Octavius Jones is from San Bernardino County, California. He graduated with a BS in African Languages and Literature and Pre-med from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009, and completed an MA in Ethnic Studies with a Certificate in Women and Gender Studies from Colorado State University in 2017.

Octavius is on a Fulbright award, based at Victoria University of Wellington. His research project seeks to examine how Māori women understand and implement sustainable use of marine resources, and what their strategies and methods are for passing this knowledge down to younger generations. Through digital storytelling he is examining how Māori women understand their environment, and what role they play in marine conservation.

His Master's thesis sought to elucidate the roles that Western conservationists play in conservation’s relationship with Indigenous communities and local ecologies within African countries. Employing a qualitative analysis of conservationist research practices, the study sought to examine Western community-based conservation research approaches that value collaboration with the participants of study in order to ascertain whether and how conservationists incorporate women into their research.

For further information email: maori-studies@vuw.ac.nz or phone (04) 4635314