Rate My Professor Patrick Vakaoti

Vakaoti’s research interests encompass youth participation and leadership in the Pacific, street-frequenting young people, youth activism, child protection, governance, boyhood, and indigenous community development, with a strong Pacific focus. Notable publications include his monograph Street-Frequenting Young People in Fiji: Theory and Practice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); the chapter “Young people’s constitutional submission in Fiji: opportunities and challenges” in Youth, Inequality and Social Change in the Global South (Springer, 2019); “Integrated social protection and COVID-19: Rethinking Pacific community responses in Aotearoa” in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand (2021); and “Supporting and engaging with Pacific learners: a higher education development workshop for tertiary staff” in Higher Education Research & Development (2025). He contributes to international collaborations, including an Australian Research Council Discovery Project with La Trobe University on Pacific youth leadership. In teaching, he emphasizes research-informed, student-centred approaches infused with Fijian values, delivering courses like INGS 501 Indigenous Theory and Method, and supervises PhD students on Pacific youth and indigenous topics. His impact is recognized through the 2022 Te Whatu Kairangi – Aotearoa Tertiary Educator Award with endorsement in Enhancing Pacific Learners’ Success and a University of Otago Teaching Award.