Australian Association for Pacific Studies Conference 2025

Australian Association for Pacific Studies Conference 2025

Tuesday 3 to Friday 6 June 2025

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Australian Association for Pacific Studies Conference 2025

Warm Pacific Greetings! The Australian Association for Pacific Studies biennial conference is an opportunity to create and sustain critical conversations and collaborations across the transdisciplinary field of Pacific studies.

Pacific Discourses and Destinies

Hosted in 2025 by The University of Sydney, our gathering will focus on exploring and navigating the concepts of discourses and destinies, and how they relate to the Pacific, its people and places.

Much attention – locally, regionally and globally – continues to be placed on the Pacific. Whether it’s being contested through geopolitical endeavours, to being celebrated for its traditional cultures, the Pacific is no stranger to attention. However, who determines how the region is understood is key to this conversation. Is it the highest bidder for the natural resources that control these narratives, or the local communities that generally don’t benefit from such financial investments and exploitations? Is it the military power that exercises more diplomatic prowess, or Indigenous wisdoms from across the region? This conference strives to explore these various tensions, whilst also showcasing Pacific strengths and solutions in trying to make sense of the underlying discourses that determine the possible destinies of the Pacific region and beyond.

The conference will encourage an intersectional talanoa, provoking participants to be mindful of how their disciplinary perspectives and practices interact with the complexities of Pacific discourses and destinies. Sub-themes supporting these discussions will include panel presentations, papers and performances from the following areas:

  • Pacific Studies
  • Pacific Education
  • Pacific Social Work
  • Pacific Employment
  • Pacific Health
  • Pacific Sports
  • Pacific Visual Arts
  • Pacific Performing Arts
  • Pacific Literature
  • Pacific Media
  • Pacific Fashion
  • Pacific Finance
  • Pacific Tech and Innovation
  • Pacific Climate and Environment
  • Pacific Sciences

We look forward to coming together to talanoa, providing a dynamic and inclusive space to create community to support a collegial, collaborative and collective approach.

Call for poster and paper submissions

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to submit a poster or paper proposal to a panel that responds to the conference theme ‘Pacific Discourses and Destinies’ and sub-themes.

Submission instructions, templates and access to view accepted panel abstracts are available at: AAPS Poster and Paper submissions guidelines 2025

  • The deadline for submissions is Friday 28 February 2025
  • Submissions will be notified on Friday 14 March 2025

Registration links and prices

3-day conference attendance 4–6 June, including Epeli Hau’ofa Memorial Lecture Tuesday, June 3
General Admission rate $500 Register
Australian Association for Pacific Studies (AAPS) Member rate $450 Register
Student rate $300 Register
AAPS Student Member rate $270 Register
Unwaged General Admission rate $220 Register

The registration fees listed here are per person and include 10% GST.

To be eligible for the student rate you must be currently completing a PhD, Master of Philosophy, or master's degree by coursework.

To be eligible for the unwaged rate you must be currently unemployed. 

AAPS Membership options can be viewed at http://pacificstudies.org.au/join/.

If you are interested in attending only one or two days of the conference, you should register using the relevant link/s below.

Single-day registrations (no discounts available)
Wednesday, June 4                                                                       $220 Register
Thursday, June 5 $220 Register
Friday, June 6 $220 Register

Accommodation suggestions

While there are no “official conference hotels” we can certainly suggest the following hotels as starting points:

More generally, the University of Sydney is centrally located within Greater Sydney, and there will be plenty of hotel, Airbnb and Stayz options in nearby suburbs.
 
If you want to stay in a location a bit further away, the closest train station is Redfern station (between 10-15 minutes’ walk to the conference location). The conference location is also close to many bus routes. For travel planning, we recommend these official apps:

Some travel and tourism starting points

Our sponsors

The conference gratefully acknowledges sponsorship support from:

  • The Center for Pasifika and Indigenous Knowledges, University of Utah
  • Powerhouse Museum

Key contacts

  • Professor Jioji Ravulo

    Academic convenor

Rachel Payne

For any enquiries