Patrick Vakaoti

Patrick Vakaoti is an iTaukei, (indigenous Fijian) sociologist. He has a background in youth sociology and community social work and is a leading Pacific academic drawing on these insights to understand the lives and experiences Pacific children and young people and the communities they exist in. Patrick has extensive institutional links with indigenous colleagues in Aotearoa New Zealand Universities and in the Pacific region with colleagues at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji National University and National University of Samoa. Patrick co-directs the Otago Global Health Institute (OGHI). He is currently part of two collaborative projects; the first a HRC funded study on ‘Enrichment of community health through targeted social protection strategies’ with colleagues from the University of Canterbury and an Australian Research Council, Discovery Project, ‘The future of the Pacific: youth leadership and civic engagement’ with colleagues from La Trobe University.