Group Leader: Professor Todd E. Dennis
The Fijian Archipelago due to its tropical climate, varied topography, remote location in Oceania and geological history has distinctive and rich biodiversity – many of Fiji’s animals and plants are found nowhere else in the world.
Island ecosystems such as those in and around Fiji are particularly vulnerable to human-caused loss of natural environments that ultimately may eventuate in greatly accelerated extinction rates of native species.
The Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainability Research Group at Fiji National University seeks to arrest the ongoing decline in Fijian and Pacific biodiversity.
The Group conducts interdisciplinary research on the composition, structure, function, change and management of Fiji’s varied terrestrial and marine biota.
Processes of anthropogenic environmental perturbations such as climate change, habitat degradation and loss, over-exploitation of natural resources, introduction of harmful invasive pests and point-/nonpoint pollution are studied on local and regional scales concerning their importance for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources.
Members of this research cluster work on the pure and applied scientific dimensions of ecological and biogeographical systems, with principal interests in macro ecology, island biogeography, conservation biogeography, diversity theory and extinction, biodiversity and climate adaptation, conservation and traditional ecological knowledge, and the conservation benefits and challenges of ecotourism.
The rapid biodiversity losses now occurring as a result of human activity in Fiji and elsewhere on Earth greatly diminish the potential for sustainable development and undermine the very foundations of life on our planet.
We must act now to safeguard Fiji’s unique biological heritage.
Our principal research themes of interest are:
Climate Change which we were talking about and the sea level rise, it has not happened today, but in the Holocene period when we talk ten thousand years back or forty thousand years then we talk about not the sea level rise but the sea level has gone down and much more land was there at that point of time.
So it is not the continuously sea level rise at that point of time ever since the formation of the ocean took place but it had happened over the period of time as the atmospheric composition changes it has also affected the sea level.
Fiji National University scholars are actively involved in the research on the climate change and are examining it from a wide range of perspective.
The thematic research group of the College of Engineering Science and Technology of the Fiji National University is focusing on wide range of research on Climate Change at Mega and meso-scale, Climate Change and Adaptation Measures, Mitigation Measures, Geology and geohydrology, Water resources its quality parameters, Remote Sensing applications , Geographic Information System approach to assessing changes at small and large scale, Environmental Pollution, Rainwater harvesting, Biogeochemical Cycle and soil erosion, Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development, Biodiversity conservations, Mangroves and Carbon sequestration, Disaster Mitigation, Meteorological aspects related to Cyclones and its path predictions.
Research Group also focuses on the socio economic perspective of the sea level rise and migrations due to climate change impact and application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge to adaptive measures of the climate change.
Group Leader: Professor Tibor Pasinszki
Food security, access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy life, is one of the best national interests of Fiji. The thematic research group of the College of Engineering, Science and Technology of Fiji National University is focusing on an extensive chemical, biological, and technological aspect of agricultural and industrial food production, which includes manufacturing, processing, packaging, quality and safety control, and consumer awareness of food products. A particular interest is directed toward synthesizing and applying molecules, nanoscale materials, and polymers as property modifiers and stabilizers, as well as assessing persistent organic and inorganic pollutants and toxicity levels in food. The quality assessment of natural water reservoirs and water purification is also a key topic. The research group is also engaged in investigating food consumption patterns and their relationship with non-communicable diseases, the possible involvement of underutilized natural resources in food production, and studying indigenous knowledge on food.
This group is one of the thematic research groups of the College of Engineering, Science and Technology which focuses on areas of information, communication, electrical and transport technologies. The group is aimed at providing practical and sustainable solutions for information, communication, electrical and transport technologies sectors in Fiji and the regional countries.
The group is also aiming at creating an international collaboration for knowledge sharing and research create an internal presence. The group possess both technical and research expertise and will work towards attracting national and international funding.
The key aspect of this research group is penetrate to the business market to assist the implementation of state of art solutions for various problems concerned to information, communication, electrical and transport technologies sectors.
The group will accommodate master and doctoral research students to provide research supervision and hands on experience on latest tools and technologies and works towards generating national and international publications and patents.