political power, culminating in a thesis titled 'The Construction and Reinforcement of the Bhutanese Nation'. I further consolidated this theme during a master of science in political science (with a specialisation in international relations) and a doctoral degree in politics. Specifically, I investigated how successful Bhutanese and Qatari state actors are in exercising soft power to achieve their country’s foreign policy goals, including maintaining state sovereignty and territorial integrity, managing relations with major regional powers, increasing international visibility and status enhancement. I critically engaged with the concepts of political power, soft power and small states and developed a theoretical and conceptual framework to empirically investigate the exercise of soft power. This framework is grounded in the development and utilisation of identity discourses and practices. 

My academic backgrounds and research experiences inform my current research projects on the Ontological (In)Security of Pacific Island Countries and their Inhabitants in the Context of Climate Change (OSPICs), Geopolitics in the Pacific, Diplomacies of Non-Western Small States and the Soft Power of Pacific Island States.

Research Interests

International relations, foreign policy, traditional and non-traditional security, political power (in all its forms), geo-politics, diplomacy, small states, island states, climate change, identities, discourses, practices and methodologies. 

Academic Degrees

Academic Certificates

Indicators of Esteem and Visiting Positions [a selection]


Research Excellence Award, The University of the South Pacific, 2024.


Editor, 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. 

Twitter

I tweet from @sarinatheys and @OSPIS4