Theory and practice, in the same room

Dr Michael Fusi Ligaliga is a conflict resolution practitioner working at the intersection of theory and practice. He holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Otago, New Zealand. He co-founded HIVĀ ADR in 2021, leading it until 2026 before founding The Vāntage Collective.

He served as Senior Policy Advisor to New Zealand’s Centre for Dispute Resolution, shaping national ADR policy, and was appointed expert panelist to New Zealand’s Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Church Care — the only Pacific Islander with a PhD in conflict resolution to hold that role.

Raised in New Zealand and shaped by two decades in Samoa, now based in the United States, Michael has spent 15+ years developing an approach to conflict grounded in Pacific and Indigenous worldviews — most notably vā.

He is Associate Professor of Intercultural Peacebuilding at Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi, and an accredited mediator and adjudicator working with governments, schools, workplaces, and sporting organizations worldwide.

Team highlights

Every credential points back to the same throughline

Relationships come first, and understanding them takes both scholarship and lived practice.

15+ years across government, education, and community conflict work
PhD, Peace and Conflict Studies — National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago
Co-founded HIVĀ ADR, New Zealand
Originator of the HIVĀ ADR model of mediation, taught and applied internationally
Expert Panelist, Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Church Care, New Zealand
Expert consultant, UNESCO Indigenous Peacebuilding Forum
Lead Consultant, Asia Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
Accredited Mediator with Resolution Institute (New Zealand and Australia)
Associate Professor of Intercultural Peacebuilding, Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi
Author, Vābuilding: Pacific Indigenous Peacebuilding (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming)