Dr Theresa Meki is a Pacific Research Fellow with the Department of Pacific Affairs (DPA), Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs.

Her PhD thesis, ‘Givim lo Aza’ (Give it to the mother): Oro Women in the 2017 Papua New Guinea National Elections’ is a political ethnography that examined the how women campaigned and garnered voter support in the lead up to the 2017 PNG national.

In the last seven years, Theresa has worked on various DFAT-funded DPA projects such as the Women in Leadership Support program (WLSP), Joint District Assessment and Political Context Analysis in PNG and she worked as a team leader (Oro Province) for two PNG National Election Domestic Observations (2017 & 2022). Prior to joining DPA (then SSGM) in 2015 as a post-graduate candidate, Theresa worked on the Pawa Meri  documentary film series as a field producer and research assistant. More recently, Theresa has taken an interest in biography writing. She is currently the co-convenor of the PNG Dictionary of Biography Project.

Theresa is interested in gender, national elections, filmmaking, women’s political representation in Melanesia and PNG history.