Fiona and Elise

Fiona was Head of the Department for Tourism and Hospitality at PNG's Divine Word University before she embarked on her doctorate in Australia. Her experiences in academia and tourism, set the scene for Fiona's current research into the effectiveness of community-based tourism at PNG's rural level.

Fiona is concerned that PNG's issues - such as governance, corruption, civic education, and gender equality - are continually examined through a western research lens. She believes that the complexities of PNG's challenges can be lost in this way and she is interested in creating a culturally-specific PNG research framework through which to examine the country's issues. Fiona also would like to find ways to increases women's representation in Parliament, and encourage women to articulate themselves competitively in a male-dominated world.

Elise currently works with women from the Pacific to explore and understand women's leadership in different contexts, pathways for this leadership, and the structural changes needed to build greater support and acceptance. She also has worked as a researcher at James Cook University, where she managed research projects that looked at women’s career progression in higher education, girls’ participation in science, good practice in student exchange and students’ global citizenship and intercultural awareness.

Elise has also held project management and community engagement roles with the Victorian Public Service, the Australian Agency for International Development and the International Women’s Development Agency. For her Masters thesis, Elise explored culturally-appropriate evaluation through the Indi Kindi pre-literacy program in Borroloola, a town 1,000 kms from Darwin.