Lauren Bland was born and raised in Canberra, Australia but has roots in Aotearoa, living in Ōtautahi for nearly a decade. Her PhD studies focus on international relations, foreign policy, development, and climate crisis issues.
Lauren’s research critically examines Aotearoa's relationships in the Pacific within the context of climate crisis resilience. It has a specific focus on Aotearoa's new foreign policy direction ' The Pacific Resilience Approach' and how this aims to shape Aotearoa's internal climate policies and its external relationships with Pacific partners. This research will look to find the nexus between Aotearoa's interventions and climate resilience outcomes in the Pacific.
Lauren has been studying and working in policy, development, and environment spheres since first graduating in 2016 and her PhD brings together the many elements of Lauren’s interests and passions. Her interests peaked due to the fact this is the first time Aotearoa has engaged in an indigenous foreign policy approach and she wants to better understand the intricacies of how this works in terms of political relationship building, but also the implications of this on the ground.
Lauren says she was attracted to the MBC due to the relevance of the centre to my research and the host of people that work there with insights and expertise into her subject matter. “The MBC is an incredibly welcoming and fun place to be. As many PhDs can probably attest, doing a PhD can feel isolating sometimes, so the Collective community at MBC creates a diverse, supportive, and friendly atmosphere, which is great to be a part of”.
