UQ and the Pacific

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.



144

Students from the Pacific enrolled at UQ


311

Pacific-UQ co-publications


85

academic staff born in the Pacific


63

research project collaborations


2,148

alumni in the Pacific


9

agreements with 8 official partners

Fast facts show full year 2023 data. 

Collaboration in action

  • The University of Queensland’s potential COVID-19 vaccine is entering an important new phase of testing with the live coronavirus to determine how effectively it induces protection against coronavirus infection.
  • Across UQ, nearly 100 researchers from a range of disciplines are banding together to prevent, better diagnose and treat breast cancer – an insidious disease that affects millions of lives around the world each year.
  • Four new species of tropical sharks that use their fins to walk are causing a stir in waters off northern Australia and New Guinea.
  • Enormous asymmetries exist between the people living in the South Fly region of Papua New Guinea and those living just across the border in the Torres Strait in terms of livelihoods, opportunities, and more. UQ researchers engaged with people and communities in this complex border region between PNG and Australia to develop recommendations that aim to improve the livelihoods of those residing in the South Fly.
  • Pacific communities are considered to be the ‘most vulnerable’ to the impacts of climate change. Consequently, aid is now being redirected to community-scale adaptation. UQ researchers are engaging with Pacific communities to evaluate community-based adaptation initiatives and generate recommendations to optimise future efforts.
  • The way Pacific Island communities on the frontline of climate change are experiencing and working through loss and grief is being documented in a project that could become a ‘wake-up call’ for the rest of the world.

Pages

Alumni

UQ has more than 2,148 alumni in the Pacific (excluding Australia). Alumni with strong links to the region include:

Papua New Guinea

Member of Parliament for Alotau electorate, Minister for Planning, Papua New Guinea (Bachelor of Economics, 1989)
Kiribati

President of Kiribati (Master of Economic Studies 2002)
Samoa

Law lecturer, School of Law University of South Pacific (PhD, 2013)
Fiji

Leader of the National Federation Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Planning and National Statistics, Fiji (PhD 1998)
Papua New Guinea

Director of the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute (PhD Applied Economics 2013)
Papua New Guinea

Member of Parliament for Gazelle Open and Minister Transport & Infrastructure (Masters of Agribusiness 2002)
Kiribati

Commissioner of Police & Superintendent of Prison at Kiribati Police and Prison Service (Master of Philosophy 2004)
Brisbane/Tonga

Summer and Winter Olympian for Taekwondo and cross-country skiing representing Tonga (Bachelor of Engineering 2007)