The University of the South Pacific (USP) Cook Islands Campus is organizing, with Te Puna Vai Marama (Cook Islands Centre for Research), the 5th PIURN Conference, on 4-6 July 2023, focusing on “Exploring this Sea of Islands”, engaging with the work of one of the Pacific’s most revered academics, Epeli Hau’ofa.
With 240 delegates from all over the Pacific (Hawaii to Fiji, Papua New Guinea to Samoa, French Polynesia to Australia…), the PIURN Conference highlights the diversity of research in the region and brings together academics, researchers and students to meet, exchange and discuss about the common challenges faced by this “Sea of Islands”. From politics to biodiversity, linguistics to art and film-making, communities to indigenous knowledge, the delegates will experience new methodologies and discover potential research collaborations.
A special celebration, a “Festschrift”, of one of the most revered researchers of the Cook Islands, Dr Marjorie Crocombe, will be hosted on Wednesday, July 5th, to commemorate her incredible scholarly contribution.
Thirty scholarships for PIURN Members Universities Students and Early Career Researchers have been sponsored and awarded, for them to participate to this unique event and a great opportunity to meet academics from the region and present their research work in front of a high-level audience. They will also participate to the research workshops, on Thursday July 6th.
The Conference will also celebrate the 10-year anniversary of PIURN, officially founded in 2013. A Plenary Session, with guests speakers from all over the Pacific, will be held on Tuesday, July 4th, from 3:30 to 5 PM, followed by the screening of the PIURN Project “Nations of Water”, a documentary on climate-induced migrations.
Cook Islands Prime Minister, Hon. Mark Brown, will officially open the ceremony on Tuesday, July 4th.
To download the programme : https://piurn2023.sciencesconf.org/data/23064_Conference_Programme_LR_5.1.pdf