Home Our Experts Dr Apisalome Movono

Dr. Apisalome Movono has an undergraduate background in Marine Management and Tourism Studies and completed his Master of Arts Degree from The University of the South Pacific. His MA thesis on tourism’s social and economic impacts on indigenous Fijian communities had established his passion for examining issues that affect Pacific Island people and their communities. He joined Massey University in 2020 as Senior Lecturer after having taught and researched at USP for a decade. His Ph.D. completed at Griffith University, Australia sought to improve our understanding of resilience, sustainable livelihoods and the complex and adaptive nature of the Pacific Island social and ecological landscape.

In November 2018, Dr. Movono was awarded the Vice Chancellors Prize for Best Research Output by the University of the South Pacific and an East West Centre Fellowship. In 2020, He completed a Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship sponsored by the World Bank where worked to innovate finance solutions for Marine Protected Areas within Fiji’s tourism regions. He is also the co-founder of the Laucala Beach Sustainability Society which works in partnership with USP, National Trust of Fiji and Fiji Museum in the restoration and protection of the Laucala Beach Ring-Ditch Fortification site. Api has authored and coauthored a number conference papers, book chapters, and journal articles which covers his research in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands resilience space. He is a current recipient of a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fast-Start Grant which seeks to operationalize resilience in Pacific tourism. Api is originally from the village of Buca in the District of Natewa, Cakaudrove and considers himself molded by the values of his culture, land and oceans. In his free time, Api enjoys spending time with his wife and three daughters – he enjoys fishing, cooking, diving, gardening, watching sevens rugby.