Conference Chair & Committee

PROF. STEVEN RATUVA
Director, Macmillan Brown Center for Pacific Studies
Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology
University of Canterbury,New Zealand

Professor Steven Ratuva is Director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies and Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award and was Fulbright Professor at the University of California (LA), Duke University and Georgetown University. He was also recipient of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden award. He is Chair of the International Political Science Association research committee on Conflict, Security and Democratization and former President of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association. He is a global interdisciplinary scholar with expertise and research interest in sociology, anthropology, political science, development studies, political economy, innovation, social, enterprise, philosophy and history and has carried out research in Asia, Africa, US, Pacific, UK and Europe. With a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, he has published widely in the areas of development, conflict, political change, coups, social protection, elections, ethnicity, security, military, affirmative action, gender and nationalism.

He is leader of an international research team of more than 100 social science experts commissioned by Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Publishers to put together the Global Handbook on Ethnicity. He also leads an international research team on civil-military relations and global security under the auspicious of the International Political Science Association. He is also Founder and Editor in Chief of the Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research whose aim is to promote Asia-Pacific research and scholarship. Prof Ratuva has worked in a number of universities including University of Sussex, University of the South Pacific, Australian National University and University of Auckland. He was a visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales, National University of Taiwan and other universities around the world. He has been consultant and advisor for international organizations such as UNDP, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Labour Organization, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, British Council and other organizations and governments.