Mr. James Neo

Head of Division

  

Mr. Neo is the Acting Head of IEDS Division and a Lecturer within the Division. He had worked in various capacities as the Country Program Manager for Credit Union Foundation Australia based in Bougainville, Programme Manager within the Economic Governance Portfolio with Abt Associates Pty Ltd, Programme Coordinator with UN Women, Disaster Risk Reduction Technical Coordinator with International Organisation for Migration, and Programme Analyst with UN Women overseeing the peacebuilding work in Hela and Southern Highlands from 2018 – 2020.

Mr. Neo has worked in the development space for over 8+ years managing and delivering technical and complex development projects across PNG. His area of specialty is programme design and management, community development, socio-economic research and development, bottom-up planning and development, women, peace and security, grants and contract management, social impact studies, gender equality and social inclusion, livelihood development, governance and policy reform, monitoring and evaluation, and climate Change.

The Division strives to produce high performing quality graduates in the field of heritage and indigenous studies, planning and development, applied geography, and environmental studies. This knowledge consolidated with the skills, attitudes and specific methodologies of those subject areas will enable graduates to work in PNG as well as in the South Pacific.

The Division’s mission is (adapted from the mission of the School of Humanities):

• To meet the national requirements for trained teachers and development professionals,

• To present a broad-based Arts Degree program that will meet the needs of employers both in the academic and in the broader development space,

• Make available specific indigenous knowledge through the Applied Heritage and Indigenous Studies discipline through course work or field research, and

• To foster awareness of national and international issues so that broader perspectives and general information are acquired and shared with others through research and development and knowledge transfer.