Photo caption: University of Canterbury Associate Professor Jose Sousa-Santos (right) and UC Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva, Director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies.
The Pacific Regional Security Hub (PRSH) was established at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) last month.
Located within UC’s Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, the hub will be led by UC Associate Professor of Practice Jose Sousa-Santos, a Timorese transnational crime expert. He says the initiative, which receives funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, will encourage, promote and facilitate innovative research on security issues affecting the Pacific.
“The PRSH is a Pacific-led, partner-supported initiative that will tackle complex security challenges the region is facing through education, engagement, and collaboration with partners both within the Pacific and beyond.”
Associate Professor Sousa-Santos says the hub’s first step will be to build a network of Pacific security thinkers and scholars who lead critical conversations across the region and internationally.
“It’s a great opportunity to link together scholars, policymakers, leaders, and local communities in the region to engage in research and strategic thinking that addresses ongoing political, social, cultural, environmental, and economic security issues.”
With connections across the Pacific, and about 10 foundation visiting fellows being appointed, PRSH will expand and deepen UC’s Pacific expertise, he says.
The Macmillan Brown Centre is a world leader in interdisciplinary research on the Pacific, and UC Pro-Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva, who is the Centre’s Director, says it’s an ideal home for the PRSH.
“The hub provides a space for more innovative and interdisciplinary Pacific agency and voices in regional human security, geopolitics, regional conflict, peace building, climate crisis, and transnational crime.”
The Macmillan Brown Centre already hosts the Global Research and Innovation Hub on the Pacific, and Centre researchers have led a number of regional and international projects including the Pacific Ocean Climate Crisis Assessment (POCCA) project, which involves over 100 interdisciplinary scholars from universities in the Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia.
The POCCA report was launched during the recent COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan.
Over the next six months, the PRSH will launch a number of activities promoting Pacific knowledge and leadership including establishing a network of Pacific thinkers, a discussion paper series showcasing Pacific expertise, a series of seminars, and a major conference on Pacific experiences of, and responses to, transnational organised crime in the Pacific.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 - Climate Action.
