Yvonne Underhill-Sem MNZM
Underhill in 2022
Born	Cook Islands
Nationality	New Zealand
Employer	University of Auckland
Awards	Metge Medal (2022)

Yvonne Jasmine Te Ruki Rangi o Tangaroa Underhill MNZM is a New Zealand Pacific development geographer. ^[1] She is a professor at the University of Auckland, where she teaches Pacific studies.

Early life and education

Underhill was born in the Cook Islands, and moved to Porirua at a young age, where she completed her primary and secondary education. ^[2]

Career

Underhill is a professor at the University of Auckland, where she teaches Pacific studies. ^{[1] [3]} There she was Director of Development Studies from 2007 to 2014. From 2015 to 2018, she was deputy chair of the Inaugural Pacific Performance Based Review Fund, where she is appointed to be inaugural Deputy Moderator in 2026. She helped establish Oxfam in the Pacific in 2015, and since 2020 has helped start the Pacific Feminist Fund, a grant-making organisation to deal with gender inequality in the Pacific, ^[1] which launched in mid-2023. ^[4]

In 2022, Underhill was awarded the Metge Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi for "excellence and relationship-building in the social science research community". ^{[5] [6]} In the 2024 New Year Honours, Underhill was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to tertiary education and Pacific development. ^[1]

References

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