Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Gonzaga (Zag) Puas (PhD) is from Lukunor Island in the Lower Mortlocks, Chuuk State, the Federated States of Micronesia. He is from the Sor clan--the co-founder and also the President of the Micronesian Institute for Research and Development (MIRAD). Currently, he is a Professor at the Pacific Islands University. He received his undergraduate in History and Education, a master's degree in Political Science, and a degree in Law (LLB) from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He attained his PhD from the Australian National University (ANU) where he was a researcher at the Department of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia and Pacific Affairs, in the College of Asia and the Pacific. His book is entitled “The Federated States of Micronesia Engagement With the Outside World: Control, Self-Preservation, and Continuity”, published by ANU in 2021. He has been undertaking history and climate change research projects, including youth groups and different communities in Pohnpei as well as the low-lying islands in the Mortlocks region. He has taught at all three levels of the educational system--primary, high school, and university. He has also published and worked in many different capacities such as in the legal policy development field (both overseas and the FSM), and a consultant for the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia, and particularly at the grassroots level (municipal governments). Currently, he is embedded with the FSM Department of Health and Social Affairs (DHSA) as an external evaluator. Naturally, his long-term research project is on the history of his Sor clan diaspora with a team of researchers in the FSM and at ANU. Killisou chapur ren eami alilis!
Publication
Book
Gonzaga Puas, Micronesian Engagement with the Outside World: Control, Self-Preservation and Continuity, Australian National University Press, September 2021.
Articles
Gonzaga Puas, "The Proposed Withdrawal of Micronesia from the PIF: One Year Later", In Brief 2022/1, Australian National University, College of Asia and the Pacific, Department of Pacific Affairs, Canberra.
Gonzaga Puas and Norleen Oliver, "Electing the First Woman to the FSM Congress", In Brief 2022/1, Australian National University, College of Asia and the Pacific, Department of Pacific Affairs, Canberra.
Gonzaga Puas, "Re-evaluating Democracy in the Federated States of Micronesia Through the 4th Constitutional Convention", IDEA-International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stromsborg, Sweden, December 21, 2021.
Gonzaga Puas and Marcus Samo, "Developing Pharmaceutical Legislation in the Federated States of Micronesia", In Brief, 2021/2022, Australian National University, College of Asia and the Pacific, Department of Pacific Affairs, Canberra.
Gonzaga Puas, "The Case for Enhanced Australian Engagement with the Federated States of Micronesia", In Brief 2021/2022, Australian National University, College of Asia and the Pacific, Department of Pacific Affairs, Canberra.
Gonzaga Puas and Paul D’Arcy, “Micronesia and the Rise of China: Realpolitik Meets the Reef”, Journal of Pacific History, Vol.56, Issue:3, 2021.
Gonzaga Puas, "The Federated States of Micronesia Political Review", The Contemporary Pacific: Journal of Pacific Affairs , Volume 33, No.1, University of Hawaii Press, 2021.
Gonzaga Puas, " The Federated States of Micronesia Political Review: Issues and Events", The Contemporary Pacific: Journal of Pacific Affairs, Volume 32, No.1, 187-274, University of Hawaii Press, 2020.
Gonzaga Puas, "The Federated States of Micronesia Political Review: Issues and Events", The Journal of Pacific Affairs, July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019,
Gonzaga Puas and Denghua Zhang, "China Meets Its Limits in Micronesia", East Asia Forum, April 8, 2020.
Gonzaga Puas, "The Proposed Compact of Disassociation and Re-Association for the Republic of Chuuk", Kaselelhie Press, August 2018.
Gonzaga Puas and Vicki Lucker et. al, “Diabetes Control in the Federated States of Micronesia”, In Brief 2018/14, Department of Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra.
Gonzaga Puas, "Linking Health and Climate Change in the Mortlocks", Kaselelhie Press, Pohnpei, July 2017.
Gonzaga Puas and Nick Halter, Introduction, Tamkang Journal of International Affairs Special Issue: Micronesia in Focus,Volume 19, No. 11, Taipei, October 2015. (co-author with Nicholas Halter)
Gonzaga Puas, "Planning for Micronesia’s Future in the Era of Climate Change", Tamkang Journal of International Affairs, Taipei, V.19 No. 11, 2015.
Gonzaga Puas, Climates Change Refugees, The Planet Workshops Global Conference VIII Edition, International Forum for Sustainable Development UNESCO, Paris, France, June 3-5, 2013. (co-author)
Gonzaga Puas and Joakim Peter, "Political Review of Micronesia", The Contemporary Pacific, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, 2001.
Gonzaga Puas, Micronesia Still a Colony, Pacific Daily News, Guam, USA, January 15, 2000.
Book Chapters
Gonzaga Puas and Tamatoa Bambridge, Food Futures on Land and Sea in the Era of Climate Change, in Paul D’Arcy (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, forthcoming.
Gonzaga Puas, Using the Past to Face the Future: Micronesian Atoll Dweller Perspectives on Climate Change Futures”, in Paul D’Arcy and Daya Dakasi Da-Wei Kuan (eds.), Islands of Hope: Pan-Pacific Indigenous Resource Management in the Era of Globalisation and Climate Change, forthcoming.
Zag Puas, Nic Halter, and Mymy Kim, Indigenous Youth Responses to Water and Waste Management in Kuchawa, Federated States of Micronesia, in Paul D’Arcy and Daya Dakasi Da-Wei Kuan (eds.), Islands of Hope: Pan-Pacific Indigenous Resource Management in the Era of Globalisation and Climate Change, forthcoming.
Zag Puas, The Federated States of Micronesia in Pacific Ways: Government and Politics in the Pacific Islands, (2nd edition), Stephen Levine (editor), University of Victoria, New Zealand, 2015.
Gonzaga Puas, The Evolving Relationship Between the Federated States of Micronesia and China, in Pacific Partnerships Resource Development edited by Paul D’Arcy, Patrick Matbob, and Linda Crowl, Divine Word University Press, Madang, Papua New Guinea, September 2014.
Papers and Official Reports
Gonzaga Puas, State Response Opioid Program: 2020-2021, The Federated States of Micronesia- Department of Health and Social Affairs, Palikir, Pohnpei, November 2021.
Gonzaga Puas, Shaping the Legal Landscape: Foreign Judges in the Federated States of Micronesia, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, May 2021.
Gonzaga Puas, Health and Food Security in the Mortlocks, Federated States of Micronesia, ASTHO-Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2019-2020.
Gonzaga Puas, Climate Change Adaptation and Food Production in the Low-lying Islands of the Federated States of Micronesia, PUIRN, French Polynesia University, Tahiti, 2018.
Gonzaga Puas, The Impact of Climate Change on Health in the Federated States of Micronesia: Pohnpei State, Palikir, Federated States of Micronesia, 2018.
Gonzaga Puas, The Impact of Climate Change on Health in the Federated States of Micronesia: The Case of the Low-lying Islands of the Mortlocks, Palikir, Federated States of Micronesia, 2017.
Gonzaga Puas, Nic Halter and Mymy, Kuchuwa Community Project: Indigenous Youth Responses to Water and Waste Management, (co-author Nicholas Halter and Myjoylynne Kim), June 2016, University of South Pacific, Fiji.
Gonzaga Puas, The Contestation Over the Makkal Title of Lukunor Island, Pacific History Association Conference, Guam May 9-10, 2016.
Gonzaga Puas, Situating Moumou in the Circulation of Children: Micronesian-Lukunorian Modern Diaspora, paper presented at Association of Social Anthropologists in Oceania (ASAO), Santa Fe, USA, February 6, 2015.
Gonzaga Puas, Traditional Inter-Island Warfare in the Mortlocks, Paper Delivered in the Pacific History Association, Taiwan December 2014.
Gonzaga Puas, Review of the Current Health Practices in the FSM: Laws, Regulations and Policy Regimes, Palikir, 2013. (FSM Official Report).
Gonzaga Puas, Developing New Legislation to Reduce Health Related Harm Caused by Alcohol in the Federated States of Micronesia, FSM Department of Health and Social Services, 2012, (FSM Official Report).
Gonzaga Puas, The Federated States of Micronesia Legal System: Responses to US Influence, paper presented at the Association of Social Anthropologists in Oceania, Paper delivered in Portland, Oregon, USA, February 8, 2012.
Gonzaga Puas, The FSM’s Agricultural Sector: The Lower Mortlocks’ Experience Regarding Adaptation to Climate Change, Paper submitted to CliMates Student Association, Science Po University, Paris, France, January 2012.
Gonzaga Puas, The Federated States of Micronesia’s Climate Change Profile, published by the CliMates Association, Science Po University, Paris, France, 2012.
Gonzaga Puas, Is China a Threat in Oceania? The FSM Experience, Paper presented in the Pacific Island Political Association (PIPSA), Apia, Samoa, December 2011.
Gonzaga Puas, Labour Standards in the FSM, written for the FSM Department of Justice, April 12, 2005, (Report), Palikir, Pohnpei.
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