Sereana Naepi

Sereana Elina Naepi (Patterson) is a New Zealand academic and works at the University of Auckland. She is of Fijian and Pākehā descent.

Academic career
Naepi completed undergraduate study at the University of Auckland. Her 2012 master of arts thesis was titled: ''The Voices of Taciqu. Teaching and Learning Practices in Non-Lecture Settings for Māori and Pasifika Success in the First Year of a Bachelor of Arts''. She moved to Canada for a 2018 PhD titled  'Beyond the Dusky Maiden : Pasifika women's experiences working in higher education'  at the University of British Columbia, before returning to the University of Auckland.

In 2021 Naepi received a Royal Society Te Apārangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship award for 'Planning for Change: An analysis of neoliberalism, equity and change in higher education'.

Naepi is currently co-chair of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's Early Career Researcher Forum and on the MBIE Science Whitinga Fellowship Panel.

Naepi is one of the University of Auckland interdisciplinary team of Māori and Pacific researchers of the Māpihi: Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre set up in 2022. Other members include Charmaine 'Ilaiū Talei (Architecture), Sam Manuela (Psychology), Kilisimasi Latu (Engineering), Lena Henry (Urban Planning), Claire Charters (Law) and Tia Reihana (Dance Studies), it is co-directed by Deidre Brown and Karamia Müller.