Dr Gemma Malungahu is an academic in the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University whose scholarship is grounded in Pacific philosophies and epistemologies, with a strong commitment to Pacific ethical values and relational worldviews. Her doctoral research examined the relationship between housing systems and the health and wellbeing of Pacific peoples, drawing on the tā‑vā (time–space) philosophy and the dialogic method of tālanga to engage respectfully with community knowledge holders. Her recent work on cultural security supports the safeguarding of Tongan cultural and linguistic heritage in ways that honour the depth, dignity, and continuity of Tongan knowledge systems, contributing to policy efforts that uphold cultural practice as a living expression of identity and collective wellbeing.

As co‑convenor of the Pacific Research Colloquium (2022–2025), she led the development of the Pacific Research Methodologies course, now a core component of the Master of Pacific Studies. Her research interests include Pacific Indigenous knowledge systems, public health, and the social sciences, with a sustained focus on culturally grounded, community‑responsive research that informs Pacific policy, leadership, and practice.

Dr Malungahu is a proud Tongan woman. Her father, Kelepi Malungahu, is from Kolonga and Ha‘atafu, Tongatapu, and ‘Ata‘atā; her mother, Silina Malungahu, is from Tungua, Ha‘afeva, Nomuka (Ha‘apai), and Haveluloto, Tongatapu. She also has Samoan ancestry through her great‑grandmother, Sina Lauli‘i, who migrated to Tonga and married her great‑grandfather, Tevita Mahe, in Vava‘u in the early 1900s. 

Pacific health, Pacific research methods and methodologies, Pacific health in the diaspora and in the Pacific region, Tongan culture, language and heritage