Cultural Home: Otago psychology lab gives Pacific students a new sense of belonging

Otago University has opened its first Pacific-led psychology laboratory, giving students a cultural home in a field where Pacific voices have long been missing.

The Galuola NIU-Psychology lab combines Pacific-Indigenous knowledge with psychological science, helping students feel supported, build confidence and pursue academic and research careers.

Its name draws on the Sāmoan metaphor galu ola, the wave that carries people safely to shore and stands for New Indigenous Understandings.

Leʻena Professor Siautu Alefaio-Tugia, who leads the lab, says it was created in response to Pacific students feeling isolated in psychology and wanting a space where their culture and experiences are valued.

Speaking with William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Le'ena says Pacific people are under-represented in the foundations of psychology, making it vital to create space for Indigenous knowledge.

“As a ‘young’ science, we don't feature in the history of its knowledge when it was produced over time, and so this lab is really focusing on how we can bring our indigenous knowledges and lived experiences into psychology. It’s not indigenous understandings that are new for us as Indigenous peoples of the Pacific communities, but it’s new for psychology.”

Watch Le'ena Siautu Alefaio-Tugia's full interview below.

A cultural home within the department

Le'ena says the idea for the lab was inspired by feedback from Pacific students who felt out of place in the psychology programme.

“When starting my role, the story I heard from Pacific students was their feeling of isolation and lack of belonging in the academic environment,” she says.

“While there are great Pacific support services available across the university, I saw the value of having an accessible space in the department where students in psychology and wider are welcome to come for support and to be with each other.”

At the entrance to the Galuola NIU-Psychology lab, opened by Psychology Professor Siautu Alefaio-Tugia (front right), are from left, Petra Satele (PhD candidate), Philomena Talalima (postgraduate student), Siautu, and Ravi Prasad (honours student). Photo/Supplied

The lab includes an open fono space for meetings and collective check-ins, a fa’afaletui room for data analysis, and a computer room for students to work and study.

“It’s a physical space. It’s an open-door policy. They can undertake talanoa for their research, log in to work on assignments, or come in before exams when it is just packed and utilise the space.

“The lab also acts as a space where students can see themselves in the future, whether as a student doing research or as a future academic. It’s important for them to be able to visualise that potential.”

As of June 2022, just 2 per cent of registered psychologists in Aotearoa are Pacific, despite higher rates of mental health distress in Pacific communities, highlighting a significant workforce gap.

Le'ena says the lab is helping build the next generation of researchers and practitioners in a field that is increasingly needed in Pacific communities. She says methods such as talanoa and fa’afaletui bring Pacific worldviews into a discipline that has often misunderstood these communities.

“It’s really about inside-out research. So it’s about our Pacific next generation being able to understand research methods that actually apply to our people.

Le'ena Dr Siautu Alefaio takes up her role in February at the University of Otago. Photo/ Supplied

“Psychology has a lot of power. And I think that at the moment, there is a real imbalance of that power because our people are misunderstood, and so for me, it’s about balancing up those scales again to have some real equitable justice for us.”

Strengthening Pacific psychology

Although the lab is new, Le'ena says its positive impact is already clear from student feedback.

Philomena Talalima, who is completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology and a Master of Science, says the new space benefits her and fellow student Vito Niuloa.

“Vito and I supported each other through our undergraduate studies when there wasn’t a Pacific professor. When Siautu opened the lab, it meant so much as it helped us to make connections and access the wisdom and guidance of other staff and students,” Talalima says in a statement.

“I’m so happy to be here to see this change and be part of this progress, and to know that future Pacific students will have this fantastic supportive space as a place of belonging.”

Vito Niuloa (left) and Philomena Talalima both agree the lab has made a significant difference as a supportive space of belonging for Pacific students. Photo/Supplied

Petra Satele, Pacific Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate who helped establish the lab, says seeing students thrive is a key motivation.

“It makes me happy seeing this space as a productive one in which students are dedicated and focused. I also love seeing the generational support between students who are at different stages and everyone is learning from each other.”

Le'ena agrees and says the biggest challenge moving forward is growing the Pacific academic workforce to ensure the lab’s long-term sustainability.

“Honestly, it’s about having people. I can’t just be one professor of psychology in the department. It has to be a teaching fellow, another Pacific early career researcher, an early career teaching fellow that’s alongside me.”