Oliver Nobetau
Lowy Institute
Director, Pacific Islands Program
Oliver (Oli) Nobetau is a Research Fellow and the Project Director of the Australia–Papua New Guinea Network at the Lowy Institute. Working in the Institute’s Pacific Islands Program, Oli is on secondment from the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Oli was the 2024 FDC Pacific Research Fellow, focusing his research on the political and development aspirations of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Lowy Institute
Director, Pacific Islands Program
Oliver (Oli) Nobetau is a Research Fellow and the Project Director of the Australia–Papua New Guinea Network at the Lowy Institute. Working in the Institute’s Pacific Islands Program, Oli is on secondment from the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Oli was the 2024 FDC Pacific Research Fellow, focusing his research on the political and development aspirations of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Serena Sasingian
Lowy Institute
FDC Pacific Research Fellow
Serena Sasingian was the 2025 FDC Pacific Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute, with more than 15 years of experience in development and public policy across government, private, and non-profit sectors.
She is the former CEO of Digicel Foundation PNG and co-founder of The Voice Inc., a youth-led development organisation. Serena holds a Bachelor of Law (Honours) from the University of PNG and a Master of Business (Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies) from QUT.
Lowy Institute
FDC Pacific Research Fellow
Serena Sasingian was the 2025 FDC Pacific Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute, with more than 15 years of experience in development and public policy across government, private, and non-profit sectors.
She is the former CEO of Digicel Foundation PNG and co-founder of The Voice Inc., a youth-led development organisation. Serena holds a Bachelor of Law (Honours) from the University of PNG and a Master of Business (Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies) from QUT.
Dr Nick Thomson
Lowy Institute
Epidemiologist
Dr Nick Thomson is a public health and human rights-trained epidemiologist who has spent the last 20 years living and working across the Indo-Pacific. He initially focused on HIV prevention among at-risk groups in Southeast Asia before specialising in the intersection between security sectors, public health and civil society, and in the role of multi-agency partnerships in supporting public health responses to infectious disease in complex settings.
Lowy Institute
Epidemiologist
Dr Nick Thomson is a public health and human rights-trained epidemiologist who has spent the last 20 years living and working across the Indo-Pacific. He initially focused on HIV prevention among at-risk groups in Southeast Asia before specialising in the intersection between security sectors, public health and civil society, and in the role of multi-agency partnerships in supporting public health responses to infectious disease in complex settings.
Dr Anna Naupa
Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat
Director General
Dr Anna Naupa is the Director General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat, the first woman to hold this position. She serves as an Advisory Member to the Centre for Human Security and Social Change at LaTrobe University, as well as sits on the Advisory Committee for the Toda Peace Institute (Japan). For the past 20 years, Anna has worked in her home country of Vanuatu and at the regional level in the Pacific, holding senior advisory and management roles at the Pacific Fusion Centre, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and UN-ESCAP.
Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat
Director General
Dr Anna Naupa is the Director General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat, the first woman to hold this position. She serves as an Advisory Member to the Centre for Human Security and Social Change at LaTrobe University, as well as sits on the Advisory Committee for the Toda Peace Institute (Japan). For the past 20 years, Anna has worked in her home country of Vanuatu and at the regional level in the Pacific, holding senior advisory and management roles at the Pacific Fusion Centre, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and UN-ESCAP.
