Siosiua Halavatau received his PhD in Soil Science in 1998 through The University of Queensland and was employed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) as a Team Leader and Participatory Extension Officer within the regional project Development of Sustainable Agriculture in the Pacific (DSAP) until January 2011. He is currently the coordinator of the Crop Production and Extension Thematic Group of the Land Resource Division of SPC. He also coordinates the IFAD funded Centre of Excellence for Atoll Agricultural Research and Development based in South Tarawa in Kiribati. Major thrust is building resilience of farming systems against climate change and food security.

Siosiua’s current job supports agricultural development in 22 Pacific countries, with direct responsibility for the Crop Production and Extension team, providing planning and technical support to countries.