Research Interests
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Studies Anthropology of Development Archaeology of New Guinea and Pacific Islands Australian Government and Politics Comparative Government and Politics Culture, Gender, Sexuality Development Studies Economic growth, development and trade Globalisation and Culture Government and Politics of Asia and the Pacific International Relations Language in Culture and Society Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-cultural Studies New Zealand Government and Politics Pacific Cultural Studies Pacific History Pacific Literature Philosophy of Specific Cultures Regional Analysis and Development Screen and Media Culture Studies of Pacific Peoples' Societies Visual CulturesMs Solstice Middleby
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Humanities
College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities
In addition to her PHD Candidacy, Soli is an author, partnership broker and former Australian Diplomat to the Pacific. She has lived and worked across the Pacific Region for the last 20 years, making homes in Goroka and Suva and establishing a wide base of Pacific connections. Soli has supported Pacific-led development through partnerships approaches, innovation and multi-stakeholder collaborations working with AusAID, DFAT, IUCN and most recently as the CEO of the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) where she led the program towards a Pacific led approach from 2018-2021. Soli is the Director of Coconuts and Kurrajongs, and online store showcasing Pacific products and has been involved with various community projects including the first TEDx event to be held in a Pacific Island Country and Tokani: Friends of the Fiji Museum. Soli's doctoral research is focused on Pacific regionalism, specifically how power is understood and exercised within the practice of regional agreement making within the Pacific Islands Forum.
My doctoral research examines how power operates within Pacific regionalism to reproduce or disrupt extractive imperial logics, those that subordinate Pacific agency and orient regional decision-making away from collective Pacific wellbeing. Focusing on the Pacific Islands Forum's founding two decades (1965–1986), it analyses sixteen consensus decisions that shaped regional identity, architecture, and purpose.
Drawing on practice theory and Pacific epistemologies, it demonstrates that regional power is not only exercised through formal authority but enacted through routinised, taken-for-granted practice. The research advances two analytical concepts: Pacific-centred regionalism, oriented toward collective wellbeing and self-determination; and regionabalism, where regional procedures are mobilised for extractive or metropolitan ends.
Written in creative non-fiction style and structured through the kakala framework of Pacific scholar Konai Helu Thaman, outcomes include the first historical account of Forum decision-making from inside consensus practice itself, and new analytical tools for assessing when and how Pacific regionalism serves Pacific peoples and place.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 - ongoing | PHD Candidate | University of Adelaide |
| 2022 - ongoing | Director | Coconuts and Kurrajongs |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| Tok Pisin | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian National University | Australia | Masters of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development | |
| Australian National University | Australia | BA (Development Studies) Hons |
| Date | Title | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Accredited Partnership Broker | Partnership Brokers Association | - |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Taylor, D. M., Middleby, S., & Vunibola, S. (2025). Aid in the Age of Amazon: Imperial Logics, Pacific Resistance and an Alternate Paradigm. Development Policy Review, 43(5), 8 pages. |
| 2023 | Taylor, D. M., & Middleby, S. (2023). Aid is not development: The true character of Pacific aid. Development Policy Review, 41(S2), 10 pages. Scopus18 WoS15 |
| 2023 | Middleby, S., Taylor, M., Habru, P., Naupa, A., & Tarai, J. (2023). Perspectives from Melanesia: Aboriginal relationalism and Australian foreign policy. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 77(6), 1-7. Scopus4 WoS4 |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Middleby, S., & Tago, L. K. T. (2025). The Boe Declaration. In Security Cooperation in the Pacific Islands (pp. 30-45). Routledge. DOI |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Authors: Middleby S. Title: Do You Want To Meet Your Grandma?. Extent: 36. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Middleby, S. (2023). Mediating the power imbalances of development: A paradox for partnership brokers. Partnership Brokers Association. |
| 2022 | Taylor, M., & Middleby, S. (2022). More of the same is not the answer to building influence in the Pacific. 9Dashline. |
| 2022 | Aumua, A., & Middleby, S. (2022). 2050: A Pacific geostrategic vision for the world’s only Blue Continent. Griffith University. |
| 2022 | Middleby, S., Wallis, J., & Powles, A. (2022). AUKUS and Australia’s relations in the Pacific. East Asia Forum. |
| 2022 | Middleby, S., Powles, A., & Wallis, J. (2022). AUKUS adds ambiguity to the Australia-New Zealand alliance. Australian Strategic Policy Institute. |
| Date | Office Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 - 2021 | Chief Executive Officer | Australia Pacific Training Coalition | Fiji |
| 2012 - 2015 | Regional Counsellor | Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | Fiji |
| 2005 - 2009 | Development Specialist | AusAID | Papua New Guinea |
