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Yvonne Underhill-Sem is a professor in Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, where she teaches in the School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies, Te Wānanga o Waipapa. A Pacific feminist development geographer of Cook Island, Niuean and Pākehā descent, she was born in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands and raised in Porirua, New Zealand. Her academic background includes a BA in Human Geography and Anthropology and a BA (Hons) in Human Geography from Victoria University of Wellington, a Postgraduate Diploma in Population Studies and an MA in Geography from the University of Hawaii, and a PhD in Geography from the University of Waikato. She joined the staff in Pacific Studies and previously served as Director of Development Studies from 2007 to 2014. She is currently acting co-head of school and has held the position of professor since 2021.
Underhill-Sem has contributed to the establishment of Oxfam in the Pacific in 2015 and served as Co-Chair of the Advisory Research Group for Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development from 2017 to 2019. Since 2020 she has been involved in founding the Pacific Feminist Fund, a grant-making organisation launched in 2023 to address gender inequality in the Pacific. From 2015 to 2018 she was deputy chair of the Inaugural Pacific Performance Based Review Fund and was appointed inaugural Deputy Moderator (Pacific) in 2026. Her awards and honours include the Metge Medal from the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2022 for excellence and relationship-building in the social science research community, appointment as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to tertiary education and Pacific development, election as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (FRSNZ) in 2025, the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award in 2010/11, and a World University Network Award in 2010. She is recognised as a leading Pacific feminist geographer and Pacific Studies scholar with influence in development studies, gender relations in Pacific communities, and decolonial approaches to geography.
Explore how the University of Auckland delegation contributed to the historic Pacific Academy of Sciences Congress in Samoa, unveiling partnerships, fellows, and initiatives shaping Pacific-led research.
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