Travel and Learning Award for Bridget Fa’amatuainu

Bridget’s plan

“Too often, the law speaks in abstractions, failing to reflect the lived realities of trauma and vulnerability. Those engaging with the law from such positions are often treated as passive recipients of protection, rather than as individuals whose dignity and autonomy ought to inform how legal doctrines are structured,” observes Dr Fa’amatuainu. This project asks how private law, particularly fiduciary and commercial law, might be reframed if trauma and vulnerability were recognised not as exceptions but as core conditions the law must be equipped to address. The research draws on doctrinal and comparative methods and builds on Dr Fa’amatuainu’s previous work, including Commercial Law in the South Pacific (Routledge, 2024), co-authored with Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mohammed L. Ahmadu.

With support from the Travel and Learning Award, she will undertake international research fellowships in 2026 at the School of Law, Rayhaan University in Nigeria and the National University of Samoa, and will visit the Cambridge Private Law Centre at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, she will present a research seminar, participate in the Centre’s activities, and engage with UK legal scholars working on trauma and private law. Insights from this work will inform the next stage of her research.

About Bridget

Dr Fa’amatuainu lectures in Law at Auckland University of Technology. She has previously held roles at the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington, and began her academic career in commercial law at the National University of Samoa. While her research is critical and interdisciplinary, her focus is on private law, with an emphasis on fiduciary duty, vulnerability, and trauma-informed reform. Her PhD, supervised by Professor Allan Beever, explored the legal invisibility of fa’atama in Samoa, revealing doctrinal gaps across private law and the limitations of existing legal frameworks in addressing gender discrimination. This work informs her ongoing inquiry into private law in plural and comparative contexts.

Her experience in practice, law reform, empirical research, and gender consulting at regional and international levels grounds her scholarship in evidence-based law and policy reform. She is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in New Zealand and Samoa and is co-author of Commercial Law in the South Pacific (Routledge, 2024). In recognition of her work, she has been awarded international fellowships and will present research at the Cambridge Private Law Centre in 2026.

Grant Amount

$10,000 in 2025 to support travel