AUT hosts Prof Rev Upolu Lumā Vaai
Prof Rev Upolu Lumā Vaai, Manu Folau (Vice-Chancellor) from Fiji’s Pasifika Communities University, (PCU), was the distinguished guest speaker at a recent Moanaroa Pacific Research Network event co-hosted by AUT’s Office of Pacific Advancement Team.
Prof Rev Upolu is the first Manu Folau at PCU, the home of ‘Whole of life’ education.
The event, held at AUT’s City Campus, brought together Tangata Moana researchers, scholars, and community leaders for an intimate talanoa, reflection, and inspiration. It provided a powerful space to deepen collective commitment to Pacific-led scholarship and to engage with Prof. Rev. Upolu Vaai’s visionary leadership in Indigenous and relationally grounded education.
AUT’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Jacoba Matapo, says it was an honour and inspiration to host Prof Rev Upolu and for the Moanaroa Network of Pacific Researchers to meet and talanoa with such a globally respected Pacific leader.
“Professor Reverand Upolu Lumā Vaai is a globally respected theologian, indigenous philosopher, and Pacific thought leader. His scholarship continues to transform how we engage Pacific-centred development.
“His concept of 'The whole of life-way' invites us to reimagine futures grounded in spiritual, ecological, and social interdependence. His voice is a call to action, to centre indigenous wisdom, relational justice, and Pacific values in the spaces we lead and learn,” she says.
Prof. Rev. Upolu Vaai’s address reminds us of his long-standing provocation:
We don’t have land, we are the land.
We don’t have ocean, we are the ocean.
We don’t have relationship, we are relationship.
Rooted, connected
Fixed, yet fluid.
(Vaai, 2017)
Moanaroa serves as a vital connector and enabler of Pacific-led research, bringing together learning opportunities for, by, and with our Moanaroa Pacific Research Network. The networks aims to nurture Indigenous Pacific knowledges, advancing culturally grounded methodologies, and affirming reciprocal, ethical, and community-centred research that strengthens the leadership, visibility, and aspirations of Pacific peoples across Aotearoa and the Region.
Tangata Moana (Pacific) AUT researchers and allies can join the network through an expression of interest.
Useful links
- About Moanaroa Pacific Research Network
- About Prof Rev Upolu
- About the Pasifika Communities University