Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies

Natalie is a Professor in the Faculty of Law | Te Kaupeka Ture at the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha.

Natalie's research and teaching interests are in the areas of international human rights, disaster law, refugee law and Pacific legal studies - all broadly under the public law umbrella. The first part of Natalie's career was spent in the New Zealand public service including at the Crown Law Office, the Cabinet Office (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) and the Law Commission. She also worked as a VSA volunteer at the Cambodian Defenders' Project in Phnom Penh. Natalie draws on all this expertise and experience in both her research and teaching.

Natalie is passionate and experienced in all levels of university learning and teaching – from first-year to post-graduate. She is currently the Co-Director of Postgraduate Studies in Law, and a member of the Law Faculty’s Leadership Team. Natalie has a strong personal service ethic, with much of her service reflecting the themes of equity and diversity including past governance roles with Trade Aid New Zealand and Amnesty International. Natalie is currently a part-time member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal | Te Taraipiunara Mana Tangata.

Prof Bronwyn Hayward (MNZM, FRSNZ) is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations and Director of The Sustainability, Citizenship and Civic Imagination Research group. Her research is at the intersection of sustainability, youth, climate change and democracy. Bronwyn has held many Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change roles:  a Review Editor (AR7 Ciites special report)  AR6 (Synthesis report 2023) Coordinating lead Cities & infrastructure (2022) and a lead author of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 Degrees C (2018). She is co-primary investigator with University of Surrey's ESRC funded CUSP: Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity, where she leads the CYCLES Children and Youth in Cities lifestyle Evaluation study in 7 world cities. A Co-PI of the National Science Challenge Mana Rangatahi, supporting Indigenous young people facing climate change (2022-2025). She held an Erskine Fellowship with University College, Oxford, UK 2017. Recent books Children, Citizenship and Environment (Routledge, 2012 and a significantly revised second #SchoolStrike edition Routledge London, 2021 and Sea Change: Climate Politics and New Zealand (BWB, 2017). She served on the International Social Sciences Council steering committee - Transformative Research; Co-researcher with University of Oslo, Voices of the Future project; Lead author on UNEP's global survey of 18-35 year olds lifestyles and sustainabilityl Trustee for the UK Foundation for Democracy and Sustainability 2012-2016. Outside academia Bronwyn worked for children's TV; was a Ministerial appointment to the NZ Broadcasting Standards Authority; Trustee for the SPARK Foundation & Give A Little. She was inaugural joint winner of UC Arts Conscience & Critic of Society Research Award 2014, Kiwibank Local Hero (2019) Westpac/Stuff media winner of Supreme Woman of Influence & Environment categories (2022), She is co-convenor of Adaptation Futures 2025 the world's premiere climate adaptation event October 2025

Paul Millar is a Professor of English Literature and Digital Humanities in the School of Humanities. His research interests include the literature of Aotearoa New Zealand, Life Writing, and Cultural Heritage Digital Archiving. His literary biography of novelist and cultural commentator Bill Pearson was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards. He is currently writing the biography of influential poet, philanthropist and editor, Charles Brasch.  Millar has been involved in Digital Humanities projects and research since 1996. In 2001 he co-founded Victoria University of Wellington’s New Zealand Electronic Text Collection, and at UC he led the establishment of New Zealand's first Digital Humanities teaching programme. Following the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes he founded the CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquakes Digital Archive (www.ceismic.org.nz), a cultural heritage database that collects stories, images and media about the earthquakes' impacts for the purposes of commemoration, teaching and research. His recent Marsden-funded project, ‘Kōrero mai. Tell us your earthquake story’ was a longitudinal study of post-disaster narratives to better understand how retellings of dramatic experience years later crystallize narrative structure, provide multi-faceted perspectives of people’s experiences of recovery, and reveal more of how narratives of traumatic events change over time. Millar was president of the Australasian Association of Digital Humanities (aaDH) and co-director of the UC Arts Digital Lab.

Pesetā Dr Ashalyna Noa is a Samoan New Zealander born and raised in Ōtautahi Christchurch and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. She proudly comes from Safotu, Lepa, Vaoala, and Savalalo Apia. Her aiga (family) plays a pivotal role in who she is and the motivation behind her work.

Ashalyna has worked at UC for over 17 years in various roles supporting Pacific learner success. In 2023, she completed a PhD which explored, The Pua (Frangipani), Taniwha, and Dragon: New Zealand and China’s foreign aid in the Pacific and Samoan stakeholder perceptions. Following her studies, she co-founded, The 03: Talanoa on Asia, to amplify stories of Pacific peoples’ and their connections with Asia. In September 2025, Ashalyna was appointed as a lecturer with the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies.

Outside of research and her work at UC, Ashalyna enjoys giving back to community. She currently has the privilege of serving as the Southern Vice-President on the P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. Inc National Executive, which is a national NGO supporting Pacific women in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva, an award-winning political sociologist and global interdisciplinary scholar, is Pro-Vice Chancellor Pacific and Director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies. He was awarded the 2020 Metge Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand -Te Apārangi, a prestigious award in social science research excellence. He was also co-winner of the 2019 University of Canterbury research medal, the university’s highest academic honour as well as the university's Sustainability Research Award. He is also recipient of a number of research grants by Marsden, NZ Health Research Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others, totalling a few million dollars. 

He was a recipient of a Fulbright Senior Fellowship and was Fulbright professor at the University of California (LA), Duke University and Georgetown University in 2018. He is Chair of the International Political Science Association Research Committee on Climate Security and Planetary Politics and former Chair of the Security, Conflict and Democratization Research Committee. He is former President of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association. He has transdisciplinary across sociology, anthropology, political science, development studies, economics, philosophy and history. He was appointed by the Secretary General of the UN  to help write the 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report and provide the SDG pathway for 2030 and beyong. With a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex), he has published widely on a range of issues Pacific societies and culture, indigenous knowledge, development, conflict, peace, political change, coups, memory activism, social solidarity economy, social protection, elections, ethnicity, security, military, affirmative action, COVID-19, social indexes, indigenous knowledge, climate security and nationalism. He has led a number of international research teams on global security, climate change, ethnicity and political governance. He led a team of about 200 international scholars to put together the largest ands most comprehensive work on ethnicity ever. The 3 volume, 2,000 plus pages work was published by Palgrave Springer.    

Tara Ross’s research interests lie in journalism practice, including science and climate journalism, and the relationship between journalists and their communities, Pacific media and audiences, and Pacific health. Her work spans media framing and representation, Indigenous Knowledge and decolonising practice, as well as various methods, including in-depth interviews, focus groups, content analysis, social network analysis and surveys. She has published in high impact journals such as Communication Theory, Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of Intercultural Studies, and the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. She is a research fellow with UC’s Macmillan Brown Centre of Pacific Studies, and sits on the editorial boards of Communication Research and Practice and the interdisciplinary journal Pacific Dynamics.

I research Indigenous political economy, critical accounting, and critical management studies.