Lorena Sciusco is a lecturer in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the National University of Sāmoa. She has a B.A (Hons) from La Trobe University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science, Cultural Heritage Management from the University of Canberra, Australia. She is a PhD Candidate at the University of Otago, New Zealand and her doctoral research is concerned with understanding narratives of the archaeological past through the contemporary management of archaeological heritage in Sāmoa and American Sāmoa.
Helene Martinsson-Wallin is an Associate Professor of Archaeology at Uppsala University and she has worked as a researcher and curator at The Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo since the mid-1980s. For the past 30 years she has been engaged in archaeology of the Pacific, especially in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Sāmoa. She was the project leader of the extensive excavations at Pulemelei mound (2002–2004), and since then been involved in higher education, heritage management and archaeological investigations in Sāmoa. In 2011, she was appointed Adjunct Professor at the National University of Sāmoa, and also has an affiliation as a visiting research fellow to the Australian National University (2001, 2015–17).
Meleisea Leasiolagi Professor Malama Meleisea is Director of the Centre for Sāmoan Studies, National University of Sāmoa. He taught Pacific History at the University of the South Pacific, and later was the Director of the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury and at the University of Auckland. Before returning to Sāmoa, he was the UNESCO Regional Advisor for Social Science for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok, and subsequently the UNESCO Country Director in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Penelope Schoeffel is Associate Professor (Development Studies) at the Centre for Sāmoan Studies, National University of Sāmoa. She is an anthropologist with a special interest in cultural change in Sāmoa. She formerly taught at the University of Auckland, and has worked as a social development consultant throughout Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Susana Tauaa is a Senior Lecturer in Geography and Head of Department of Social Science in the Faculty of Arts. She is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Sāmoan Studies under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr. Penelope Schoeffel. Her doctoral research is focused on the urban informal sector in Sāmoa and its potential to create employment and income-earning opportunities for the growing urban-based population of the country.
Anita Latai-Niusala is a PhD candidate on a University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship. She was born in Sāmoa and has been teaching at the National University of Sāmoa since 2001.
Faamoemoe Hakai Soti is a teacher by profession. She spent ten years teaching in rural secondary schools in Sāmoa. She also spent more than 15 years working in the Curriculum Division, Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (MESC) developing the Food and Textiles Curriculum from Years 9–13, and supervising its implementation.Currently, she is a Lecturer of Food and Textiles Technology in the Faculty of Education, National University of Sāmoa. Faamoemoe graduated with a Master of Teaching and Learning from the University of Canterbury, 2011.
Lex McDonald is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He was a teacher and then worked for numerous government agencies as a psychologist. Lex has lived and worked in Wales (UK), the Cook Islands and Sāmoa. His interests and research include education in the Pasifika region, training of teachers and psychologists, professional development and learning, counselling and special education. Recently he has developed a much needed training audit (TOTA) to identify key components for ensuring training and professional development initiatives are transferred to the intended setting. Lex also practices as a consultant for a number of agencies.
Bernadette Samau is currently a Marketing and Management Lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship at the National University of Sāmoa. Bernadette’s areas of specialisation in academic teaching include: marketing, advertising and promotions, consumer behaviour and management. Her research areas of interest are: tourism development, Sāmoan culture and consumer behaviour, the impact of advertising on company sales in Sāmoa, and organisational behaviour.
Ramona Boodoosingh obtained a BSc in Chemistry/Management from the University of West Indies at the Trinidad campus; a MSc in Environmental Health from Tufts University (United States), and she is currently a PhD candidate in Development Studies at the National University of Sāmoa. Her doctoral research explores the support services available to survivors of gender-based violence in two developing countries,Sāmoa and Fiji.
