Rate My Professor Siautu Alefaio

Professor Siautu Alefaio serves as the first Pacific Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago, commencing her role in February 2024. She holds an MA from the University of Auckland, a Postgraduate Diploma from Massey University, and a PhD in Educational Psychology from Monash University awarded in 2015. Registered as one of New Zealand's first Samoan-descended educational psychologists in 2001, Alefaio has a distinguished career spanning practice and academia. From 2001 to 2023, she was at Massey University's School of Psychology, progressing from lecturer to Associate Professor and Associate Dean Pacific. Her professional experience includes roles in education, health, social services, community development, family violence prevention, forensic rehabilitation, and disaster humanitarian response in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific region. As a psychologist scholar-practitioner, she integrates Pacific-Indigenous knowledge frameworks to inform psychology.

Alefaio's research focuses on Pacific-Indigenous psychology, humanitarian psychology in the context of climate and disaster resilience, diasporic and village-led humanitarian responses, cultural-faith dimensions of mental resilience, and intergenerational care for Pacific ageing well. She authored the seminal book Pacific-Indigenous Psychology (2022), establishing a theoretical foundation embedded in Pacific knowledge systems. Notable publications include McKay et al. (2025), 'Bridging communities of practice: lessons from the Humanitarian Health Research Forum on climate, crisis, and collaboration' in The Lancet Planetary Health; Auva'a-Alatimu, Alefaio-Tugia, and Ioane (2025), 'Utilising Pacific methodologies to develop Loto Malie (Contented heart): A youth-focused cultural intervention with a digital twist' in Asia Pacific Viewpoint; Mafile'o et al. (2024), 'Decolonising qualitative analysis: Collectively weaving understanding using talanoa and fa'afaletui Pacific-Indigenous research methods' in International Journal of Qualitative Methods; and Auva'a-Alatimu, Alefaio-Tugia, and Ioane (2024) on digital therapeutic engagement for Pacific youth mental wellbeing. In 2016, she founded and leads NIUPatCH (Navigate In Unity: Pacific Approaches to Community-Humanitarianism), a collective of Pacific psychology researchers dedicated to community-focused studies addressing disaster resilience, elder care, and mental wellbeing. Her contributions advance equitable psychological responses for underserved Pacific communities amid cascading crises. Awards include the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (2020) for 'Redefining the humanitarian landscape: Pacific-diasporic disaster resilience', Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award (2023), Health Research Council grant, and Global Fellowship at Brown University's Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies.