From good neighbours to strategic partners
As our closest international neighbours, UQ and the diverse countries of the Pacific share longstanding relationships. With an emphasis on medicine, health, science and international development, we are working together to strengthen economic , governance, health and social systems throughout the Pacific. One of the world’s most biodiverse regions, our collaborative efforts also contribute to understanding and protecting the oceans, crops and animals that its communities rely on.
Fast facts
Excludes Australia.
108
Students from the Pacific enrolled at UQ
393
Pacific-UQ co-publications
80
academic staff born in the Pacific
69
research project collaborations
2,080
alumni in the Pacific
7
agreements with 6 official partners
Fast facts show full year 2022 data.
Collaboration in action
- Across more than 40 years as an archaeologist, UQ's Professor Marshall Weisler has spent much of his life in some of the world's most fascinating and untouched corners – isolated villages, an uninhabited island, and communities across Polynesia, Micronesia, Hawaii and New Zealand – all in the name of discovering what makes us human.
- A study led by UQ in collaboration with Opération Cétacés from New Caledonia has found humpack whales can learn incredibly complex songs from whales from other regions.
- Pacific Islanders are experiencing, firsthand, the impacts of climate change, including sea-level rises, changing temperatures and increased rainfall patterns. In response, communities in the region are leading climate adaption strategies to build the resilience of their ecosystems in the face of increasing risk.
- Women are largely being excluded from decisions about conservation and natural resources, with potentially detrimental effects on conservation efforts globally.
- MD-PhD candidate Rosie Stoke has won The University of Queensland’s 2021 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition and will go on to represent UQ in the Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition next month.
- A whopping 191 different bat species live in the Pacific Islands across Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia — but these are, collectively, the most imperilled in the world. In fact, five of the nine bat species that have gone extinct in the last 160 years have come from this region.
Pages
Alumni
UQ has more than 2,080 alumni in the Pacific (excluding Australia). Alumni with strong links to the region include: