HONOURABLE PROFESSOR BIMAN PRASAD
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
LEADER OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION PARTY
Professor Prasad hails from Dreketi in Vanua Levu, a rice farming area. He completed his primary education at the Muanidevo Indian School and secondary education at Dreketi Junior Secondary School and Labasa College. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Economics and Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of the South Pacific, He also holds a Master of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland.
At university, Professor Prasad was active as a student leader. He led many presentations and negotiations on students’ behalf to improve their welfare and teaching and learning facilities.
Professor Prasad rose through the academic ranks of Lecturer to the highest level of Professor. He was the Dean of the largest faculty at USP from 2007-2011. He was President of the USP Staff Association for seven years from 1999-2006. Professor Prasad is an international scholar. He has contributed significantly to the debate on social and economic issues in the region. From 2003 to 2007, Professor Prasad was Head of School of Economics. Previously he worked in the area of Distance and Flexible Learning. Professor Prasad is an accomplished academic, with four books and numerous journal articles published on economic development, trade and environment issues.
He has done consultancy work for international organisations such as the Asian Development Bank, UNESCAP, CLGF, Food and Agricultural Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, AusAID and governments in the Pacific region.
Professor Prasad is Associate Editor of the Journal of Fijian Studies and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pacific Studies. He has travelled extensively around the world to present papers at many international conferences over the last several years. He has been a visiting Professor at Kagoshima University in Japan and at Otago University in New Zealand. Professor Prasad has taught the Regional Trade Policy Course for the Asia-Pacific region at the University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. He was a Steering Committee member of the AusAID report on the Pacific for 2009 and 2010.
He held the position Professor of Economics and the Chair of the Oceania Development Network, a regional network supported by the Global Development Network. Professor Prasad received the prestigious Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) fellowship under which he spent two months at the Jawaharlal Nehru University from February to March 2011 as a Professor. He holds Adjunct Professorship at Griffith University in Australia and at the James Cook University and the Punjabi University in India. Professor Prasad has received numerous research grants on key development issues in the region.
Professor Prasad is a recipient of the 2011 Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in Research Leadership at the University of the South Pacific.
He is a regular media commentator and has given numerous interviews to local and international media as well as contributing columns to newspapers and magazines on various political and economic issues in the region.
Currently he is the Director of Fiji Institute of Applied Studies and Parliamentary Leader of the National Federation Party.