The University of the South Pacific hosted the 2023 Board Meeting of the Pacific Islands Universities Research Network (PIURN). Professor Pal Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor and
President of USP and Professor Catherine Ris, President of University of New Caledonia, co-chairs of PIURN, welcomed the members universities of the consortium on April 4th, 2023, at USP. National University of Samoa, National University of Vanuatu, Fiji National University, University of Fiji, Solomon Islands National University, University of Papua New Guinea, Divine Word University, PNG Unitech and Pacific Adventist University’s Vice Chancellors or Deputy Vice-Chancellors met face-to-face for the first time since the Covid-19 Pandemic.
They examined the remarkable achievements of PIURN since its inception in 2013, prepared the 5th PIURN Conference hosted by USP Cook Islands Campus (4-6 July
2023) and discussed the future of the network.
PIURN Board members reiterated their commitment to enhance academic and research collaborations between the 14 members’ universities, with a joint PIURN call for research proposals. They also discussed about the vision of the network, a regional strategy to adopt and key activities to develop to strengthen PIURN.
PIURN is now recognised as an important stakeholder in the Pacific region. It has demonstrated its capacity to act as a catalyst for the emergence of joint academic projects of regional relevance and has managed to successfully secured major research grants. PIURN biannual conferences have allowed Member Universities to scale-up the collaborative dynamic amongst our researchers and to promote the work of our postgraduate students
A reception was held on Monday, April 3rd, by the French Ambassador, his Excellency François-Xavier Léger to welcome the delegates of the 2023 PIURN Board Meeting and Professor Ahluwalia hosted the closing dinner at Pacific Fusion, showcasing the work of USP students from Pacific Technical and Further Education: Pacific TAFE.